In the history of the Russian Empire, the expansion of Yekaerina II was extremely brilliant. Suvorov was immortal in his ability to create brilliant deeds on land; the hero of the sea conquest comparable to Suvorov was Ushakov. This naval commander, who was good at attacking with the concentration of forces and the surprise of the enemy, once led an expedition to the Mediterranean, participated in the Black Sea war, and commanded the Russian Navy to defeat the Turkish fleet in the Second Russo-Turkish War, creating a prominent example in the history of Russian naval fleet operations in which less won more.
Fyodor Fyodorovich Ushakov was born in 1744 in the village of Alexievka. His father was a poor Russian nobleman of Mongolian descent. Ushakov's youth was merely taught by a village priest. Therefore, judging from his family background and education, it seems that he can rarely become a mighty figure on the sea. At the age of 18 he entered the Noble Armed Armament School in Petersburg, graduated at the age of 22, was awarded the rank of warrant officer, and was assigned to serve in the Baltic Fleet. In 1766, he entered the Naval Academy.
There, his intellect was unleashed. The excellent results surprised all the professors and students. After graduating, he fought in the Russo-Turkish War of 1768-1774 and served as captain of the fleet in the Aton River Zone of the Sea of Azov. In the naval battles of this war, his genius for tactical flexibility and mobility was shown. At the end of the war, he was promoted to captain of the escort ship of the Baltic Fleet.
Beginning in 1774, a 13-year truce between Russia and Turkey lasted, at which time Yekalinna II did not relax its naval construction. In 1780, Ushakov was appointed captain of the Empress's special speedboat, but he was determined to do so in the navy, and resolutely gave up the admirable opportunity to enter the official court and asked to return to the fleet.
Soon after, he was appointed captain of the battleship Victor. To avoid attacks on Russian merchant ships by the British fleet, he served several times as an ocean escort from the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean.
In 1783, at the age of less than 40, Ushakov was again transferred to the Black Sea Fleet and served under Admiral Vojnović. Ushakov had his own philosophy of naval warfare: concentrating all his strength on attacking a part of the enemy's forces; unexpectedly disrupting the enemy's position, fully supporting the wounded national ships to take advantage of the enemy's weaknesses as much as possible to win. It was he who trained his captains according to these views and gave them considerable initiative.
In 1787, the Second Russo-Turkish War broke out. Ushakov took part in the operations against the Turkish Navy as the captain of the battleship "St. Paul". From the beginning, the Turkish Navy has been in an advantageous position. In 1788, at the Battle of Fidonia, Ushakov commanded the Russian squadron at the vanguard of the fierce attack on the Turkish fleet, which played a decisive role in the final victory of the battle.
Since then, the tide of the war has undergone a fundamental shift, and the Russian Navy has an advantage in both numbers and morale. Before the end of the engagement in the autumn of 1790, Russia made a major adjustment in the selection of commanders, and Ushakov was promoted to the top leader of naval warfare.
Soon after Ushakov took office, he led a light fleet of 8 gunboats and 11 looters from Sevastopol to the enemy for battle. After sailing into the Sinop area, he left the looting ships behind and led 8 gunboats to attack the enemy ships, quickly capturing another Turkish ship and bringing another 4 ships to shore. On 13 July, Ushakov set sail with a Russian main fleet of 33 ships.
On 19 July, Ushakov discovered the main Turkish fleet led by Hussein Pasha in the Kerch Strait, with 54 ships of various types. The two fleets were on a par with each other. On this day, the fog was thick and the visibility was poor. After 4 hours of fierce fighting between the two sides, the Turkish fleet retreated. Then, on the sea of Gatzibe, a total of 37 ships fought against 45 Turkish ships, and won another victory. Two naval battles broke the Turks' plan to attack Crimea, leaving most of the Crimean Peninsula in Russian hands.
Six weeks later, Ushakov led a fleet roughly equivalent to the last expedition, and on September 8, the strength of the Turkish fleet mines found in the sea near Tandra Island was not much different from the last naval battle. The fighting began at about four o'clock in the afternoon, and until the next morning, the Turkish fleet lost 7 ships and was captured by 1500 people, and the Russian navy suffered only 46 casualties.
At this time, Catherine II, who had gained the initiative in the war, and the Turkish Navy, which had no good fortune but still had the strength, wanted to prepare for peace talks, so the two sides held peace talks in Galaţi. The Turks wanted to negotiate better terms by showing naval might, and in April of the same year, ordered the fleet to anchor at Romeri at Cape Kalliaklia to form two strong battleship fronts. One was led by Admiral Hussein Pasha and the other by Chaito Ali. The two generals, proud of their military might, let their guard down and let the Turkish sailors have fun on the shore if they dared to make a mistake.
On 31 January, Ushakov led the Russian fleet to a sudden appearance on the surface of Cape Krya. At first, it was a neat battle formation, driving from northeast to southwest, but when the Turkish organization team was in a hurry to meet the battle, he changed his formation and sailed to the rear of the Turkish fleet, encircling the Turkish ships in one fell swoop.
After 4 hours of artillery battle, the Turkish warships were confused, and by nightfall, the main force of the Turkish fleet had been wiped out, leaving only a few small boats with the remnants of the army to flee in a hurry. The battle not only wiped out the living forces of the Turkish fleet, but also forced Turkey to negotiate humiliation and peace. Since then, Yekaterina II ushered in the golden age of Russian history.
After the death of Ekaterina II, Paul I succeeded to the throne. Although his role in the Russian Navy was far less important than that of his mother, he also deeply felt that after the rupture of the Russo-French alliance, it was impossible to do without a strong navy as a pillar. He was very concerned about the interests of the Mediterranean, and when he sent Suvorov to lead a large army to prepare for the capture of northern Italy, he secretly sent Vice Admiral Ushakov to the eastern Mediterranean to capture the French-occupied Aegean islands and support the restoration of the royalists in southern Italy.
On August 24, 1798, Ushakov left Sevastopol with his fleet. Four weeks later, it joined the Turkish fleet and was unified under ushakov's command, and soon the second anti-French alliance was formally formed, and the British naval fleet joined ushakov's command. Opposing the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars, Ushakov led a combined fleet and 1700 marines into a squadron and entered the Mediterranean. It successfully solved the complex tasks of blocking the enemy coast, landing marines and destroying fortresses, and covered Suvorov's offensive operations on land.
In 1799, his Marine Corps, supported by the fleet, landed at sea and captured the famous Koto prisoner fortress and captured the central position in the Mediterranean. The success of this landing operation overturned the Russian Navy's long-held theory that the fleet could only blockade and not capture the naval base, and was hailed as an example of the joint operation of warships and marines. Ushakov was promoted to admiral and the title of father of the Russian Marine Corps.
Ushakov was highly praised as a naval commander. However, some in the Tsar's court adopted an attitude of jealousy and hostility. In 1802, Tsar Alexander I did not reward Ushakov for his exploits, but only appointed him commander of the Baltic Sea and a secondary position as commander of the Petersburg Naval Training Corps. In 1807 he was forced to retire. During the Great Patriotic War of 1812, Ushakov was elected commander of the reserve army of Tampiv Province, a position he declined due to illness. Ushakov died in 1817 and was buried in the Sinaksar Monastery near Jemnik.
References: History of the Russian Empire, Legends of the World, Napoleon and the Russians