Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
- 9,001
Total Russian victory at Chesme...!
In 1768, war raged once again between the hostile neighboring powers of Russia and the Ottoman Empire. According to the official reading, it is the fifth battle!
As the war drags on listlessly in present-day Bulgaria, the eternal battlefield between the Ottomans and Russians, Russian strategists have their sights set on the vastly superior Ottoman fleet in the Black Sea, allowing the Turks to take the war wherever they choose - because the Russian Black Sea Fleet is still under construction, consists of only six ships of different sizes - and alone is not up to the overpowering enemy.
Sankt Peterburg secretly sends two squadrons of the Baltic (Baltic) Fleet under Count Aleksej Orlov...
...a favourite, former lover and co-conspirator of Tsarina Ekaterina II to the Mediterranean - the British admiral Sir John Elphinstone is on board as an adviser...:
Arrived in the waters of the Aegean, the Russians set out in search of the Ottoman fleet, whose commander Kapudan Pasha (Admiral) Hosameddin...
...relocated from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean to avoid surprises.
On July 5, 1770, the Russians find the Ottoman fleet at anchor, as if in deepest peace, north of Cheme Bay (today Mersin Bay)...:
The Ottoman commander has at his disposal 16 ships of the line, six frigates, six shebecks, 13 galleys and 32 other smaller ships carrying more than 1,300 guns.
Orlov, on the other hand, has only nine ships-of-the-line, three frigates, and eight unarmed support ships under his command, with little more than 500 guns!
Despite their numerical inferiority, the Russians immediately attacked the Ottomans - and completely destroyed Kapudan Pasha's fleet in three days of daytime and follow-up battles!
The fighting ends on the night of July 7, 1770 - when there is nothing left for the Russians to destroy!
The Ottomans lose their entire fleet and 11,000 dead sailors, the Russians a single ship, Orlov's flagship "St. Yestavij"...
...which catches fire when the mainmast of the exploding Ottoman battleship "Real Mustafa" crashes onto her deck...:
Almost 500 sailors died on the Russian side.
It is the greatest naval victory of the Russian Navy ever and the greatest naval defeat of the Ottomans since Lepanto in 1571...
In 1768, war raged once again between the hostile neighboring powers of Russia and the Ottoman Empire. According to the official reading, it is the fifth battle!
As the war drags on listlessly in present-day Bulgaria, the eternal battlefield between the Ottomans and Russians, Russian strategists have their sights set on the vastly superior Ottoman fleet in the Black Sea, allowing the Turks to take the war wherever they choose - because the Russian Black Sea Fleet is still under construction, consists of only six ships of different sizes - and alone is not up to the overpowering enemy.
Sankt Peterburg secretly sends two squadrons of the Baltic (Baltic) Fleet under Count Aleksej Orlov...
...a favourite, former lover and co-conspirator of Tsarina Ekaterina II to the Mediterranean - the British admiral Sir John Elphinstone is on board as an adviser...:
Arrived in the waters of the Aegean, the Russians set out in search of the Ottoman fleet, whose commander Kapudan Pasha (Admiral) Hosameddin...
...relocated from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean to avoid surprises.
On July 5, 1770, the Russians find the Ottoman fleet at anchor, as if in deepest peace, north of Cheme Bay (today Mersin Bay)...:
The Ottoman commander has at his disposal 16 ships of the line, six frigates, six shebecks, 13 galleys and 32 other smaller ships carrying more than 1,300 guns.
Orlov, on the other hand, has only nine ships-of-the-line, three frigates, and eight unarmed support ships under his command, with little more than 500 guns!
Despite their numerical inferiority, the Russians immediately attacked the Ottomans - and completely destroyed Kapudan Pasha's fleet in three days of daytime and follow-up battles!
The fighting ends on the night of July 7, 1770 - when there is nothing left for the Russians to destroy!
The Ottomans lose their entire fleet and 11,000 dead sailors, the Russians a single ship, Orlov's flagship "St. Yestavij"...
...which catches fire when the mainmast of the exploding Ottoman battleship "Real Mustafa" crashes onto her deck...:
Almost 500 sailors died on the Russian side.
It is the greatest naval victory of the Russian Navy ever and the greatest naval defeat of the Ottomans since Lepanto in 1571...
