 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 France | |
| Name | Charlemagne |
| Namesake | Charlemagne |
| Acquired | 1843 |
| Commissioned | 1852 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Ship of the line |
| Armament | 80 guns |
Charlemagne was an 80-gun French ship of the line commissioned in 1852. The ship was in the Mediterranean Sea in 1852. [1] The ship was sent by Napoleon III to the Black Sea as a show of force in violation of the London Straits Convention just prior to the Crimean War. [2]
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine. The Black Sea is supplied by major rivers, principally the Danube, Dnieper, and Don. Consequently, while six countries have a coastline on the sea, its drainage basin includes parts of 24 countries in Europe.
The Dardanelles, also known as the Strait of Gallipoli from the Gallipoli peninsula or from Classical Antiquity as the Hellespont, is a narrow, natural strait and internationally significant waterway in northwestern Turkey that forms part of the continental boundary between Asia and Europe and separates Asian Turkey from European Turkey. Together with the Bosporus, the Dardanelles forms the Turkish Straits.
George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen,, styled Lord Haddo from 1791 to 1801, was a British statesman, diplomat and landowner, successively a Tory, Conservative and Peelite politician and specialist in foreign affairs. He served as Prime Minister from 1852 until 1855 in a coalition between the Whigs and Peelites, with Radical and Irish support. The Aberdeen ministry was filled with powerful and talented politicians, whom Aberdeen was largely unable to control and direct. Despite his trying to avoid this happening, it took Britain into the Crimean War, and fell when its conduct became unpopular, after which Aberdeen retired from politics.
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The Battle of Sinop, or the Battle of Sinope, was a naval battle that took place on 30 November 1853 between Imperial Russia and the Ottoman Empire, during the opening phase of the Crimean War (1853–1856). It took place at Sinop, a sea port on the southern shore of the Black Sea. A Russian squadron attacked and decisively defeated an Ottoman squadron anchored in Sinop's harbor. The Russian force consisted of six ships of the line, two frigates and three armed steamers, led by Admiral Pavel Nakhimov; the Ottoman defenders were seven frigates, three corvettes and two armed steamers, commanded by Vice Admiral Osman Pasha.
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HMS Vulture was one of three 6-gun, steam-powered Cyclops-class second-class paddle frigates built for the Royal Navy in the 1840s. She was initially deployed to the East Indies where she participated in actions against China and then played a minor role in the Crimean War of 1854–1855. The ship was sold for scrap in 1863.
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HMS Vengeance was an 84-gun second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched on 27 July 1824 at Pembroke Dockyard. The Canopus-class ships were all modelled on a captured French ship, the Franklin, which was renamed HMS Canopus in British service. Some of the copies were faster than others, though it was reported that none could beat the original. HMS Vengeance was nicknamed 'the wind's-eye liner', and was faster than all the other ships except HMS Phaeton.
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Selafail was a Sultan Makhmud-class ship of the line built for the Imperial Russian Navy's Black Sea Fleet in the late 1830s and early 1840s. The ship had a relatively uneventful career, operating with the Black Sea Fleet in the early 1840s before being laid up in 1845; apart from brief periods of activity in 1847 and 1849, she remained out of service until 1852. After the outbreak of the Crimean War in October 1853, she was slated to join a squadron commanded by Pavel Nakhimov, but storm damage prevented her from taking part in the Battle of Sinop. The ship was eventually scuttled as a blockship in 1854 during the Siege of Sevastopol.
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