Battles of the Russo-Turkish War of 1806–1812

22 May 1807 · Mouth of the Dardanelles

Russian victory; the Ottoman fleet driven back into the strait

Seyid Ali brought the Ottoman fleet out of the Dardanelles to retake Tenedos, Senyavin's base, and landed troops there, but the Russian garrison drove them off. After days of calms and squalls, the wind came round on 22 May and both fleets got under way. Senyavin caught the Ottoman rear in the evening near the mouth of the strait, and the two fleets fought until after dark, when most of the Ottoman ships got back inside the Dardanelles under the guns of the forts. Three ships of the line were left outside, aground, and were fired on again the next morning as they were towed in; they were so damaged they never served again. The Russians lost 26 killed.

1–2 July 1807 · Between Mount Athos and Lemnos

Russian victory; the Ottoman fleet lost a third of its ships

When the Ottoman fleet came out again in June, Senyavin let it attack Tenedos, then placed his fleet between it and the Dardanelles. He found it west of Lemnos at dawn on 1 July and attacked in an unusual way: instead of fighting the whole line, he sent his ships in pairs against the three Ottoman flagships, so that each would be fought by two Russian ships at once. Rafail broke through the Ottoman line and was badly damaged, and two Russian ships went ahead to slow the head of the column. After about three hours the Ottomans broke away. That evening the damaged Sedd-ul-Bahr, Bekir Bey's flagship, fell behind and surrendered. Over the next days two more ships of the line, a frigate and a sloop were driven ashore near Mount Athos and burned by their crews, and two others were burned off Thasos. Only twelve of the twenty Ottoman ships got back to the Dardanelles. Within the week Russia made peace with France at Tilsit, and Senyavin was ordered home.