What Was the Battle of Sinop?
The Battle of Sinop, fought on 30 November 1853 (18 November old style) in the harbour of Sinop on the southern coast of the Black Sea, was the last major engagement of the age of sail and the decisive naval action of the early phase of the Crimean War. A Russian squadron under Vice-Admiral Pavel Nakhimov attacked an Ottoman flotilla sheltering in the harbour, destroyed or grounded nearly the entire Ottoman force, and bombarded the town. The Russian victory was the trigger for Britain and France to enter the war on the Ottoman side.
Background
In October 1853, the Ottoman Empire declared war on Russia after Russian forces occupied the Ottoman principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. The Russian Black Sea Fleet, based at Sevastopol, sortied under Rear-Admiral Nakhimov with six ships of the line and two steam frigates to sweep the Ottoman coast and prevent reinforcement of Ottoman positions in the Caucasus. A smaller Ottoman squadron under Captain Ahmed Pasha, with seven steam frigates and three smaller vessels, was sheltering in the harbour of Sinop.
Nakhimov decided to attack the Ottoman force in harbour rather than let it escape. He brought the Russian squadron up on the morning of 18 November (old style) and, in close action lasting most of the day, engaged the Ottoman ships at ranges as short as 200 metres. The Russian ships were able to bring their broadsides to bear on the largely becalmed or stationary Ottoman vessels, most of which were wooden steam frigates unable to manoeuvre in the still air.
The battle
The Russian squadron concentrated its fire on the Ottoman ships one by one, and within a few hours the Ottoman flotilla was shattered. Three of the Ottoman frigates sank in the harbour, two were driven ashore and burned, and the others were forced to surrender or be destroyed. One of the Ottoman ships, the Avni Illah, exploded when its powder magazine was hit, killing most of its crew. Russian losses were light — about 37 killed and 233 wounded — but they had destroyed or captured the entire Ottoman squadron.
The shore batteries and the town of Sinop itself were also bombarded and largely burned. Several hundred Ottoman soldiers and civilians were killed in the attack.
Why it mattered
The battle was a tactical masterpiece by Nakhimov and a striking demonstration that wooden ships of the line, used boldly, could still destroy an enemy force caught at anchor. It also showed that the new steam frigates, of which the Ottoman squadron was composed, were not invulnerable in narrow waters where they could not manoeuvre.
The political consequences were far more serious. The destruction of the Ottoman squadron, and the burning of an Ottoman port, alarmed the British and French governments, who feared that Russia was moving to expel Ottoman power from the Black Sea altogether. Within three months, Britain and France had entered the war on the Ottoman side, transforming a Russo-Ottoman conflict into the wider coalition war that became the Crimean War.
The battle also marked the high point of Russian naval power in the Black Sea in the imperial period. Within two years, the fleet’s main base at Sevastopol would be besieged, and the Black Sea would be neutralised by the Treaty of Paris in 1856.
The legacy of Sinop
Sinop is remembered as the last great battle of the age of sail, a final demonstration of the effectiveness of wooden ships of the line in close action. It is also remembered as the moment Russia overplayed its hand in the Eastern Question and provoked the European coalition that defeated it.
In Russia, Nakhimov became one of the heroes of the Crimean War, and a port in the Black Sea is named after him. In the West, the battle is often cited as a textbook example of how a brilliant tactical success can have damaging strategic consequences.