page_title: Russian ship of the line Azov (1826)
section_title: Kronstadt to Navarino
hierarchical_section_title: Russian ship of the line Azov (1826) / Service / Kronstadt to Navarino
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Лазарев М. П. (1788-1851) — русский флотоводец и мореплаватель, адмирал (1843), кавалер ордена Святого Георгия IV класса за выслугу лет (1817), командующий Черноморским флотом и первооткрыватель Антарктиды. Данный рисунок был также использован для иллюстрирования статьи «Лазаревы» опубликованной в четырнадцатом томе «Военной энциклопедии», который был издан книгоиздательским товариществом Ивана Дмитриевича Сытина в 1914 году в столице Российской империи городе Санкт-Петербурге. Подробное описание к этой картинке можно прочесть в указанной выше статье на сайте Русской Викитеки. English: Portrait of Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev.
context_page_description: Azov was a 74-gun ship of the line of the Imperial Russian Navy. Azov was built in 1826 to compensate the losses of the disastrous 1824 Saint Petersburg flood. In the same year Azov, commanded by Mikhail Lazarev, became the flagship of Admiral Login Geiden's First Mediterranean Squadron and sailed to the Aegean on a joint English-French-Russian peacekeeping mission. On October 20, 1827 Azov spearheaded the Russian squadron in the Battle of Navarino. She engaged numerous enemy ships and sustained heavy damage.
  After refit at Malta Azov continued her service as Geiden's flagship and enforced naval blockade of Greece and the Dardanelles. In the beginning of 1830 Azov returned to Kronstadt. By this time the ship was literally rotten owing to poor workmanship and combat damage. She was retired in the same year and broken up in 1831 after only four years in service.
  Five officers of Azov who fought at Navarino became admirals in the Russian Navy: captain Mikhail Lazarev, Vladimir Istomin, Vladimir Kornilov, Pavel Nakhimov and Yevfimy Putyatin.
context_section_description: In the spring of 1827 Nicholas authorized a brief full-scale exercise of the Baltic Fleet, a last-minute review of available forces before committing them to his Greek project. The fleet consisted of nine ships of the line, eight frigates and four lesser ships. Admiral Dmitry Senyavin raised his flag on the Azov and sailed out to the Baltic on May 23 [O.S. June 4] 1827. Five days later the fleet returned to Kronstadt. May 30 [O.S. June 11] 1827 Senyavin received a top secret order: he had to lead the whole fleet to Portsmouth, England. Upon receiving further heads-up from the Russian ambassador in London Senyavin had to split his fleet in two squadrons. Four ships of the line, four frigates and two brigs of Senyavin's choice would form the new First Mediterranean Squadron, with Login Geiden in command, and proceed to the Mediterranean immediately.
  In the evening of June 9 [O.S. June 21], when the fleet was still in Kronstadt, Nicholas personally visited Azov and literally pushed the fleet into the sea. Azov left Kronstadt with the tsar on board at around 5 a.m. in the morning; in the afternoon he boarded his yacht and returned to Saint Petersburg. The fleet sailed forward, reaching Reval on June 13 [O.S. June 25], Bornholm on July 4 [O.S. July 16], Copenhagen on July 7 [O.S. July 19]. Azov and older Gangut proved themselves good seagoers as opposed to heavy and slow Alexander Nevsky and Emmanuel. Winds in the Danish straits delayed the voyage, and the fleet arrived in Portsmouth only on July 27 [O.S. August 9]. As soon as his ships lined up in the Solent, Senyavin received the news that England, France and Russia have just signed the Treaty of London. On August 6 [O.S. August 17] Senyavin boarded Tsar Constantine and Geiden raised his flag on Azov. The First Mediterranean Squadron, led by Azov, became operational.
  Sailing south-west to Cape St. Vincent was quick, but then the squadron ran into strong headwinds. It reached Sicily on September 21 [O.S. September 9]. On the same day Azov suffered its first two casualties: a sailor fell overboard, midshipman Domashnenko jumped down to rescue him, both drowned. Geiden lost two more weeks in sailing to Messina to meet with Russian diplomats. 
  At last on October 13 [O.S. October 1] the Russian squadron met the British force of Admiral Edward Codrington south of Zakynthos. On the same day the combined fleet was joined by the French squadron of Admiral Henri de Rigny. According to Geiden's reports, the unusually smooth rendezvous was purely accidental. On the next day the French left for refit; the English and Russian ships sailed south to Methoni and blocked the entrance into the Navarino harbor, the anchorage of the combined Turkish-Egyptian fleet.
  Azov and the British flagship HMS Asia took their stations side-by-side, and the two admirals regularly spoke to each other. De Rigny returned on October 17 [O.S. October 5], which brought the strength of allied fleet to ten ships of the line, nine frigates and four lesser ships. The three admirals decided to enter the harbor in strength and force the Turks and the Egyptians to accept the terms of the Treaty of London. De Rigny and Geiden agreed to obey Codrington, as senior in command, for the whole period of the standoff.
caption: Mikhail Lazarev, captain of Azov in 1826-1827.
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