Battle of Navarino

Battle of Navarino
Part of the Greek War of Independence
The Naval Battle of Navarino (1827). Oil painting by Garneray.
Date 20 October 1827 Location Pylos, Greece 36°56′09″N 21°41′16″E / 36.93583°N 21.68778°E / 36.93583; 21.68778Coordinates: 36°56′09″N 21°41′16″E / 36.93583°N 21.68778°E / 36.93583; 21.68778 Result Decisive Great Powers victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom  Russia  Kingdom of France	Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Commander-in-Chief: Vice-Adm Edward Codrington (Royal Navy) Rear-Adm Henri de Rigny (Marine Royale de France) Rear-Adm Lodewijk Heyden (Imperial Russian Navy)	C-in-C, Ottoman forces: Ibrahim Pasha Amir Tahir (imperial squadron) Reis (Capt) Moharram Bey (Alexandria squadron)
Strength
Allies: 10 ships of the line 10 frigates 2 smaller warships	Ottomans: 3 ships of the line 17 frigates ca. 58 smaller warships 5-6 fireships
Casualties and losses
181 killed 480 wounded	ca. 3,000 killed 1,109 wounded (Ottoman figures)

The Battle of Navarino was a naval battle fought on 20 October 1827, during the Greek War of Independence (1821–32), in Navarino Bay (modern-day Pylos), on the west coast of the Peloponnese peninsula, in the Ionian Sea. Allied forces from Britain, France and Russia decisively defeated Ottoman and Egyptian forces trying to suppress the Greek war of independence, thereby making much more likely the independence of Greece.

An Ottoman armada, which, in addition to imperial warships, included squadrons from the eyalets (provinces) of Egypt, Tunis and Algiers, was destroyed by an Allied force of British, French and Russian warships. It was the last major naval battle in history to be fought entirely with sailing ships, although most ships fought at anchor. The Allies' victory was achieved through superior firepower and gunnery.

The context of the three Great Powers' intervention in the Greek conflict was the Russian Empire's long-running expansion at the expense of the decaying Ottoman Empire. Russia's ambitions in the region were seen as a major geostrategic threat by the other European powers, which feared the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire and the establishment of Russian hegemony in the Eastern Mediterranean. The precipitating factor was Russia's strong emotional support for the fellow-Orthodox Christian Greeks, who had rebelled against their Ottoman overlords in 1821. The British were motivated by strong public support for the Greeks. Fearing unilateral Russian action in support of the Greeks, Britain and France bound Russia by treaty to a joint intervention which aimed to secure Greek autonomy whilst preserving Ottoman territorial integrity as a check on Russia.

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