The Crimean Naval War at Sea - Battleships, Bombardments and the Black Sea 

Pinned post for Q&A :) Real Time History's video here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Q-8qqDJWvXw.html

Considering Drachinifel's video history, a colored thumbnail can almost be considered as click bait

24:25 HMS Trafalgar and Napoléon in the same battle line, that's some twilight zone stuff there

It's so weird to hear Drach repeatedly mention places that are normally associated with a subject he would avoid entirely

10:54 - Even _more_ of a mess when you consider that Egypt was _still formally part of the Ottoman Empire_ at this time!

Working on our documentary on the Crimean War, we only realized how this war was happening at such a transitional point of time. Had no idea how true this was also was on the Naval theatres.

Admiral Cochran, warhammer 40,000. 1860's Edition.

Considering how everything else in that war went, the naval side actually was surprisingly not-disastrous.

It never occurred to me that Fisher and Cochrane served at the same time, two careers spanning 122 years.

Lord Cochrane regenerating into Jackie Fisher would make for a great Doctor Who story. Or would it be Admiral Who? Sea Lord Who?

"The Ottomans were on the back foot." Was that an intentional furniture joke? Because it made me laugh.

Very interesting! Thank you. I like to hear baltic operation, I live in Finland we were part of Russia in that time. Operation in Pohjanlahti was total disaster, the British mainly destroyed tar and lumber intended for their own fleet and which they had already paid for. Many have also said that it cannot be considered a great success that the people who were mainly sympathetic to the British were upset that the British Navy destroyed cities, sank ships and killed civilians as collateral losses. Well, these disagreements have been forgotten a long time ago, at least Monty Python's Finland song calmed the bad mood of Finns.

Doing some family history, I discovered a great-great-grandfather who was born in Co. Sligo, Ireland and as an adult became a member of the coastguard. He then served in the coastguard along the English southern coast. When the war with the Russian Empire broke out he got enrolled into the Navy (the coastguard being a naval reserve for the RN.) He served on board a transport vessel which headed off to the Crimea, delivered its cargo and returned safely to continue his service in the Coastguard.

It's interesting to hear about the naval actions during the Crimean War. Most media and books revolve around the land war, the siege of Sevastopol, the Charge of the Light Brigade, etc. Over here in the US, the Crimean War is kind of a footnote in mid-late 19th century European affairs, due to the focus on the growing politics and issues that led to the US Civil War.

This war always fascinated me. One of the few with actual photographs of ships of the line duking it out.

24:24 "Never thought I'd be fighting side-by-side with Napoleon" "What about a friend?" "Aye I'd do that"

I hope I'm not the only one whom watches the Wednesday Rum Ration with a proper jug of rum on hand.

I'm surprised the 1836 HMS Volcano didn't get a mention. The RN anticipated a campaign with their new steam-powered navy being distant from British Imperial dockyards for extended periods, so commissioned a depot ship with workshops. And a steam sawmill; lots of local lumber was converted into timber for onshore construction

Meanwhile Japan: 😮 what are those black ships spewing smoke?

Everyone here know that Drach just guested on Unauthorized History of the Pacific War? It's the most recent podcast and a good RU-vid channel.

52:23 "Russian Pacific Squadron" and "Sea of Kamtchatka" seems an ominous pairing...

“HMS President, the like-for-like copy of the prize that had been taken in the War of 1812 when the latter had rotted out” Wow. That’s petty. GG Britain, I’m impressed XD

Ooh brilliant. I've read so many Russian (well, Soviet) sources about the Crimean war as a kid, this is what I was waiting for!

Geographers: You are calling it the "Crimean war". Crimea is in... Historians: Well yes, but *actually* Petropavlovsk also gets bombarded. Confused, angry, Geographer noises

OMG, I was just thinking about this war, nice one Drach!

Thanks for the video.

Nice one Drach.Very good history...Thanks

Some great paintings in here, Drac!

One of your very best yet, Drach.

Hey Drach, I was wondering if you considered doing a video on the little known Battle of Ko Chang during the even less known franco-thai war of 1940-41? An old French light cruiser and 4 ww1 vintage avisos raiding the Thai naval base at Ko chang and sinking a third of their fleet without being hit once, including the modern italian made destroyers and even more modern coastal defense ships of japanese design.

oh man, how I enjoyed the story, and the images. Thank you very much for your work.

One of your best videos, please keep making gems like this one

It is always nice to see you collaborate with the good folk at realtimehistory.

Hey drach, loved hearing you on the unauthorized history of the pacific war with Seth and Bill, on o'kane and tang, loved hearing you on it!!!!

Thanks for the video it was informative and interesting.

Thanks for this history. In many ways helps to make sense of why there is such a repetition of conflict. Same basic issues, same adversaries and why the current events seem just like those portrayed in your video.

I think my brain is growing barnacles, from hanging out in this channel, good stuff!

Excellent upload as always . We have been there before , looks like we might be going there again . Hope we do a better job of it this time around.

Nice graphics good narration

this is a timely discussion of history, worth remembering in these times.

Interesting and timely. I'm a fan of the 60s Movie: "Charge of the Light Brigade" which has some brief scenes 'at sea' giving the impression that they had some rough weather and lost some horses. I also enjoyed the big picture forward narration to explain the motives leading to the action. And the world map layout showing Alaska as part of the Russian Empire at the time.

I'll be revisiting your Second Pacific Fleet video (for the umteenth time) soon. Brilliant.

Starkes Format!

Incredible!

It is interesting and fun to see a 19th century naval video reference Dr. who .

An excellent video, I am looking forward to the Baltic section.

World class. Thank you from America again....

