Siege of Ochakov (1788)

The siege of Ochakov (Russian: осада Очакова) or the siege of Özi (Turkish: Özi Kuşatması), now Ochakiv, Ukraine, was one of the major events of the Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792). The Ochakov Fortress had the appearance of an irregular quadrangle, consisting of low bastions with a dry moat and glacis on the dry side, and a simple stone wall on the sea side. In addition, 10 advanced lunettes built later extended from the dry side. From the sea, fort Hasan Paşa reinforced the defense. By the time the Russians began the siege, the fortress was a strong fence, but was not able to withstand an active, energetic storming for long. Ochakov was not what it was in the old days, under Münnich in 1737, but it still did not represent an impregnable stronghold that required enormous preparations and expenditure of time. Besieging in summer and autumn, with the arrival of winter, the supreme commander Potemkin decided to stop the siege works and begin the storming of Ochakov (Russian: штурм Очакова) on 17 December [O.S. 6 December] 1788, which ended in Russian success and capture of Hüseyin Pasha, the chief of garrison.

In 1788, Russian forces led by the commander in chief Prince Grigory Potemkin, General Alexander Suvorov, who was called here from near Kinburn Spit with his Phanagorian Regiment and commanded the left wing (until injury and replacement), Prince Nikolai Repnin (the center) and Ivan Möller (the right wing) besieged the city, held by Ottoman troops massively assisted at sea by Hasan Pasha, whose knowledge exceeded the Turkish military level of that time, and commanded by Hüseyin Pasha. Despite Suvorov's urging to storm the city immediately, Potemkin had the Russian forces encircle Ochakov (Özi), bombarding the city and cutting off the defenders' supply of food and ammunition. By keeping his soldiers out of direct battle, Potemkin strove to minimize Russian combat-casualties, though he was accused by his generals, including Suvorov, of cowardice, and the Turks organized several sorties from the fortress and in everyway interfered with the siege at sea. The argument within the Russian headquarters about storming Ochakov continued during the entirety of the siege. The rowing flotilla was commanded by Prince Karl (Charles) Nassau-Siegen, the sailing fleet by Paul Jones, a fighter for American independence; the latter stood in subordination of the first. There was no great agreement between them. Nassau and Jones were subordinate to Potemkin.

At the siege's beginning, Russian Captain Christian Osten-Sacken died in a difficult situation at the naval combat action of 31 May 1788, being surrounded, and blowing up his own reconnaissance warship along with himself after evacuating the crew. There were pretty large naval battle of 18 June 1788 and battle of 28 June 1788. In the second, the most successful for the Russians, the Turks lost 16 ships/vessels thanks to the joint actions of Nassau's flotilla and Suvorov's coastal artillery. In a daring sortie of 7 August 1788, the Turks under Hüseyin Pasha managed to rout Suvorov's troops, who was seriously wounded and gave his post to General Bibikov.