Battle of Sinop

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Battle of Sinope

The Battle of Sinop, by A. Bogolyubov.

Date	30 November 1853
Location	Sinop, northern Turkey
Result	Decisive Russian victory

Combatants

Commanders

Strength

6 battleships
2 frigates
3 steamers

7 frigates
5 corvettes

Casualties

none

7 frigates sunk
4 corvettes sunk

Crimean War
Sinop – Petropavlovsk – Alma – Sevastopol – Balaclava – Inkerman – Eupatoria – Taganrog – Chernaya River – Kars – Malakhoff – Kinburn

The naval Battle of Sinope (or Sinop) occurred on 30 November 1853 at Sinop, a sea port in northern Turkey, when Imperial Russian battleships annihilated a force of Ottoman Empire frigates. It is often considered to be the last great battle of the epoch of sailing and the first battle of the Crimean War (1854–1856).

Fighting at sea between Imperial Russia and Ottoman Empire had been going on for weeks, and the Ottomans had sent several squadrons into the Black Sea to patrol. One of these, under Osman Pasha, ended up at Sinope, joining the frigate Kaid Zafer which had been part of an earlier patrol, and being joined by a steam frigate (probably Taif) from a smaller squadron. The Ottomans had wanted to send battleships to Sinope, but the British ambassador in Istanbul had cancelled this plan, and only frigates were sent. It is possible that this was done deliberately, to get Russia to attack a weaker fleet. The British and French supported the Ottoman Empire against Imperial Russia, but didn't want a war to start. When it became clear there would be a war, they hoped Russia would give the casus belli.

The Russians, led by the famous admiral Pavel Nakhimov, sailed into the harbor in two lines of three battleships each and anchored alongside the Ottoman line. The battle itself took about an hour. The Russian used destructive Paixhans shell guns to destroy the fleet, and only Taif managed to escape to Istanbul, pursued by the Russian steamers. It arrived on 2 December.

This attack led to France and the United Kingdom declaring war on Russia in early 1854 in support of the Ottoman Empire.