Battle of Chesma

Battle context

The Battle of Chesma, fought between the western tip of Anatolia and the island of Chios, marked the first in a series of disastrous Ottoman fleet engagements against Russia during the Sixth Russo-Turkish War. Ottoman casualties reached approximately 11,000 against a force of 1,300, reflecting the scale of the naval destruction inflicted. The battle was part of the Orlov revolt of 1770, an episode that prefigured the Greek War of Independence by more than fifty years, and demonstrated Russia's capacity to project naval power into Ottoman-controlled waters in the eastern Mediterranean. The engagement established a pattern of Russian naval dominance over the Ottomans in this conflict and is recognized in Russia as a Day of Military Honour.