Battles of the Greek War of Independence

20 October 1827 · Navarino Bay (Pylos), Peloponnese

Allied victory; the Ottoman and Egyptian fleet destroyed

Ibrahim Pasha's fleet, some 78 Ottoman, Egyptian and Tunisian warships and fireships, lay at anchor in a great horseshoe round Navarino Bay, inside the island of Sphacteria. The allies had already turned it back once from sailing to Patras, but Ibrahim's troops went on burning Greek villages, and on 20 October Codrington led the allied fleet, ten ships of the line among 27, into the bay to anchor among the Turkish ships and overawe them. When Dartmouth sent a boat to ask a fireship near the entrance to move, the fireship's crew fired on it, killing her lieutenant; Dartmouth fired back, and within minutes the whole bay was in action. Fought at anchor at close range, it was a battle of gunnery, and the heavier, better-handled allied ships smashed the Ottoman line one ship at a time. Asia wrecked the two flagships near her, the French Sirène fought the Ihsanya until she blew up, and the Russian Azov, though hit 153 times, sank or disabled four ships. Many of the Ottoman ships were set on fire by their own crews. By evening some 55 ships were destroyed and perhaps 3,000 or more men killed, against 181 allied dead. Only a handful of Ibrahim's ships were fit for sea.