Siege of Petropavlovsk

30 August – 7 September 1854, Petropavlovsk, Kamchatka

Russian victory; allied landing repulsed

A small Anglo-French squadron crossed the Pacific to attack the Russian port on Kamchatka. On the first day of the attack the British admiral, David Price, shot himself in his cabin, apparently in despair at the responsibility. The squadron silenced several batteries over the following days, but the frigate Aurora and the transport Dvina, moored across the harbour with their guns, held firm under the governor, Vasily Zavoyko. On 4 September a landing party of some 700 British and French sailors and marines was ambushed in the hills behind the town and driven back to the boats with heavy losses, and the squadron sailed away. When the allies came back in 1855 the Russians had gone.