 The German minesweepers made good progress , despite minor damage from shell splinters and numerous near misses by Slava , Grazhdanin , Bayan , and the Russian shore batteries . During this period Slava 's front turret became inoperable when a bronze rack and pinion gear bent so that the gear wheel could not be moved . Only eleven shots had been fired between the two guns in the turret before the breakdown . Slava and her consorts were ordered north to allow the crews to eat lunch , but returned to the fray and opened fire on the minesweepers again at 10 : 04 with her rear turret at an approximate range of 12 @,@ 000 yards ( 10 @,@ 973 m ) . The minesweepers had cleared a channel to the north while the Russians were eating and the dreadnoughts took advantage of it to engage the Russian pre @-@ dreadnoughts . König opened fire on Slava at 10 : 14 and hit her with three shells from her third salvo . The first hit Slava 's bow , 10 – 12 feet ( 3 @.@ 0 – 3 @.@ 7 m ) below the waterline , and exploded in the bow dynamo room , flooding that room , the forward 12 @-@ inch magazine and other bow compartments , while the second penetrated the capstan flat . The ship took on 1 @,@ 130 metric tons ( 1 @,@ 112 long tons ) of water which gave her a list of 8 ° , later reduced to 4 ° by counter @-@ flooding . This also increased her forward draft to about 32 feet ( 9 @.@ 8 m ) . The third shell hit the port side armor abreast the engine room , but failed to penetrate . Two more shells struck her at 10 : 24 in the superstructure near the forward funnel . They damaged a six @-@ inch magazine and the forward stokehold ( boiler room ) and started a fire which was put out after about fifteen minutes . However , the forward left six @-@ inch magazine was flooded as a precaution . At 10 : 39 two more shells hit her , killing three men in the boiler room and flooding a coal bunker . Around this time Slava and her compatriots were ordered to retire to the north while Bayan trailed behind to divert fire from the battleships . 
