On 23 August, "Sevastopol" sortied to bombard Japanese troops and struck a mine near her forward magazines while returning to port. She was badly damaged and three of her magazines were flooded. The ship was towed back into Port Arthur and her repairs lasted until 6 November. In the meantime, the new squadron commander, Rear Admiral Robert Viren, decided to use the men and guns of the Pacific Squadron to reinforce the defenses of Port Arthur, and even more guns were stripped from the squadron's ships. By September "Poltava" had dismounted three 6-inch, four 47- and twenty-six 37-millimeter guns, and "Sevastopol" lost one 47- and twenty-six 37-millimeter guns. Both ships were lightly damaged by shells in October when the Imperial Japanese Army's siege guns began firing blindly into the harbor. The capture of Hill 203, which overlooked the harbor, on 5 December allowed them to fire directly at the Russian ships, and "Poltava" was sunk in shallow water that same day by a shell that started a fire in a magazine that eventually exploded. By 7 December all of the Russian battleships except "Sevastopol" had been sunk and the ship's captain, Nikolai Essen, anchored her under the guns of the remaining coast defense guns outside the harbor. He rigged torpedo nets and laid a minefield around his ship that thwarted repeated attacks until 16 December when one torpedo struck the ship in the stern during a blinding snowstorm. Badly damaged, "Sevastopol" was towed to deep water about two weeks later, when Port Arthur surrendered on 2 January 1905 and scuttled.