During the Battle of Port Arthur on the second day of the war, "Poltava" was hit twice in the aft hull, "Petropavlovsk" was hit three times in the bow and "Sevastopol" was hit once. Between them, the sisters had two men killed and seven wounded and were not significantly damaged. None of them made any hits on Japanese ships. The Naval Ministry relieved Stark, and he was replaced by Vice Admiral Stepan Makarov who assumed command on 7 March. On 31 March, "Petropavlovsk" and "Poltava" sortied to support Russian cruisers and destroyers engaging their Japanese counterparts, but they headed back to Port Arthur to join the rest of the Pacific Squadron when the main Japanese battlefleet appeared. They ran into a newly laid minefield en route and "Petropavlovsk" struck at least one of the mines, sinking in less than two minutes. Casualties included Admiral Makarov and his guest, the war artist Vasily Vereshchagin, 26 other officers and 652 enlisted men. Only 7 officers and 73 crewmen were rescued.