Navarino, the last great battle of the sailing navy

(To Mario Veronesi)
20/10/18

The naval battle of Navarino was fought in the waters of the port of Peloponnese, in the wide Gulf of the Southern Peloponnese, where the battle of Pilo had occurred, in 425 BC between Athens and Sparta, the 20 October 1827, in the Greek independence. The English, French and Russian allied fleets destroyed the Egyptian fleet of Ibrahim Pasha, sent to help the Ottoman forces engaged in Greek repression.

In the 1821 the insurrection broke out across the whole of mainland Greece. At the same time, the secession of Epiro led by Ali Pasha took place. The repression of the Turks was not long in coming and the following year they quickly regained control of Epirus, trying to re-establish their domination with terror. The bloodiest events took place on the island of Chios, where in April 1822 the population was completely exterminated, and in Constantinople, where the patriarch was hanged. These facts raised a broad echo in liberal circles throughout Europe. The situation for the Turks was released thanks to the intervention of troops sent by the Egyptian pascià Mehmet Ali, in fact, Navarino was reconquered in the 1825, Missolungi in the 1826 and Athens in the 1827. The succession to the throne of Nicholas I Romanov (1796-1855) and the renewed Russian intention to work for Greek independence (in the hope of obtaining an outlet in the Mediterranean, further weakening the Osmanics and implementing greater control over the Balkans), led conflict to the attention of the great powers (France, England, Russia), which, in the 1827, following a failed attempt at mediation with the Turks, opened hostilities, annihilating the Turkish fleet in the Navarino bay and, in the 1828, occupying the Morea.

The massacres committed by the Ottomans during the Greek War of Independence had shaken European public opinion; however, only Russia would have immediately taken advantage of a weakening of the Ottoman Empire. After long diplomatic maneuvers, the three powers had agreed to send naval forces, essentially to interpose and dissuade the Ottomans and their Egyptian allies from carrying out further reprisals. The instructions to the admirals (the rules of engagement, as they would be called today) did not foresee offensive actions against the Ottomans and the Egyptians, but in response to musket hits from a Turkish lance against a British spear, Codrington ordered to open fire and the clash became a generalized battle. After three hours of fighting, all Egyptian and Turkish ships at anchor in the port were sunk and, with them, almost destroyed the potential of the Ottoman fleet. The destruction of the Turkish fleet put the allies in control of the Peloponnese, opening the door for the creation of the modern Greek state.

Twenty - two years after Trafalgar, twelve after Waterloo, for the first time since Texel and Solebay, that is to say, after a further century and a half, French and English sailors were seen fighting together, and with them also the Russians. Curious detail: none of the five powers was at war with any of the others. We do not even know who took the initiative to open fire. And finally one of the winning admirals the English one, officially disavowed by his own government, was removed from the command. In short Navarino presented itself, both tactically and politically, under the sign of the most complete confusion. Not so in terms of results achieved.

Remained after the Vienna Congress (1815) under Turkish rule, Greece rose for its independence. The Aegean Sea and the many islands that dotted it, in the waters between Turkey and Greece was the operative theater of the insurgents who, after having elected James Tombaris as Grand Admiral, armed thirty-six brigantines from 12 to 20 cannons. The Greek attacks put in serious danger the Turkish maritime traffic and to nothing served the intervention of the naval squads enemy deficient of men, competences and command. Naval warfare from the 1821 to the 1825 highlighted the value and skill of the Hellenic navy. Despite the naval successes, the situation of the insurgents precipitated due to the intervention of the viceroy of Egypt Mehemet Alì called to the rescue by the Turkish sovereign sent his adopted son Ibraham Pasha, an Albanian, who began an extermination program aimed at removing all Greeks of the Peloponnese, and to replace them with Muslims from Africa. The Greeks could not oppose the landing of the enemy troops in Morea and Missolungi fell after a long siege, it was the 1828. It was at this time that Great Britain, and France decided to intervene, the official motive was to put an end to the conflict that caused damage to international maritime trade. British Foreign Minister George Canning sent a fleet under Admiral Codrington to stop the genocide. Nicholas I who had just ascended the throne of Russia, sought nothing more than an opportunity to create difficulties for the adversary of all time, who blocked access to the Mediterranean and lost no time in joining Great Britain and France. So it was that, in October 1827, the Russian division of Rear Admiral Heyden went to the English and French divisions in the Adriatic under Zante. On October 1, off the Ionian Islands, Vice-Admiral Edward Codrington took the command of the combined team of three fleets, which would then proceed to the Bay of Navarino.

