Ivan Gannibal

Ivan Abramovich Gannibal (; 5 June 1735 – 12 October 1801) was a Russian military leader. He was the son of military commander, general and engineer Abram Petrovich Gannibal, as well as the great-uncle of Russia's most famous poet, Alexander Pushkin.

Gannibal led a detachment of the Imperial Black Sea Fleet, which besieged and captured the Turkish fortress of Navarin during the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774, and took part in the founding of the city of Kherson. Gannibal's ultimate military rank was Général en Chef.

Early life Gannibal was the oldest of 10 children born to Abram Gannibal and his Swedish-German wife Christina Regina Siöberg in Karjaküla, Reval Governorate, Russian Empire (presently in Estonia). Gannibal was destined for a military career from an early age, entering the Naval Artillery School in the imperial capital at the age of 9. He would eventually graduate from the Naval Academy and join the Imperial Russian Navy as an officer.

Russo-Turkish War At the height of the Russo-Turkish War of 1768-1774, the 34-year-old Gannibal, in the rank of Brigadier, took a leading role in the siege and capture of the Ottoman fortress of Navarino in the Peloponnese.

The Russian Mediterranean Expeditionary Force under the command of Count Alexey Grigoryevich Orlov sent a squadron of ships toward Navarino in April 1770. Three of the vessels were sent toward shore with a forward force of 300 men and a number of artillery pieces, under Gannibal's command. The forward force commenced an artillery barrage on the fortress, eventually forcing its surrender on 10 April 1770 after several days of bombardment. The Russians would use Navarino as a temporary naval base for the following months. Gannibal was awarded the Order of St. George, third degree, for his actions in the siege of Navarino.

Gannibal also took part in the Battle of Chesma (near Chios) in July 1770. During the battle he was aboard the battleship "St. Eustathius" , which exploded and sank as a result of the intense action. Gannibal had to be rescued from the water after the explosion. For his efforts in the founding and building of Kherson, the Empress bestowed upon Gannibal the Order of St. Vladimir, first class (1780), the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky (1781), a jewel-encrusted snuff box decorated with a portrait of the Empress herself, and a 20,000-desiatina estate southwest of Kherson, now within the town of Bilozerka.

Gannibal is considered to be one of the founders of the city of Kherson.

Decorations Gannibal received the following decorations from the Crown: Order of St. George, third class Order of St. Vladimir, first class Order of St. Alexander Nevsky Order of St. Anna, first class

Gannibal in literature Gannibal's great-nephew Alexander Pushkin devoted to his great-uncle a paragraph in his partial autobiography (1834) and a quatrain in his poem, "My Genealogy" (1830):