Battle of Kinburn

The Battle of Kinburn was a combined land-naval engagement during the final stage of the Crimean War. It took place on the tip of the Kinburn Peninsula on 17 October 1855. During the battle, a combined fleet of vessels from the French Navy and the British Royal Navy bombarded Russian coastal fortifications after it had been besieged by an Anglo-French ground force. Three French ironclad batteries bore the brunt of the attack, which saw the main Russian fortress destroyed in an action that lasted about three hours.

The battle, although it was strategically insignificant and had little effect on the outcome of the war, is notable as the first time modern ironclad warships had been used in action. Although frequently hit, the French ships destroyed the Russian forts within three hours, suffering minimal casualties in the process. This battle convinced contemporary navies to abandon wooden warships and focus on armour plating, which instigated a naval arms race between the two victors that lasted for more than a decade.

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