In the bay of Navarino, there was the Turkish-Egyptian team of the pasha Ibragim's, it counted three liners, 23 frigates, 42 corvettes, 15 brigantini and 50 means of transport. Under the command of Tagir Pasha the Turkish one, under Mukharem Bey-sat that Egyptian. The entrance to the bay was guarded by 145 cannons mounted on coastal batteries. The Turks had a skilled consultant, the French Letellieu, who proposed to the admirals Tagir and Muharem an ingenious plan. The Turks had to form with their ships of line and frigates, a gigantic horseshoe, in this way they would have opened a crossfire on the allied fleet. Meanwhile, the Allies sent an ultimatum to Ibragim Pasha, calling for an end to the operations against the Greeks. Then Codrington, Heyden and the French commander de Reney decided to throw anchor in front of the Turkish-Egyptian fleet. Following Codrington on board theAsia from 80 cannons, English ships formed the vanguard. With his flag, Admiral de Heyden on theAzov from 74 cannons sailed to the left of the British. As soon as theAsia he had thrown the anchor and lowered a boat with an envoy, the Turks opened a fire of muschetteria against the British spear. Codrington ordered immediate retaliation and the battle began. The frigate Dartmouth opened fire, followed by all English, French and Russian ships. Russian sailors on board the Gangut, Ezekiel e Castor they distinguished themselves in battle, even if their ships were badly damaged. THE'Azov supported byAsia sank in a duel the Muharem Bey from 96 cannons.

Within four hours the battle of Navarino ended with the complete loss of the Turkish-Egyptian fleet, which had lost all its ships, 60 were sunk and more than 6000 men were dead. If the losses were relatively light on the part of the allies (French 43, 75 English and 59 Russian dead and less than 500 wounded among all) the material had suffered not a little. All French units, except the Trident, they had to return to France for repairs. Most of the English ones had to be started in the dock. As for the Turks, they found nothing better than to complete the work of destroying their fleet themselves, throwing themselves into the coast and burning the units that were still afloat. The political consequences were noticeable, as Russia took the opportunity to start a war against the Ottomans, whose naval potential had practically been reduced to zero.

Codrington was disavowed by the British government, which would not have welcomed a weakening of the Ottoman empire, beyond the sympathy of public opinion for the Greek insurgents. Navarino is perhaps the only victory that the Royal Navy does not want to celebrate. The culmination of this whole thing was that the Greeks took advantage of the opportunity to unleash their pirates, under the pretext of the right of inspection on all ships passing by them. So they saw British or French merchant ships captured in this way the moment their compatriots were fighting in Navarino for Greek independence. Codrington recalled in his country fell into disgrace. Short disgrace, he will then be given the command of the Channel Flett.

In France, de Rigny was created noble, promoted to forty-five years vice Admiral, became the most popular commander of the Navy, of which he will then be minister under Louis Philippe.

Russia assigned to the three allied admirals, the Cross of St. George, (Order of St. George) and Lazarev was promoted to Rear Admiral. All 'Azov a new constitution decoration was granted, the banner of Saint George. According to tradition, this decoration could be transmitted to other ships named in honor of theAzov.

The naval success of the allied teams allowed the affirmation of the Greek independence, but at the same time it detected the Russian tendency to expand in the Mediterranean, something not appreciated by the other European powers. In the same month as the Navarino events, Russia declared war on Turkey: and its ships blocked the Dardanelles, the Bosphorus, the Black Sea ports, while its gunboats operated on the Danube. To contain the Russian offensive impetus, Britain and France also intervened against Turkey, quickly forcing it to peace negotiations before the Russians reached Constantinople. The winning powers imposed the treaty of the Adrianople (14 September 1829) to the Ottoman Empire, which sanctioned the independence of Greece and guaranteed Russian ships the passage from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean through the Dardanelles. The Russian foreign minister, Ioannis Kapodistrias (1776-1831), of Greek ethnicity, returned home and became the first president of the new republic.

  

The following allied ships participated in the clash of Navarino:

England under the command of Vice Admiral Sir Edward Codrington with the ships:

Asia from 84 canons (fleet flagship), Genoa from 76, Albion by 74

Fregate: Glasgow from 50, Cambrian from 48, Dartmouth from 42, Talbot by 28

Brigantes and schooners: Rose from 18, Mosquito da10, Brisk from 10, Filomena da10

Cutter: Price from 6.

France under the command of Admiral Henri de Rigny with the ships:

Breslau from 84 cannons, Scipio from 80, Trident by 74

Fregate: Sirens from 60 cannons (flagship, second, Admiral Decker), Armide by 44

Brigantes and schooners: Alcyone by 10 Daphne by 6

Russia under the command of Admiral Count Login Petrovich Heyden, with the ships:

Gangut from 84 cannons, Azov from 80 (flagship), Iezekiil by 80 Aleksandr Nevskii by 80

Fregate: Provornyi from 48 cannons, Konstantin from 44, Elena from 38, Kastor from 36