The
naval Battle of Chesme took place on 5–7 July 1770 during the
Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) near and in
Çeşme
Çeşme () is a coastal town and the administrative centre of the district of the same name in Turkey's westernmost end, on a promontory on the tip of the peninsula that also carries the same name and that extends inland to form a whole with the ...
(Chesme or Chesma) Bay, in the area between the western tip of
Anatolia
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The ...
and the island of
Chios
Chios (; el, Χίος, Chíos , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greek island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea. The island is separated from Turkey by the Chios Strait. Chios is notable for its exports of masti ...
, which was the site of a number of past naval battles between the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
and the
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia, ...
. It was a part of the
Orlov Revolt of 1770, a precursor to the later
Greek War of Independence (1821–1829), and the first of a number of disastrous fleet battles for the
Ottomans against
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
.
Prelude
The
Russo-Turkish War
The Russo-Turkish wars (or Ottoman–Russian wars) were a series of twelve wars fought between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire between the 16th and 20th centuries. It was one of the longest series of military conflicts in European histo ...
had begun in 1768, and Russia sent several squadrons from the
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and ...
to the
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...
to draw
Ottoman attention away from their
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...
fleet, then only six ships of the line strong. Two Russian squadrons, commanded by
Admiral Grigory Spiridov and
Rear Admiral John Elphinstone
John Elphinstone, also known as John Elphinston (1722 – 28 February 1785), was a senior British naval officer who worked closely with the Russian Navy after 1770, with approval from the Admiralty, during the period of naval reform under Russi ...
, a British adviser, combined under the overall command of
Count Alexei Orlov, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Fleet, and went to look for the Ottoman fleet.
On 5 July 1770, they came across it, anchored in line just north of Çeşme Bay, western Anatolia. The Ottoman fleet contained about 14 ships of the line, perhaps 6
frigates, 6
xebec
A xebec ( or ), also spelled zebec, was a Mediterranean sailing ship that was used mostly for trading. Xebecs had a long overhanging bowsprit and aft-set mizzen mast. The term can also refer to a small, fast vessel of the sixteenth to nineteenth ...
s, 13
galleys and 32 small craft, with about 1,300 guns in total. About 10 of the ships of the line, of 70–100 guns, were in the Ottoman main line with a further 6 or so in the second, arranged so that they could fire through the gaps in the first line. Behind that were the frigates, xebecs, etc. The fleet was commanded by
Kapudan Pasha
The Kapudan Pasha ( ota, قپودان پاشا, modern Turkish: ), was the Grand Admiral of the navy of the Ottoman Empire. He was also known as the ( ota, قپودان دریا, links=no, modern: , "Captain of the Sea"). Typically, he was bas ...
Mandalzade Hüsameddin, in the fourth ship from the front (north end) of the line, with
Hasan Pasha in the first ship, ''Real Mustafa'', and Cafer Bey in the seventh. Two further ships of the line, probably small, had left this fleet for
Mytilene
Mytilene (; el, Μυτιλήνη, Mytilíni ; tr, Midilli) is the capital of the Greek island of Lesbos, and its port. It is also the capital and administrative center of the North Aegean Region, and hosts the headquarters of the University o ...
the previous evening.
After settling on a plan of attack, the Russian battle line (see Table 1) sailed towards the south end of the Ottoman line and then turned north, coming alongside the Ottomans, with the tail end coming into action last (Elphinstone had wanted to approach the northern end first, then follow the wind along the Ottoman line, attacking their ships one by one – the method used by
Nelson
Nelson may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey
* ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers
* ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...
at the
Battle of the Nile in 1798).
Battle
The Ottomans opened fire at about 11:45 a.m., followed by the Russians slightly later. Three of the Russian ships of the line had trouble staying in position; ''Evropa'' turned around and came back behind ''Rostislav'', ''Tri Svyatitelya'' circled the second Ottoman vessel before coming back into the Russian line, being attacked in error by ''Tri Ierarcha'' as she did so, and ''Sviatoi Ianuarii'' turned around before coming back into the line.
Spiridov, in ''Sviatoi Evstafii'', had a close-range battle with Hasan Pasha in ''Real Mustafa'', before the latter was suddenly seen to be on fire. Her mainmast came down and landed on ''Sviatoi Evstafii'' deck, causing the Russian ship to blow up immediately. Shortly thereafter, ''Real Mustafa'' blew up as well.
According to Elphinstone, who claimed the Russians were almost useless, Spiridov and Count
Feodor Orlov (brother of the commander), had left ''Sviatoi Evstafii'' before the fighting became close-range. Spiridov ended up on ''Tri Svyatitelya''. ''Sviatoi Evstafiis captain, Kruse, survived too. At about 2:00 p.m. the fighting ended, as the Ottomans cut their cables and moved south into the bay, forming themselves into a defensive line of eight ships of the line, a second line, and the rest beyond.
![Vladimir Kosov](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Vladimir_Kosov._Chesme_battle_of_1770.jpg)
On 6 July, the Russians bombarded the Ottoman ships and land positions. At about 12:30 a.m. on the morning of 7 July, Orlov sent
Samuel Greig
Vice-Admiral Samuel Greig, or Samuil Karlovich Greig (russian: Самуи́л Ка́рлович Грейг), as he was known in Russia (30 November 1735, Inverkeithing, Fife, Scotland – 26 October 1788, Tallinn, Estonia, Russian Empire) w ...
