Battle of Corfu.
Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2013 9:38 pm
CORFU. A combined Russo-Turkish fleet of 12 ships under the command of Admiral Fed or Fedorovich Ushakov bombarded the fortified island of Vito commanding the entrance to Corfu while a landing force stormed the island. With Vi do's fall, Corfu was untenable. the French garrison of 2.931 surrendered, ending a four month siege. The illustration chosen for the stamp is a redrawn detail from the left half of a painting by V A PJettchatin done in 1954 titled 'Storming of the Fortress of Corfu', now is the St Petersburg Central Naval Museum. An illustration of the full oil on canvas painting is in the Russian book 'Admiral D N Seniavin' by A L Shapiro, page 82. A map of the naval action showing the position of each ship was used as a basis for the painting, so the ships on the stamp can be identified as well. The large ship in the centre is the ST PAUL flagship of Admiral Ushakov. On her right is the SI!VIEON AND ANNA, and on her left is the ST NICHOLAS. It is interesting to note that under communism it was practically illegal to print 'ST' in Russian books, so the names of these ships were changed to delete the religious prefix - Russia 1987. 4.30k. SG ???? Min sht. (K R Berry)