Dardanelles Operation

Dardanelles Operation
Part of the Anglo-Turkish War
The squadron under the command of Sir J T Duckworth forcing the narrow channel of the Dardanelles, February 19th 1807, by Thomas Whitcombe
Date 19 February 1807 Location Dardanelles Result Ottoman victory
Belligerents
British Empire	Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
John Thomas Duckworth	Sultan Selim III
Strength
8 ships of the line, 2 frigates, 2 bomb ships, 1 transport	14 ships of the line, 9 frigates, a dozen brigs and gunboats, several hundred Ottoman siege cannons, and some modern bronze pieces
Casualties and losses
42 killed, 235 wounded, and 4 missing	None

The Dardanelles Operation was the Royal Navy's unsuccessful attempt to impose British demands on the Ottoman Empire as part of the Anglo-Turkish War (1807-1809).

In 1806, the French envoy Sebastiani had been dispatched to Constantinople with orders to bring about Turkey's re-entry into the war. Sultan Selim III set about preparations for war with Russia after positively receiving Sebastiani. The Russian emperor, Alexander I, was alarmed by these developments as he had already deployed a significant force to Poland and East Prussia to fight the advancing French forces under Emperor Napoleon I. Alexander requested British assistance in keeping Turkey out of the war.

The British army was far too small and inadequate to impose the will of the Coalition on the Ottomans, so it naturally fell to the powerful Royal Navy to meet Russia's requests. The ships immediately available for the task were HMS Canopus, HMS Standard, HMS Thunderer, HMS Glatton, and the two bomb ships HMS Lucifer and HMS Meteor, under the command of Vice-Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood, commander-in-chief of the British Mediterranean Fleet, sailed for the Dardanelles and made preparations for the upcoming assault.

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