Bombardment of Sveaborg

9–11 August 1855, Sveaborg (Suomenlinna), off Helsingfors

Allied tactical success; the fortress not taken

With no army to land, the Baltic fleet attacked the fortress of Sveaborg guarding Helsingfors with the new weapons of the war: mortar vessels and steam gunboats. For two days they bombarded the islands at long range, setting fire to the dockyard, stores and powder magazines, while the ships of the line kept out of range. The allies lost no one killed. The fortress walls were hardly touched, and many of the mortars wore out under the strain; but the bombardment showed what the British planned to do to Kronstadt in 1856, and helped persuade Russia to make peace.