Alexis Greigh
Alexis Greigh ( Russian Алексе́й Самуи́лович Грейг , born September 6, 1775 in Kronstadt ; † January 18, 1845 in Saint Petersburg ) was a member of the Courland Knighthood , whose family ancestors Greigh came from Scotland . He became an admiral in the Imperial Russian Navy , was Commander in Chief of the Black Sea Fleet and is considered a co-founder of the Pulkovo Observatory . From 1840 to 1845 he was President of the Imperial Free Economic Society of Saint Petersburg .
Origin and family
Alexis Greigh was the son of the "father of the Russian fleet" Admiral Samuel Greigh (1736–1788), who was married to Sarah Cook (* 1752; † 1793 in Saint Petersburg) and was currently the port commander of Kronstadt. Count Alexei Grigoryevich Orlov (1737–1808) was at his side as godfather . In recognition of his achievements and in honor of his father Samuel, Empress Catherine II named young Alexis a fellow shman . He married Julia Stalinski (1801-1882), from this marriage came the sons Alexej Alexejewitsch Greigh (1825-1876), Samuel Alexejewitsch Greigh (1827-1887, later Russian Finance Minister), Iwan (John) Alexejewitsch Greigh (1831-1893) and Wassili (William) Greigh (1832–1902), who later became the Real Councilor of State and Chamberlain, and the daughters Julia (1829–1865), Sarah (1833–1834) and Eugene (Jenny) (1835–1870).
Life
As early as 1785 the young Alexis Greigh was sent to England to begin his naval training, in the same year he was promoted to lieutenant at sea . In 1788 he returned to Russia and was transferred to the battleship Mstislav , which belonged to the Baltic fleet and was commanded by his father. On July 6, 1788, he was used in the naval battle of Hogland . Empress Catherine II. Took over the guardianship of Greighs children after the death of his father and carried Alixis G. after his baptism of fire for Lieut . Together with his brother Charles Greigh (1785–1817), Alexis G. went to England for further training, they carried out trips to India and China on the ships of the East India Company . From 1791 to 1792 he stayed in Russia again and then went back to England, this time he volunteered in the Royal Navy and served on warships that operated in the Mediterranean . He was involved in naval battles with French and Spanish naval forces .
His stay in the Royal Navy ended in April 1796. The assessments of the British naval commanders caused Tsar Paul I to promote him to captain of the 2nd rank on December 17th and at the same time entrust him with the command of the frigate Archangel Michael . In the years 1798 to 1800 he took part in the Second Coalition War . Greig commanded the 64-gun battleship Retwisan and cruised with the Allied squadron in the North Sea off Texel . On January 1, 1799 was promoted to captain of the 1st rank. Participation in the landing in Holland, the conquest of the fortress of Geldern and the conquest of Dutch ships. On January 9, 1803 he was promoted to sea captain.
In 1802, Tsar Alexander I founded the fleet correction committee. Captain A. Greigh was the youngest naval officer of the admiral-only body at 26 years old. He did not agree with the results of the work of this committee and refused to sign the final document. In 1804 he took over the service in the active navy again and ordered the transfer of four ships from Kronstadt to the naval base on the island of Corfu . He then became the flagship of Admiral Dmitry Senyavin ordered and December 27, 1805 Rear Admiral promoted. From then on he was involved in the Adriatic Expedition, the second archipelago expedition from 1805 to 1807, and from 1807 in several operations of the Russian fleet. From 1806 he commanded battleships during the Russo-Turkish War , was in the blockade of the Dardanelles , commanded the landing forces during the conquest of the island of Tenedos and led several battles in and around the Aegean Sea . After further stops in Lisbon and England, the Russian fleet was able to leave Portsmouth in 1809 and reached Riga on September 9, 1809 . Greigh returned to Russia and was suspended , he then lived in Moscow .
With the start of the Patriotic War in 1812 he was reactivated and sent to the headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief of the Black Fleet and the Moldovan Army Admiral Pawel Vasilyevich Tschitschagow . From here he undertook diplomatic missions to Istanbul , Malta and Sicily . In 1813 he took over a flotilla command and carried out the sea blockade of Danzig . On September 4, 1813, he was promoted to Vice Admiral. In March 1816 he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Black Sea Fleet and Military Governor of Sevastopol and Nikolaev . During this time he pushed ahead with the renewal of the fleet, advocated the expansion of the fleet and ensured modern shipbuilding . He reorganized the training of naval officers and men. He built a marine astronomical observatory (that of the Pulkovo observatory) and a marine library in Nikolaev, for which he was elected honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences in 1822 and he headed the Nikolaev credit bank. He became an important sponsor for the city of Nikolaev and stabilized the security and social institutions in this region.
In 1826 A. Greigh opened the first headquarters of the fleet in Nikolaev, it became the focus of training and combat training and developed operational plans. In 1827 he ordered excavations in Chersonese and directed the excavation of three temples . In the Russo-Turkish War from 1828 to 1829 , the fleet operated successfully under the command of A. Greig, it supported actions of the Russian land armies in the Balkans and the Caucasus . In June 1828, the squadron was deployed under the command of A. Greigh and the chief of the naval staff Alexander Sergejewitsch Menshikov in Anapa Varna , Nessebar , Medien (Land) , Burgas , Sozopol and in the Bosporus . When he was in charge of the Bosporus expedition in 1833 , Rear Admiral Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev , A. Greigh had serious health problems and after the mission and the return to Sevastopol in 1833 transferred command of the Black Sea Fleet to Lazarev. On the other hand, it is reported that Greigh boycotted the orders of Nicholas I and that he ordered Greigh's replacement. After that Greigh was briefly the head of a commission of inquiry, after which he was appointed by Nicholas I as a member of the State Council. From 1840 he headed the Free Economic Society and the shipbuilding commission. As a member of the State Council , Admiral Greigh was an opponent of Finance Minister Georg Cancrin and proposed his own reforms for the Russian monetary system. He died at the age of 70 and was buried in the Smolensk Lutheran Cemetery in Saint Petersburg.
Orders and decorations
- 1799 Russian Order of St. Anne , 2nd class; 1807 1st class
- 1802 Order of St. George , 4th grade; 1828 2nd class
- 1813 Order of St. Vladimir , 2nd class; 1827 1st class
- 1818 Alexander Nevsky Order ; 1821 with diamonds
- 1843 Order of St. Andrew the First Called
literature
- The Annual Register: Or a View of the History, Politics and Literature, for the Year 1845 . tape 16 . J. Dodsley, London 1846, section: Deaths-Jan, 30. Died at St. Petersburg ..., p. 236–241 (English, books.google.de ).
- Admiral Greig . In: The Gentleman's Magazine . tape 25 . John Bowyer Nichols and Son, London 1846, p. 642 (English, books.google.de ).
Web links
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Greigh, Alexis |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Greigh, Alexis Samuelowitsch; Грейг, Алексе́й Самуи́лович |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Admiral in Russian service |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 6, 1775 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Kronstadt |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 18, 1845 |
| Place of death | St. Petersburg |