Naval Actions and Turkish Sorties During the Siege

At the siege's beginning, Russian Captain Christian Osten-Sacken died on 31 May 1788, blowing up his own reconnaissance warship after evacuating the crew when surrounded. There were large naval battles on 18 June and 28 June 1788. In a daring sortie of 7 August 1788, the Turks under Hüseyin Pasha routed Suvorov's troops; Suvorov was seriously wounded and gave his post to General Bibikov. The Turks organized several sorties and interfered with the siege at sea, while Potemkin, keeping his soldiers out of direct battle, was accused of cowardice by his generals.