Battle of Chesme - Russian Fleet Burns Ottomans

July 5, 1770

Catherine's Baltic Fleet, guided by British advisors, cornered the Ottoman navy in Chesme Bay on Anatolia's coast and set it ablaze with fire-ships. The Mediterranean Turks lost twenty warships in a single night. Europe suddenly remembered that Russia existed; the Ottomans never truly recovered their naval nerve. Catherine commissioned a celebratory column at Tsarskoye Selo, and Russian prestige in the Mediterranean surged overnight.