| Battle of Athos | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Russo-Turkish War (1806-1812) | |||||||
The Battle of Athos by Alexey Bogolyubov |
|||||||
|
|||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Russian Empire | Ottoman Empire | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Dmitry Senyavin |
Seyit Ali Bekir Bey (POW) |
||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 10 ships of the line | 10 ships of the line, 5 frigates, 3 sloops, 2 brigs | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 77 killed, 189 wounded | 3 ships of the line, 2 frigates,
1 sloop, 1,000 killed, 774 prisoners |
||||||
|
|
|||||
The naval Battle of Mount Athos (also known as the Battle of Monte Sancto and the Battle of Lemnos) took place from 19–22 June 1807 and was a key naval battle of the Russo-Turkish War (1806–12, part of the Napoleonic Wars). It was fought a month after Battle of the Dardanelles.
The battle was triggered by Dmitry Senyavin's retreat from the Dardanelles, which he had been blockading since March, towards the Russian naval base at Tenedos. The Ottoman commander, Kapudan Pasha Seyit-Ali, ventured with 9 battleships, 5 frigates and 5 other vessels out of the strait into the Aegean Sea. Thereupon Senyavin returned to cut off his retreat and fell upon the Ottoman fleet halfway between Mount Athos and Lemnos. Trying to avoid a battle or distraction from Tenedos, the Turkish fleet went around him on the south side and rushed to the west. Senyavin, leaving the smaller ships to help the fortress, set out to find the enemy, and found him on June 19 in unsettled situation at anchor between the island of Lemnos and Athos Mountain.
From his previous experience, Senyavin had learned that the Ottomans fought bravely unless their flagship was sunk or taken captive. He therefore ordered Aleksey Greig and other captains of his battleships to concentrate their attack on the three Ottoman flagships, whilst other Russian vessels were to prevent Ottoman frigates from delivering help.
The Russians approached in two parallel lines of five battleships each, turning north to run alongside the Ottoman line. During the battle 3 Ottoman battleships and four frigates - around one third of the Sultan's fleet - were either sunk or forced aground. The rest retired to the safety of the Dardanelles. On the way they scuttled another battleship and a frigate near Thasos on 4 July and lost a frigate and a sloop near Samothrace on about 5 July.
On the morning of June 20 revealed that the whole Turkish fleet, catching a tailwind, going north to the island of Thassos, a battleship and two frigates (former captain of the ship helped Bey), cut off from her Russian squadron. June 21 Senyavin dispatched in pursuit of the latest rear-admiral Greig with three ships of the line, but the Turkish sailors threw their ships ashore and burned. At dawn on June 22 at the retreating Turkish squadron exploded another battleship and a frigate, and two damaged frigate sunk off the island of Samothrace. [2] Of the 20 Turkish ships in Dardanelles, only 12 returned.
June 23 Senyavin decided not to pursue the enemy, and return to help the beleaguered Tenedos. However, due to the wind and calms just arrived on the 25th. Turkish troops surrendered, and, leaving all their guns and arms, was transported to the Anatolian coast.
As a result of the battle, the Ottoman Empire lost a combat-capable fleet for more than a decade and signed an armistice with Russia on 12 August.
Contents |
Russia
Battleships:
First line:
Second line:
750 guns total
Ottoman Empire (Note: many names are uncertain)
Battleships:
Frigates:
Sloops:
Others:
850 guns total
Total 1200 guns