November 30 is the anniversary of the brilliant victory of the Russian fleet in the Sinop Bay on the northern coast of Turkey. On this day, 159 years ago (November 18 (30), 1853), a Russian squadron under the command of Admiral Pavel Stepanovich Nakhimov crushed the Turkish fleet on its head.
Background and design of the battle
Turkey, pushed to the beginning of active hostilities with Russia by its main geopolitical opponents at that time - England and France, marked the beginning of the Crimean War of 1853-1856. In November 1853, a squadron under the command of Osman Pasha left Istanbul, the Turks planned to land troops on the Caucasian coast of the Black Sea, in the area of Sukhum and Poti. Having traveled several hundred miles, the Turkish ships embarked on a roadstead in Sinop. Having learned about the location of the Turkish squadron of Vice Admiral P. S. Nakhimov, he moved his ships in the direction of the bay and blocked it from the sea. Due to the fact that in the conditions of a battle on the high seas, the Turkish squadron could receive reinforcements in the form of ships of the Anglo-French fleet, standing in the Dardanelles and ready to support their Turkish allies at any moment. Thus, the time for the attack of the Turkish squadron was the most appropriate. Nakhimov's plan was to suddenly break into the Sinop raid and decisively and daringly attack the Turkish fleet from a short distance.
I. K. Aivazovsky. “Sinop. The night after the battle, November 18, 1853"
The course of the battle
The naval battle at Cape Sinop began at about noon and lasted almost 17 hours. The first volleys of the battle were fired by Turkish ships and coastal batteries - the Turks tried to stop the Russian squadron at the entrance to the Sinop raid. However, Nakhimov's ships, skillfully maneuvering and using their superiority in artillery, opened a powerful return fire. Soon after the start of the battle, the flagship of the Turkish squadron Avni-Allah and one of its main ships, the frigate Fazly-Allah, caught fire and ran aground. The well-aimed fire of Russian cannons sank or seriously damaged 15 enemy ships and silenced all the coastal artillery of the Turks. Only one Turkish steamer "Taif" managed to survive, the commander of which was an experienced British naval officer A. Slade, who was in the service of the Ottomans as a naval adviser. However, the point was not at all in the skill of the captain, but in the new possibilities that his steam engine gave the ship. The Battle of Sinop is a bright finale of the era of the sailing fleet, soon the sails left the masts of warships forever …
Results of the battle
In the battle in the Sinop Bay, the Turks lost almost the entire squadron (15 out of 16 ships) and more than 3000 sailors and officers. About 200 Turks were taken prisoner, among them was the squadron commander Osman Pasha and the commanders of several ships. Russian losses were hundreds of times smaller and amounted to 37 killed and about 230 wounded. The damage to the ships was minor.
As a result of the defeat of the Turkish fleet in the battle at Cape Sinop, Turkey was significantly weakened, and its plans for a landing on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus were thwarted.
I. K. Aivazovsky. Storm at sea at night. 1849. Before the Battle of Sinop, Nakhimov's squadron had to cruise along the autumn Black Sea, where at that time there was a storm every third day. The Russian fleet withstood the same storm on the eve of the battle, which is why the Turks did not expect a decisive attack.
Turkish sailors escape from burning and sinking ships. Fragment of the painting by R. K. Zhukovsky "Sinop battle in 1853"
Painting by I. K. Aivazovsky "Battle of Sinop" (1853) was written from the words of the participants in the battle
N. P. Krasovsky. Return to Sevastopol of the Black Sea Fleet squadron after the Battle of Sinop. 1863
