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There were some very dark paintings of naval battles in Catherine's Palace and our guide mentioned in passing that Catherine II had warred with and defeated the Ottoman Empire. I was disappointed that he did not mention that one of her admirals in one of the battles was our own John Paul Jones. I can only conclude that the guide did not think that Jones had done enough to warrant mention. Like Catherine the Great, he probably gave all of the credit for the victory to Grigory Potemkin who was running the campaign for her. Probably an accurate conclusion. Jones was certainly brave enough, but he did not get along with his Russian colleagues any better than he did the folks who were running the new American government. Still he could have been mentioned - after all most of us in the group he was leading were Americans.
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