Fyodor Fyodorovich Ushakov
Portrait of Fyodor Fyodorovich Ushakov painted by Peter Bajanov, c. 1912.
Central Naval Museum
Native name
Фёдор Фёдорович Ушаков
Nickname(s)Ushak Pasha
Born(1745-02-24)24 February 1745
Burnakovo, Yaroslavl Province, Moscow Governorate, Russian Empire
Died14 October 1817(1817-10-14) (aged 72)
Alekseevka, Tambov Governorate, Russian Empire
Buried
Sanaksar Monastery, Temnikov, Russian Empire
Allegiance Russia
Service/branch Imperial Russian Navy
Years of service1766–1812
RankAdmiral
Commands heldBlack Sea Fleet
Battles/warsRusso-Turkish War (1768–1774)
Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792)

War of the Second Coalition

Awards
RelationsHouse of Ushakov
Saint

Feodor (Theodore) Ushakov
Russian icon of Saint Fyodor Ushakov
Holy Righteous Warrior
Venerated inEastern Orthodoxy
Canonized7 August 2001, Sanaksar Monastery, Temnikov, Russia by Russian Orthodox Church
Major shrineSanaksar Monastery, Temnikov, Russia
Feast2 October, 23 July, 23 May
AttributesAdmiral attire
Telescope
Scroll
Medals
PatronageRussian Navy
Nuclear bombers
Monument to Admiral Fyodor Ushakov for the battle of Cape Kaliakra, Kaliakra, Kavarna

Fyodor Fyodorovich Ushakov (Russian: Фёдор Фёдорович Ушаков, tr. Fëdor Fëdorovič Ušakov, IPA: [ʊʂɐˈkof]; 24 February [O.S. 13 February] 1745 – 14 October [O.S. 2 October] 1817) was an 18th century Russian naval commander and admiral. He is notable for winning every engagement he participated in as the admiral of the Russian fleet, and is regarded as one of the most capable naval commanders of Russia of all time.[1]

Life and naval career

Ushakov was born in the village of Burnakovo in the Yaroslavl province, Moscow Gubernia, to a modest family of the minor nobility. His father, Fyodor Ignatyevich Ushakov, was a retired sergeant of the Preobrazhensky Regiment of the Russian Imperial guards. By the time Fyodor Ushakov submitted his statement of background (skaska) to the military, his family had not been officially confirmed in the so-called 'dvoryanstvo', yet they surely belonged to serving gentry. In the submission Ushakov stated that he neither had a coat-of-arms, nor a royal patent for a landed estate, and had no way to prove nobility. In 1798, Ushakov, as a vice-admiral of the Black Sea Fleet, submitted a request for official nobility and an arms providing a genealogical record. In 1807 his coat-of-arms was added to the General all-Russian book heraldry. In 1815 Fyodor Ushakov and his family were added to the part 6 (ancient nobility) of the Yaroslavl genealogical book.[2]

On 15 February 1761, he signed up for the Russian Navy in Saint Petersburg. After training, he served on a galley in the Baltic Fleet. In 1768 he was transferred to the Don Flotilla (Azov Flotilla) in Taganrog, and served in the Russo-Turkish War (1768–74). He commanded Catherine II's own yacht, and was active in protecting Russian merchant ships in the Mediterranean during the First League of Armed Neutrality.

After the Russian Empire conquered the Crimean Khanate in 1783, Ushakov personally supervised the construction of a naval base in Sevastopol and the building of docks in Kherson. During the Russo-Turkish War (1787–92), he defeated the Ottomans at Fidonisi (1788), Kerch Strait (1790), Tendra (1790), and Cape Kaliakra (1791). In these battles, he demonstrated the ingenuity of his innovative doctrines in the art of naval warfare.

In 1798 Ushakov was promoted to full admiral and given command of a squadron which sailed to the Mediterranean via Constantinople, where it joined with a Ottoman squadron. The combined Russian-Ottoman fleet then operated under Ushakov's command in the War of the Second Coalition against the French Republic. The expedition started by conquering the Ionian islands, acquired by France the year before from the defunct Republic of Venice in the Treaty of Campo Formio. This action culminated in the Siege of Corfu (1798–1799), and led to the subsequent creation of the Septinsular Republic. In establishing this republic, Ushakov proved himself to be a skilful politician and diplomat. Ushakov's squadron then blockaded French bases in Italy, notably Genoa and Ancona, and successfully assaulted Naples (Henry Baillie's landing party of 600 men) and Rome (the detachments of Pyotr Balabin and Colonel Skipor, 800 men). The Italians greeted the Russians as liberators: according to Balabin's report, with the words Vivat Pavlo primo, vivat moscovito! The seizures of Naples and Rome became possible for Russia because the local French were forced to meet the Coalition towards Trebbia. Shortly after the capture of Rome, the Russian detachments returned to the squadron. Ferdinand IV asked Ushakov at the very end of 1799, during the departure of the Russian squadron, to leave Baillie and his party in Naples for some time.[3]

