Bombardment of Sevastopol

17 October 1854, The sea forts of Sevastopol

Russian defensive success; the fleets driven off

The Russians had sunk ships across the harbour mouth, so the allied fleets could not get in. To support the armies' first bombardment of Sevastopol, 27 allied ships of the line, most of the sailing ships lashed to steamers, anchored off the sea forts and fired more than 50,000 rounds. They did the forts little harm. Red-hot shot and shells set several British ships on fire and Rodney ran aground; Albion and Arethusa had to be towed out of action. The British lost 44 killed and 266 wounded and the French about 200 killed and wounded. It was the last great action of the wooden battle fleets, and it showed that they could not fight stone forts on equal terms.