Chichagov, Pavel - naval commander of Russia (1767)

[Anatol]

Pavel Vasilyevich Chichagov ( June 27 [ July 8 ] 1767 , Saint Petersburg , Russian Empire – August 20 [ September 1 ] 1849 , Paris , France ) was a Russian admiral , son of Vasily Yakovlevich Chichagov , and Minister of the Navy of the Russian Empire from 1802 to 1809 (officially until 1811).
He came from the Chichagov family , and was born into the family of Vasily Yakovlevich Chichagov , a naval officer at the time [ 1 ] in St. Petersburg , in Kolomna , a district adjacent to the seaport. Soon after Pavel's birth, his family moved to Kronstadt , where his father served, returning to St. Petersburg only in the spring of 1776. That same year, Chichagov was sent to study at the German School of St. Peter , which at that time had a reputation as one of the best educational institutions in Russia.
In 1779 he began his service as a sergeant in the Preobrazhensky Life Guards Regiment . On January 1, 1782, he was transferred as a lieutenant to the 1st Naval Battalion. When his father, then already a vice admiral , led a squadron heading to the Mediterranean , he begged to be taken along as an adjutant; he went with this squadron to Livorno , then returned to Kronstadt . On September 6, 1783, he was promoted to lieutenant of the fleetHe took part in the Russo-Swedish War of 1788-1790 : he commanded the ship " Rostislav ", on which he cruised in the Baltic Sea , and took part in the battle with the Swedes at Öland . In 1790, commanding the same ship, he took part in the Reval and Vyborg naval battles; for the first he was awarded the Order of St. George, IV class, on 18 May 1790 , and for the second he received a gold sword with the inscription "For Bravery" on 27 June 1790. After the victory over the Swedes at Vyborg Bay, he received the rank of captain of the 1st rank .
After the end of the war in 1790, he decided to continue his naval education, including because he wanted to eliminate all the shortcomings of the Russian fleet that he had noted during his eight years of service with his future activities. He received permission to leave through his father from Empress Catherine II and in May 1792 he went to study in England with his brother Peter , accompanied by mathematician S. E. Guryev and having a letter of recommendation to Count S. R. Vorontsov , who was then the ambassador of the Russian Empire in London. Chichagov stayed in England for about a year: he studied at a naval school, intensively studied English and, together with his brother, went to America on board a training ship. However, this ship did not reach the New World, returning, for a number of reasons, back to England. After returning home, Chichagov studied shipbuilding for some time. From July 8, 1793, he was the commander of the captured Swedish ship " Sophia Magdalena ", on which, as part of his father's squadron, he sailed to England to cruise in the North Sea . From July 1795, he commanded the ship " Retvizan " in the squadron of Vice-Admiral P. I. Khanykov , as part of which he cruised off the English coast. On November 13, 1796, he received the rank of fleet brigadier
Chichagov's official position changed after the death of Catherine II and the accession of Paul I In 1797, Chichagov, who commanded the ship Retvizan, was conducting a campaign under the standard of the Sovereign Emperor. The ship entrusted to him turned out to be one of the best, and Emperor Paul I ordered that the commander be awarded the Order of St. Anne, 3rd degree, and the rank of colonel . However, the envelope in which the order for promotion to the new rank was sent was addressed to Chichagov as a lieutenant colonel. Insulted, Chichagov resigned and on September 22, 1797, was dismissed from naval service without a pension "due to his youth." After this, he decided to settle in the village to take up farming and try to improve the situation of his peasants.
After the assassination of Paul I and the accession of Alexander I to the Russian throne , Chichagov immediately found himself among the emperor's close associates: on March 12, 1801, he was appointed to his retinue , on May 12 he received the rank of adjutant general , on September 15 he was awarded the Order of St. Anne, 1st degree with diamonds, on August 24, 1802 he took the position of a member of the Committee for the Education of the Fleet and was appointed reporter to Alexander I on the affairs of this Committee. In October of the same year, he was appointed manager of the newly established Military Chancellery for the Fleet , on November 16 he received the rank of vice admiral , on November 31 he was appointed deputy minister , and already on December 31 he was appointed minister of naval forces . Because of these rapid successes, open expression of sympathy for the English order and advocacy of the idea of the liberation of the peasants , he soon again, as under Paul I, made many enemies at court - however, he enjoyed great trust from the emperor. It is known that there was correspondence between them. On November 20, 1803, he was awarded the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky . From January 1, 1805, he was a senator and a member of the Permanent Council . From November 13, 1811 - the State Council .
As Minister of Naval Affairs, Chichagov was active: he built boathouses , monitored the development of technology and introduced various improvements in maritime practice, and repeatedly sent notes and opinions on maritime issues to the State Council. On July 17, 1807, he was granted the rank of admiral . As a member of the State Council and the Cabinet of Ministers , Chichagov constantly argued with many of his colleagues, and these clashes eventually led to him taking a leave of absence in 1809, during which he went abroad and effectively retired from service. On November 28, 1811, he was dismissed from the post of Minister of Naval Forces at his own request.
On April 7, 1812, Alexander I appointed Chichagov commander of the Danube Army, the Black Sea Fleet and governor-general of Moldavia and Wallachia , ordering him to implement a military plan he had personally developed. However, Kutuzov had already made peace with the Ottoman Empire before Chichagov's arrival , so he had nothing to do on the banks of the Danube, and the emperor's plan remained unimplemented.
On July 20, 1812, the Danube Army under the command of Chichagov marched to Volyn to join up with Tormasov's 3rd Western Army . In September, the two armies united and Chichagov became commander-in-chief of the new unit.
During the Patriotic War of 1812, Chichagov gained notoriety this refers to his guilt in the outcome of the Battle of Berezina , when the French, due to the slowness of the Russian troops pursuing them, managed to transport their main forces across this river. But already in the 19th century, historians suggested that his guilt in what happened was much less than was commonly assumed.
At the same time, even Kutuzov noted that the original plan was not carried out due to the mistakes of Chichagov alone, but also of Wittgenstein, who did not want to unite with him, as well as the lack of cooperation between individual military units.

On February 3, 1813, Chichagov was removed from command "due to illness." On February 25, 1814, he received an indefinite leave of absence abroad with pay, after which he never returned to Russia. He spent the last years of his life in Italy and France, where he lived mainly in Paris or in the vicinity of the French capital, in the town of Sceaux ( Hauts-de-Seine ).
After the Berezina mess, Admiral Chichagov took a dislike to Russia, about which, incidentally, they say, he had previously spoken haughtily and rather harshly.
In 1834, he refused to obey the decree of Nicholas I on a five-year stay abroad and to return, for which he was removed from the State Council on May 17 and dismissed from service on October 17. His property in Russia was sequestered . He accepted English citizenship. In the same year, Chichagov became completely blind. He spent the last years of his life with his youngest daughter, Countess Catherine du Bouzet, the wife of a French sailor. He is buried in the cemetery in Sault .
From 1816, Chichagov began writing his memoirs, "Notes," in Italian, French, and English.In them, he reported many valuable historical facts from the reigns of Catherine II, Paul I, and Alexander I, characterizing many statesmen and providing many details based on previously unknown documents and letters. Before his death, he wished for his memoirs to be burned, but his daughter Catherine begged her father not to do this.

The stamp depicts a portrait of Pavel Chichagov against the background of I. Aivazovsky’s painting: “The Naval Battle of Reval (May 2, 1790)” (reverse image).
PMR 2019 [R].
Source: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Чичагов Павел Васильевич.