On February 24, 1745, far from the seas and oceans, in the Russian outback, Fedor Fedorovich Ushakov was born - an invincible admiral who laid the victorious traditions of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. On the day of Ushakov's 275th birthday, Izvestia commemorates the fate of the great Russian naval commander.
His small homeland is the village of Burnakovo, which is lost in the modern Rybinsk district of the Yaroslavl region. Nowadays there are no permanent residents in Burnakov, the Ushakovskaya village is practically uninhabited. And in those days, it was not very crowded. And the noblemen Ushakovs, who did not profit from the labors of the righteous stone chambers, did not live well.
He did not dare to enter the guard: there was not enough money for a brilliant social life. The Naval Cadet Corps became his school, after which Ushakov began serving on the ships of the Baltic Fleet. At that time - the only one in Russia.
Ushakov's lifetime portraits have not survived. The reason for this is the admiral's modest disposition. There are practically no reliable memories of him either. By distant rumors, we can judge that he was broad-shouldered, a strong bodily - a living bear from the Yaroslavl coat of arms. He was not a stranger to the literary gift, he made up bright reports and orders. At the same time, he felt uncomfortable at court, avoided balls and parades. Although he served for several years in the exemplary naval guard in the capital, and willy-nilly memorized the court order. When an Austrian officer in a report once called a Russian sailor Admiral von Ushakov, Suvorov abruptly interrupted him: "Take your own" background ", and if you please call the Russian admiral, the hero of Kaliakria and Corfu, Fyodor Fedorovich Ushakov!" This attitude speaks volumes: Ushakov, both in manners and in spirit, was a truly Russian person.
Finest hour
Ushakov was trusted by the all-powerful prince Grigory Potemkin, the builder and patron of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. The first order - St. Vladimir IV degree - the captain of the first rank Ushakov received in 1785 not for battles, but for fighting the plague. In those days, an epidemic was raging at the Kherson shipyards, and indeed in the Black Sea region. By order of Ushakov, all patients were immediately isolated. They were moved to special dugouts. Bonfires burned around the clock, and workers fumigated their clothes, corroding the infection. Hospital wards were quickly put together … Ushakov did not think about personal gain - and saved the lives of many sailors.
Prince Grigory Potemkin.
Promotional video:
And in 1787 a war with the Turks began. The first battle he had to fight under the leadership of Count Marko Voinovich - the same age, who already wore the admiral's epaulettes. Brigadier Ushakov at Fidonisi commanded the vanguard of the squadron. The Turkish fleet surpassed the Russian both in quantity and quality of ships. But the skill of the Russian gunners and the Ushakov's ability to act thoughtfully and boldly affected. Victoria was so impressive that Ushakov and Voinovich were unable to share the glory, dumbfounded Potemkin with denunciations against each other. Potemkin awarded both, but in future campaigns he staked on Ushakov. And he ruffled and beat the Turkish fleet again and again - at Kerch and Tendra. He made unexpected landings in Ottoman ports.
Order of St. Vladimir IV degree.
But Ushakov won the main victory over the Ottoman fleet at the very end of the Russian-Turkish war, in 1791. Cape Kaliakria (Kaliakra) is located in Bulgaria, translated from Greek its name means "beautiful cape". A thin isthmus cuts into the sea for 2 km. The Ottoman fleet was concentrated there.
To help the Turkish Black Sea squadron, reinforcements from Africa arrived under the command of Seid-Ali, a native of Algeria, a famous ambitious. To inflame the fighting spirit in his sailors, he made loud statements: “I will teach Ushakov a lesson! I'll deliver him to Istanbul in chains like a beast! These boastful statements reached Ushakov.
Battle of Fidonisi. July 1788.
The Turks had 18 ships of the line, 17 frigates, the total number of guns was 1.6 thousand barrels on large ships. And also 43 auxiliary ships, also well equipped. The coastal fortifications with artillery also helped the Turks. Ushakov's squadron consisted of 18 battleships, two frigates and 19 auxiliary vessels. Total - less than a thousand guns.
Battle of Tendra. August 28-29, 1790.
Seeing the Turkish ships, Ushakov decided on a lightning-fast attack - to stun the enemy. In three columns, under fire from batteries from both sides, Russian frigates marched between the coast and the Turkish squadron.
At the climax of the battle, Ushakov attacked Seid-Ali's ship on the Rozhdestven Khristovo ship. The wounded Pasha left the battlefield.
Battle of Kaliakria. August 11, 1791.
Ushakov wrote to Potemkin: the Turkish fleet was "very defeated, implicated and constrained so that the enemy ships beat each other with their own shots." The Turks retreated to Constantinople in disorder. “Oh great! Your fleet is no more! " - with these words began his report to Sultan Seid-Ali.
No wonder the Bulgarians consider the Battle of Kaliakria a prologue to liberation from the Turkish yoke.
Republic of the Seven Islands
The war is over. Potemkin was also gone. After all the victories, Ushakov was awarded a little less generously than it would have happened under Prince Tauride. But he continued to strengthen the Black Sea Fleet.
Ushakov was again needed by big politics in 1798, when the anti-French coalition of European monarchies was gaining momentum.
Emperor Paul I.
Paul I, who became the Grand Master of the Order of the Hospitallers, dreamed of freeing Malta from the revolutionary French and obtaining bases for the Russian fleet in the Mediterranean. The united Russian-Turkish squadron (yesterday's enemies entered into a coalition with Russia) was led by Ushakov. Ushak Pasha, as his new allies called him, first went to expel the troops of the Directory from the Greek islands.
