An extract from another piece of history not widely known, regarding America's greatest naval hero

Jimbert

 

The following year the rowing squadron came under the command of Prince Karl Nassau-Ziegen and the supporting army remained under Suvorov. Prince Potemkin dismissed Mordvinov, and the sailing squadron in the firth was commissioned to the hero of the Archipelago Expedition, Brigadier Panaiothos Alexiano and to Rear-Admiral Jones. John Paul Jones, a Scot by birth, was the most celebrated naval hero of the American Revolutionary War. At the conclusion of the war between the United States and England Jones had moved to Paris, where he received an invitation from Catherine II to become a rear admiral in the Russian fleet. Unfortunately, Jones and Nassau-Ziegen were envious of each other's successes, a situation which adversely affected the merits of these naval leaders in subsequent battles.

Kapudan Pasha Hassan brought 98 pennants to Ochakov. On 18 May the formidable Turkish squadron entered the firth. The Turks intended to destroy the Russian vessels, seize the fortress of Kinburn and repulse Potemkin's attack on Ochakov. Captain Second-rank Reingold Saken was the first to meet the Turks, and his large boat was quickly surrounded by enemy galleys. The Turks had already begun to celebrate victory when suddenly an explosion rocked the waters. Captain Saken's ship had exploded, killing him and inflicting heavy damage on the enemy.

On 7 June the Russians stymied an attack on Ochakov. In response Hassan Pasha sent six more ships of the line into the shallow firth. The decisive battle for Ochakov took place on 17-18 June 1788. Fifty-eight Russian vessels with 400 guns and 5,500 men attacked the Turks, who had twice that force both in men and guns. In Jones's squadron there were only one big frigate and one large warship, the 66-gun Vladimir. Hassan Pasha immediately deployed ten ships of the line.

The battle continued all day. Through skilful maneuvering, Russians managed to set fire to the Turkish flagship. The Turks were forced to retreat, abandoning their burning flagship to the mercy of fate. Recalling the lessons of Chesma, Hassan Pasha tried to lead his ships out of the firth under cover of darkness. However, Suvorov had prepared for such a possible outcome, and a Russian battery, camouflaged on the Kinburn spit, awaited the enemy. The waters of the firth were lit up by the flashes of shots as the Russian rowing flotilla attacked. The Turks lost five frigates and three ships of the line, one of them seized by the Russian fleet as a prize of the battle. Two thousand seamen of the Ottoman Empire perished and 1,673 were taken prisoner. The Russian fleet lost 85 seamen and its floating battery.

Supported in his role as first flag-officer of the flotilla by Field-Marshal Potemkin, Prince Nassau-Ziegen attributed the success of the naval campaign against the Turks to himself and belittled the valor and energy displayed by Admiral Jones and Brigadier Alexiano. The news of the battle that reached St. Petersburg was colored by Nassau-Ziegen's personal jealousies.