Thomas Ruddy

Peter the Great: Jack of all Trades Early on in his reign, Peter made a tour to western Europe, England, and Holland to learn the Western ways first hand. There he studied printing, iron casting, paper making and even how to render whale blubber. His main goal though was to create the most powerful navy he could.

Nautical Science Peters greatest interest was nautical science. While in Holland, he apprenticed himself to a master shipwright, and learned how to build a 28 gun frigate. This wasn’t enough for Peter though, so he headed to England, the well known most powerful navy in the world. His studies in England were cut short because of revolt in the motherland Upon his return, peter ordered 1,100 of the strelski, whom he did not fully forgive for killing some of his closest relatives when peter was just a boy.

The Longing for the Baltic More than anything, Peter wanted a European sea port, and his best option was the Baltic sea To gain this port, he would have to fight the Great Northern War against Sweden. This war would be the first time Peter got to test his new naval power.

The Battle of Gangut In 1714, at the battle of Gangut, Peter got to show off his Russian Naval Fleet. Peters lead the fleet himself. His navy surrounded the Swedish fleet, and outnumbering the Swedish 15 to 1, Peter easily defeated them. He won the battle, and it was the first successful battle the Russian fleet had ever endured.

Window to Europe After creating Saint Petersburg, and effectively defeating the Swedish, Peter the Great finally got what he wanted; a warm water port that he could trade with Europe year round. With Saint Petersburg, and his now large naval fleet, Peter was content with his life accept for not having a successor.

Works Cites Wikipedia.com Google Images Russian land of the tsars videos and-the-first-russian-navy-a and-the-first-russian-navy-a87056