Corfu, the strategically most important island, was reliably covered by the bastions in nearby Vido. The positions of the French seemed impregnable. But Ushakov skillfully organized the siege, repelling all attempts of the French to break through to help the blocked garrison. Everything was decided by the bloody battle for the Vido bastions on February 18, 1799. Under the banner of Ushakov, not only Russians fought, but also Turks and Greek militias. Almost 3 thousand French surrendered, including four generals. Banners, guns, warehouses - everything went to the winners.
The storming of the sea fortress of Corfu. February 18-20, 1799.
On the Ionian Islands and in our time, the Russian admiral is revered as a liberator. And rightfully so. After consulting with local representatives, Ushakov established the Republic of the Seven Islands with its capital in Corfu. It was the first sovereign Greek state in several centuries.
It is no accident that, upon learning of the victory at Corfu, Suvorov himself wrote an enthusiastic letter to the admiral, in which he recalled the words of Peter I: "Russia is alone in the world, it has no rivals." The field marshal concluded his message with an exclamation: "Why was I not at Corfu, though a midshipman!" For Ushakov, who considered Suvorov his teacher, such praise was above all awards.
Sanaksar hermit
Through the efforts of Ushakov, the Black Sea became Russian again. But the new emperor - Alexander I - transferred the naval commander to the capital to command the Baltic rowing fleet. It was a prestigious, but not a military assignment. And Ushakov got bored. Yes, and old wounds made themselves felt. In 1807, he resigned with a modest pension and the right to wear a uniform.
Emperor Alexander I.
Fyodor Fedorovich spent his old age lonely, in a quiet village not far from the Sanaksar monastery. The founder of this monastery was the admiral's uncle and namesake - the elder Theodore Sanaksarsky. The admiral spent more and more time in his cells, became his own man in the monastery, although he did not accept the tonsure. He spent ten years without getting out in this remote land in the Tambov region.
Ushakov's grave in the Sanaksar Monastery, September 2007.
In 1812, in the terrible days of the Napoleonic invasion, Ushakov, according to old memory, was elected the head of the Tambov militia. He thanked fellow citizens for such an honor, but refused military affairs. The forces refused to him, and Ushakov did not want to be a "wedding admiral". He died quietly within the monastery walls in the fall of 1817 - forgotten by everyone.
Belated glory
Throughout his life, Admiral Ushakov did not lose a single ship - neither in battles, nor in storms. Not a single sailor who fought under his command was captured.
In Mikhail Romm's film “Admiral Ushakov,” a young British officer, Horatio Nelson, admires the victories of the Russian naval commander. He learns from Ushakov and after him abandons the routine "linear tactics" that constrained the tactical capabilities of the naval commanders. Was it so?
A still from the feature film "Admiral Ushakov" directed by Mikhail Romm at the Mosfilm studio in 1953. In the role of Fyodor Ushakov - actor Ivan Pereverzev.
Of course, the British studied naval battles in the Black Sea and could be convinced that the use of the reserve and a maneuverable attack on the main enemy forces more than once brought the Russian admiral success in battle. In battles with huge Turkish squadrons, Ushakov invariably concentrated fire on the flagships - and found the shortest paths to victory.
But Ushakov gained real fame only during the Mediterranean campaign. And Nelson, who in that campaign did not behave impeccably, communicated with the "Russian bear" respectfully.
Ushakov Order
By the beginning of the twentieth century, Ushakov was almost forgotten. No monuments were erected to him, no books were written about him. In the pantheon of heroes of Russia, he found himself in the shadow of Admiral Pavel Nakhimov, who fell for the Fatherland in besieged Sevastopol.
After the revolution, the glory of the tsarist admiral was to fade altogether. But the opposite happened.
During the Great Patriotic War, the idea of the main naval award arose - an order that would be awarded to naval commanders. Modeled on the Order of Suvorov. The question arose: whose name should the award be named? Admiral Nikolai Kuznetsov was engaged in this.
Order of Admiral Ushakov, I degree, established by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of March 3, 1944.
He had two candidates - Nakhimov and Ushakov. He reported both to Stalin. But who should be higher? It seems that Nakhimov was much more famous … But, plunging into the history of battles, Kuznetsov gave preference to Ushakov: after all, he changed the tactics of naval battle, did not suffer a single defeat … A long, flawless victorious career. On reflection, Stalin agreed with the admiral. Since then, a renaissance of interest in Ushakov began. Books and dissertations devoted to the legacy of the great naval commander began to appear. So the Order of Ushakov became more "weighty" than the Order of Nakhimov.
And the admiral began a well-deserved posthumous glory. A play about Ushakov was staged in theaters. Director Mikhail Romm has started to create a color film film about Ushakov - "Admiral Ushakov" and "Ships storm the bastions."
The mosaic face of the righteous warrior Theodore Ushakov on the western facade of the bell tower of the Sanaksar Monastery.
The streets of Ushakov began to appear in cities, monuments were erected to him. In a word, justice has triumphed. And by the end of the twentieth century, it turned out that Ushakov enjoys a special veneration among Orthodox believers. Especially in the region where he spent his last quiet years and where he is buried. In 2001, he was canonized as a righteous warrior. And for Russian sailors Ushakov is a symbol of valor and naval foresight.
It so happened: nowadays it means more to Russia than 100 or 200 years ago. The Court of History sometimes makes belated but fair decisions.
Author: Arseny Zamostyanov
