It’s easy to talk about the mistakes of your ancestors while sitting in a chair at the computer. Moreover, if you are seriously interested in the history of the fleet, your soul sincerely hurts for the defeats of your Motherland in a long-defunct war, and your knowledge allows you to judge their causes. But you can’t fix anything in the past, even if you really wanted to... What if? What if you get a chance? A chance that theoretically simply cannot present itself? This is exactly the chance that falls to the lot of the main character of this book. But, looking through the eyes of Vsevolod Fedorovich Rudnev, commander of the cruiser "Varyag", at the roadstead of the port of Chemulpo a day before the famous battle with the Japanese squadron, he realizes that the knowledge of a fan of maritime history, patriotism and personal courage may not be enough to get out of unequal fight is the winner. However, the die is cast! The time has come to test his ideas, theories and calculations with iron and blood. “The guns are preparing for battle in a row, sparkling ominously in the sun!..”