(who transferred to ''Rostislav'') to attack with ''Evropa'', ''Rostislav'' and ''Ne tron menya'' forming a south–north line facing the Ottomans, and with ''Saratov'' in reserve, ''Nadezhda'' attacking the batteries at the eastern side of the bay entrance, ''Afrika'' attacking the batteries on the western side, and ''Grom'' near ''Afrika''. At about 1:30 a.m. or earlier (times were about 90 minutes earlier, according to Elphinstone), fire from ''Grom'' and/or ''Ne tron menya'' caused an Ottoman ship of the line to blow up after her main topsail caught fire, and the fire quickly spread to other ships of the line. By 2:00 a.m., two Ottoman ships of the line had blown up and more were on fire, and Greig sent in three fireships (the fourth, seeing the danger, stayed out), which contributed in a small way to the burning of almost the entire Ottoman fleet. At about 4:00 a.m., boats were sent in to save two ships of the line which were not burning, but one of these caught fire while it was being towed. The other, ''Semend-i Bahri'' 60, survived and was captured along with five galleys. Fighting ended at about 8:00 a.m. Russian casualties on 5 July were 14 killed, plus 636 killed in ''Sviatoi Evstafii'', and about 30 wounded, and on 7 July 11 killed. Ottoman casualties were much higher. Hüsameddin, Hasan Pasha and Cafer Bey survived. Hüsameddin was removed from his position, which was given to Cafer Bey. This was the only significant fleet battle during the Russo-Turkish War.
Significance
![RUS-2016-Pushkin-Catherine Park-Chesme Column](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/RUS-2016-Pushkin-Catherine_Park-Chesme_Column.jpg)
The Battle of Chesme was fought on the same day as the land
Battle of Larga
The Battle of Larga was fought between 65,000 Crimean Tatars cavalry and 15,000 Ottoman infantry under Qaplan II Giray against 38,000 Russians under Field-Marshal Rumyantsev on the banks of the Larga River, a tributary of the Prut River, in ...
. It was the greatest naval defeat suffered by Ottomans since the
Battle of Lepanto (1571)
The Battle of Lepanto was a naval warfare, naval engagement that took place on 7 October 1571 when a fleet of the Holy League (1571), Holy League, a coalition of Catholic states (comprising Spain and its Italian territories, several independen ...
. This battle inspired great confidence in the Russian fleet and allowed the Russians to control the Aegean Sea for some time. The defeat of the Ottoman fleet also speeded up rebellions by minority groups in the Ottoman Empire, especially the Orthodox Christian nations in the Balkan peninsula, who helped the Russian army in defeating the Ottoman Empire.
After this naval victory, the Russian fleet stayed in the Aegean for the following five years. It returned to Çeşme twice more during this time to bombard it. Historians still debate the rationale for the Russian military focus on this small fort town while there were many other more strategic targets along the Aegean coast.
Due to the Ottoman defeat, fanatical Muslim groups proceeded to massacre c. 1,500 local Greeks in nearby Smyrna.
Catherine the Great commissioned four monuments to commemorate the victory: Chesma Palace and
Church of Saint John at Chesme Palace
The Chesme Church (russian: Чесменская церковь; full name ''Church of Saint John the Baptist at Chesme Palace'', also called the ''Church of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist'', russian: це́рковь Рождества́ И ...
in
St Petersburg (1774–77), Chesma Obelisk in
Gatchina
The town of Gatchina ( rus, Га́тчина, , ˈɡatːɕɪnə, links=y) serves as the administrative center of the Gatchinsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies south-south-west of St. Petersburg, along the E95 highway which ...
(1775), and
Chesma Column
The Chesme Column () is a rostral column (a type of victory column) in the Catherine Park at the Catherine Palace, a former Russian royal residence at Tsarskoye Selo, a suburb of Saint Petersburg. The column commemorates three Russian naval victo ...
in
Tsarskoe Selo
Tsarskoye Selo ( rus, Ца́рское Село́, p=ˈtsarskəɪ sʲɪˈlo, a=Ru_Tsarskoye_Selo.ogg, "Tsar's Village") was the town containing a former residence of the Russian imperial family and visiting nobility, located south from the c ...
(1778).
See also
*
Timeline of Ottoman history
*
Action of 27 May 1770
*
Action of 6 November 1772
*
Action of 4 July 1773
*
Action of 3 September 1773
*
Action of 20 June 1774
Notes
References
*
*İsipek, Ali Rıza ve Oğuz Aydemir (2006) ''1770 Çeşme Deniz Savaşı: 1768–1774 Osmanlı-Rus Savaşları'', Istanbul:Denizler Kitabevi,
*Isipek Ali Rıza and Aydemir Oguz (2010) ''Battle of Çesme 1770. 1768–1774 Ottoman–Russian Wars'', Istanbul, Denizler Kitabevi,
Further reading
*Baş, Ersan: ''Çeşme, Navarin, Sinop Baskınları ve Sonuçları''
eşme, Navarino, Sinop Raids and the Results Türk Deniz Harp Tarihinde İz Bırakan Gemiler, Olaylar ve Şahıslar. Piri Reis Araştırma Merkezi Yayını, Sayı: 8. İstanbul 2007, Deniz Basımevi,
External links
Istanbul Naval Museum official website
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Chesma
Chesma 1770
Chesma 1770
Chesma 1770
History of İzmir Province
History of the Aegean Sea
1770 in the Ottoman Empire
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