Page 342 - Il Mediterraneo quale elemento del Potere Marittimo - Atti 16-18 settembre 1996

328 IGOR A. AMOSOV

an able admiral Seniavin. He began active operations in the Adriatic. The Rus-
sians seized Catarro and severa! islands. When che war against Turkey began Se-
niavin's fleet returned from the Adriatic into the Aegean Sea, where together with
the British squadron organized blockade of the Dardanelles. On the 19th of June
1807 Seniavin gained a decisive victory over the Turkish fleet in the Barde of Athos.
The prestige of the Russian flag strengthened for many years among the W ester n
Slavs, especially in the Montenegro and among the Greeks fighting against the Tur-
kish rule.
In the Navarino Barde in 1827 che Russian squadron together with the French
and the British played the main role in the defeat of the Turkish-Egyptian fleet.
Among Russian ships especially distinguished itself the battleship Azov com-
manded by M. Lasarev.
Thus the Russian fleet played a very considerable role in supporting Russia's
foreign policy in the Mediterranean and in the liberati an of the people of Balkan
countries from the Turkish rule in the end of the XVIII and the beginning of the
XIX centuries.
From the 30th of the XIX century and up to the 1st World war ships of the
Russian Navy had not participated in major combat activities in the Mediterra-
nean, exept events around che islands of Crete in 1896-98, when a squadron of
Russian ships under command of admiral P. Andreev and N. Skrydlov operared
as a part of che so called "international squadrons".
By the middle of the XIX century it became clear that the Russian Navy was
lagging in its development behind the Navies of major European countries. The
Crimean War 1853-56 revealed that fact with great force. But stili Russians ships
used to navigate in the Mediterranean in training cruises, carried representative
missions, conducted scientific researches and hydrographical explorations. Begin-
ning with 1856 squadrons from the Baltic Fleet sailed far severa! month as a prac-
tical part of midshi pmen training. In 1860 a squadro n of admiral I. Shestakov
together with British and French ships was cruising for a year and a half along
the shores of Syria. After the rebellion of Greeks on Crete in 1866 a squadron of
Russian ships under command of admiral I. Butakov was sent to the area and stayed
there to the beginning ofthe Russian- Turkish War of 1877-78. Admiral Butakov
o n board of eli p per Yahont panici pated in the ceremony of opening of the Suez
Canal in 1869. After the Russian- Turkish War cruises of Russian sailors in che
Mediterranean renewed. Since that rime the period of rapid development of the
Russian Navy began. Russian naval detachments again were navigating in Greek
waters, its commanders were based in Athens.
In the last years of the XIX century the Mediterranean squadron of admiral
S. Makarov was sent into the Pacific Ocean in connection with the deterioration
of relations of Russia andJapan. Before the Russian- Japanese War 1904-05 pre-
sence of Russia n ships in the Mediterranean, as a rule, was linked with their passa-
ges to the Far East. After the disastrous loss of the Russian squadron in the Tsushima