Jose de Ribas

Ribas, José de 

(also Osip [Iosif] Mikhailovich Deribas). Born June 6, 1749, in Naples; died Dec. 2 (14), 1800, in St. Petersburg. Russian admiral (1799). Of Spanish nationality.

Ribas served in the Neapolitan Army from 1765 to 1769. In 1772 he entered the Russian service on the invitation of A. G. Orlov. Ribas fought in the Russo-Turkish wars of 1768–74 and 1787–91. In 1789 he proposed raising sunken Turkish ships and using them to reinforce the Black Sea Rowing Flotilla. Ribas commanded the advance guard in the capture of Kachibei and Akkerman in 1789 and the rowing flotilla in the capture of Tulcea and Isaccea in 1790. He proposed a plan, which was approved by A. V. Suvorov, for storming Izmail, and he commanded the rowing flotilla and landing detachments during the attack.

In 1793, Ribas worked out a plan for building a port in Kachibei (Odessa), and, as commander of the port, he directed its construction. He helped supervise the construction of the city of Odessa from 1794 to 1797 (a street was named in his honor). From 1797 to 1800, Ribas served on the Admiralty College and as commissary general.