[The Mole at Kronstadt] is enclosed by a strong and elegant rampart built of granite in the sea, under the direction of that gallant commander and upright man, the late Admiral Samuel Greig, to whose unwearied activity and uncommon talents the Russian navy is so highly indebted, and whose loss will not easily be compensated to the Empire.

Despite winning a considerable naval victory over the Ottomans in the Mediterranean, the Imperial Navy under Catherine II witnessed considerable shortcomings – not least the outdated and limited infrastructure of the shore-bases designed to support the fleet. The naval victory gained by the Baltic fleet after transiting into the Mediterranean could not have been achieved without the support of both British naval officers and British naval facilities. Similarly, to improve the overall state of the Imperial Navy, Catherine began a programme of encouraging technically minded British naval officers alongside civil engineers to design and oversee improvements to her various naval yards. Undoubtedly, those opening years of Catherine’s reign were ones in which the rulers of both Great Britain and the Russian Empire were striving, through naval cooperation and trade, to regain the earlier affinity that had come under a degree of strain during the Seven Years War.