A Navy Built in Four Years

As they neared Sebastopol, a unit of Tatar soldiers on horseback joined the tour. This had to be scary because Catherine could not know for sure if they were friends after being conquered or foes who would wreak their well-known style of havoc on the travelers. Even after the annexation of the Crimea in 1783 or 1784, she had had reports of skirmishes involving them, some of which included fatalities.

Catherine appeared gracious and unafraid and the soldiers behaved. They stopped at Kherson, also a new city, where a new dock yard and harbor had been built. Here she launched two ships. At Sebastopol, Potemkin had quite a treat for Catherine. As they sat at a banquet, suddenly a big window opened and she caught sight of Russia's new navy.

At anchor were three 66-gun ships, three 50-gun frigates, and ten smaller vessels. How was she to know that Potemkin had told the ship builders to use green wood rather than wait for cured wood to arrive from Europe? Arrayed before her was also a huge army which included a unit of Greek Amazons. Later there were fireworks that included a huge medallion that contained the letter E for Ekaterina. How romantic!