Tsar Paul, in his capacity as the Grand Master of the Order of St. John, ordered Ushakov to proceed to Malta, which a British fleet under Nelson was assisting in besieging.

Grave of Ushakov in Sanaksar Abbey

However, after rendezvousing with the Coalition forces on Malta, Ushakov was almost immediately recalled back home to Russia in 1800 (along with his fleet), where the new Emperor, Alexander I, failed to appreciate his victories. Ushakov resigned command in 1807 and withdrew into the Sanaksar Monastery in modern-day Mordovia. He was asked to command the local militia during the Patriotic War of 1812, but declined.

In the course of 43 naval battles under his command he did not lose a single ship and never lost a battle.

Tactics

Distinguishing features of Ushakov's tactics were: use of unified marching and fighting orders; resolute closing to close quarters with the enemy forces without evolution of a fighting order; concentration of effort against enemy flagships; maintaining a reserve (Kaiser-flag squadrons); combination of aimed artillery fire and maneuvering; and chasing the enemy to its total destruction or capture.

Giving great value to sea and fire training of his staff, Ushakov was a supporter of generalissimo Suvorov's principles of training for sailors and officers. Ushakov's innovations were among the first successful developments of naval tactics, from its "line" to maneuvering concepts.

Legacy

Several warships have been named after Admiral Ushakov.

On 3 March 1944 the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR established the Order of Ushakov for Navy officers who showed outstanding achievement leading to victory over a numerically superior enemy. This medal was one of several which was preserved in Russia upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union, thus remaining one of the highest military awards in the Russian Federation. The Ushakov Medal was established simultaneously for servicemen who had risked their life in naval theatres defending the Soviet Union. In May 2014, the medal was presented to 19 surviving British sailors who had served on the Arctic convoys during World War II in a ceremony aboard HMS Belfast.[4]

The Baltic Naval Institute in Kaliningrad also carries his name. The minor planet 3010 Ushakov, discovered by Soviet astronomer Lyudmila Ivanovna Chernykh in 1978, is named after him.[5]

In 1953 two Soviet films were released portraying his career: Attack from the Sea and Admiral Ushakov. In both films he was played by Ivan Pereverzev.

Ushakov is one of the eight patrons depicted in the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ at Patriot Park, Moscow.

Canonization

On 7 August 2001 the Russian Orthodox Church glorified Ushakov as a Saint and declared him the patron of the Russian Navy. His relics are enshrined in Sanaksar Monastery, Temnikov, Russia.

State Corporation Rostec implemented a project to bring Ushakov's relics from Mordovia to Russia.[6]

In 2005, in the Cathedral of St. Theodore Ushakov in Saransk (Mordovia), Patriarch Alexius II declared Saint Feodor (Theodore) Ushakov the patron saint of Russian nuclear-armed strategic bombers.

His feast days are 2 October (day of death), 23 July (glorification) and 23 May (saints of Yaroslavl and Rostov).[7]

References

  1. ↑ "Сто великих полководцев – История.РФ" [A hundred great military commanders]. 100.histrf.ru. Russian Military Historical Society. Archived from the original on 25 March 2023. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
  2. ↑ Ovchinnikov, V. D. (2012). "Адмирал Ф.Ф. Ушаков: архивные документы против легенд". Herald of an Archivist (2).
  3. ↑ Tarle, Y. V. Адмирал Ушаков на Средиземном море (1798–1800) [Admiral Ushakov at the Mediterranean Sea]. pp. 191, 205, 207–208.
  4. ↑ John Naughton (22 May 2014). "Arctic Convoy veterans honoured by Russia on HMS Belfast". Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 28 June 2014. Retrieved 23 May 2014.
  5. ↑ Dictionary of Minor Planet Names - p.247
  6. ↑ "Александр Назаров: биография топ-менеджера Ростеха". global38.ru. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  7. ↑ "5 июня 2022 - Православный Церковный календарь". azbyka.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 4 August 2021.

Sources

Bibliography:

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