By this time, only Tōgō's 6 warships (4 battleships and 2 armored cruisers) were chasing Vitgeft's 10 warships (6 battleships and 4 cruisers). With darkness only 3 hours away, Admiral Vitgeft believed that he had outranged Admiral Tōgō, and would lose him totally when darkness came. Tōgō knew this too, and ordered a speed to catch up to the tail end of Vitgeft's fleet. By 17:35 hours Tōgō's warships had closed to within 3.5 miles of the again lagging battleship Poltava, and opened fire upon her. Admiral Dewa also showed up with his cruisers, and Tōgō ordered all battleships and cruisers to shell Poltava, hoping to at least sink one Russian battleship. However, the Russian commander, Captain Ivan P. Uspenskiy of Poltava and his crewmen scored several hits on Admiral Tōgō's flagship. At this time, the Shimose shells loaded inside the 305 mm guns began detonating prematurely inside the hot gun barrels; knocking out of action one 305 mm on Shikishima at 17:45, and two 305 mm barrels on Asahi at 18:10 hours. By 18:30, Tōgō had only 11 of his original 16 305 mm guns still in action. Corbett Vol. 1, p. 392
