Monument to the Submerged ships in Sevastopol

The monument to the Submerged ships in Sevastopol is a symbol of the city. This monument is dedicated to the events of the Crimean War of 1853-56. It is installed in the waters of the Sevastopol Bay at a distance of 20 meters from the shore at Seaside Boulevard. 

The monument to the submerged ships was built in 1905 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the defense of Sevastopol. The monument was built by architect Friedrich Enberg. This year he also built a Panorama of the Defense of Sevastopol in 1855-56 on the Historical Boulevard.  

The Crimean War in 1853 began very successfully for Russia. The Russian squadron under the command of Admiral Nakhimov defeated the Turkish navy in the Battle of Sinop. However, Britain and France were interested in weakening Russia`s influence in the Balkans and in the Black Sea, so they entered the war on the side of Turkey. This immediately changed the strength of the parties. Separate skirmishes took place in different parts of Russia: in the Solovetsky Monastery, Kronstadt and even in Kamchatka, but the main fighting unfolded in the Crimea. 

A huge problem for the Russian troops was the technical backlog in armaments. The English-French soldiers had rifled shotguns that fired 4 times farther than the old flintlocks. Russian Navy sailing ships could not compete with the steamships of European countries, so the Russian command decided to submerge their ships at the entrance to the bay in order not to allow European ships to enter the internal raids of Sevastopol. 

At first, 7 old ships were submerged. Their masts towered over the fairway at the entrance to Sevastopol Bay. This secured Sevastopol from the sea, so the troops of the English-French coalition focused on storming the city from land. The key points of defense were Malakhov Mound and the Fourth Bastion. The defense of Sevastopol lasted 330 days. After the surrender of the southern side of the city, the Russians submerged the rest of the ships of their navy in Sevastopol Bay, and their masts towered over the sea water for a long time. 

The Monument to the Submerged Ships symbolizes the masts of the submerged ships, as well as the heroism when the sailors defended Sevastopol for almost a year, even despite the technical backlog in armaments.