Do you think the experiences of this campaign in the Mediterranean and Black Seas influenced the French and Brittish when they planned the ill-fated naval attack on the Ottoman Empire in the Great War?

the small comedy made me chuckle. great storytelling!

Nice vid. I was able to use the Black Sea geography info, I have somehow acquired, over the last 400 odd days.

The fourth allied power, albeit smaller than Britain France and the Ottomans, was Piedmont-Sardinia. Did they send any war ships to Crimea?

Yes finally Drach, now let’s have more Nelson and the Seven years War naval operations.

Came here via Real Time History. Great video!

It would be interesting for Drachinifel to do a Wednesday special on Cochrane a man who was not only probably the finest frigate/cruiser(using the original meaning of the term cruiser)captain the RN ever had,political radical,inventor and helper to liberation movements all over the place and who was also the spiritual if not actual ancestor of the Royal Marines Commando(also the Boy Scout movement)and all similar forces as well as by the use of kites creating the use of naval"air". A man dubbed the"Sea Wolf"by Napoleon and who could by his exploits overawe the Dey of Algiers(leader of the major pirate stronghold in North Africa). It would also be interesting to speculate what would have happened if Cochrane as was planned had been the flag captain to his uncle during the war of 1812

Hyped about the upcoming reboot

From unauthorized pacific war with Drach to the rum ration. Good morning so far.

Cool story. More like this, please.

From Sail to unmanned satalite driven drones, 150 years plus after changing hands a dozen times people are still fighting over that damn spit of land...kinda tragic.

Age of Sail; Splendid stuff. 😄👍

Very good!

Time Lord style... love it!

Looking forward to this one And it happening again

I recently read Orlando Figes' "The Crimean War". Mr. Figes is a specialist in writing popular histories of Russia. My one complaint was Mr. Figes ignoring the naval component of the actual war. Mr. Drachnifel has filled in this gap. Tolstoy was an artillery officer serving in Crimea with the Imperial Russian Army. His account of the conflict made his literary career. The Great Storm of 1854 played a cause in the deprivation of British Expeditionary Force during the winter on the siege lines. The reporting of the condition of the troops by William Howard Russell for the London Times led to the downfall of the Aberdeen government.

Wow, I’ve never been this early. Looks to be a good one!

While my understanding of the Crimean War is limited, I have never heard of action taking place in the Pacific. Coverage of that theater was interesting.

An excellent video 📹 The very first modern 'World War.

"A confusing mess" That describes the whole war. From cause, through implementation, to the final outcome. Good job trying to give us some history seldom talked about today.

Thanks!

I love going back to these old ones if only for the theme music.

In Solovecky Monastery itself the battle is described differently: two British steam frigates: Miranda (15 cannons) and Brisk (14 cannons) vs the monastery defenders 53 invalid soldiers and 2 officers with two 3-pdr cannons and eight even smaller training ones, supported by 200 monks, 370 pilgrims and 20 prisoners. On July 6th (18th) the British warships opened fire on approach, the Russians returned fire, Miranda was hit, the British retreated. On July 7th (19th) the British warships returned, with an ultimatum demanding surrender. Russians refused. British bombarded the monastery for 9 hours keeping their distance, afraid of return fire. On July 8th (20th) the British pirates retreated, burning and pillaging other undefended churches, villages and Krestny monastery in Onega Bay on Zayachi and Kiy Islands. Doubtfully the most heroic achievement by British Navy.

The guns from HMS Tiger were recovered by the Russians and (some of them at least) guard the Potemkin Steps and Odessa harbour.

I greatly respect you for making this content that I enjoy so dearly, I would humbly ask if you could cover the theories of Raoul Castex

You would need the longest dance card ever conceived of to keep track of this series of naval engagements. Whew!

Excellent history course on the Crimean Naval War. At university my prof. spent six weeks covering in the same topic, and was able to put the entire class to sleep. Would love to have taken that course with Drachinifel instead. :) .

This video is even better than you regular content

Thanks for the video. As always excellent and with that wonderful dry humour of yours. One important thing is driven home is the massive size and capability of the British Royal Navy at the time. Yes it is supported by the French but the RN is fighting around the globe for basically 3 years and increasing the size of its commitment each year. Also it blows away the old myth that ironclads first appeared in the American Civil War where clearly the French had ocean going iron clads that could traverse the Mediterranean (assuming they started in Toulon) and Black Sea something nether the Union nor Confederate Ironclads were capable of under their own steam. I hope one day you will do the 3 Anglo-Dutch Wars and the roles of Blake, Tromp, de Ruyter, James Duke of York, Monck and to my delight Prince Rupert (who I discovered commanded a fleet thrice the size of Nelson's at Trafalgar). A fascinating series of wars and personalities as well as being a much more challenging series of wars than many the Royal Navy later fought in (and may have been the foundation of a strong navy going forward).

this was very interesting! I hope you are still interested in continuing this

I know next to nothing about the wider Crimean War; others have covered the land campaign on RU-vid, and in other media, but not the naval operations. They seem pretty one sided in these theaters, but I guess that isn't surprising given the disparity in the sizes of the navies. I'm looking forward to hearing about the Baltic Campaign. Your coverage of it for the post WW1 period was very interesting and also something I previously hadn't known about.

Thank you for this amazing documentary. Love the content. Cheers from Estonia

wow now this one is good

"The war of Åland was terrible, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah. When with 300 ships sailed the Englishmen on the shores of our Finland Sumfaraa, sumfaraa, sumfarallallalaa Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah." Finnish was song about the Crimean War.

This era of naval development is covered very well in David K Brown's "Before the Ironclad".

I knew about the war in the Pacific, but hadn't heard about the attacks on the Alaskan coasts. Neat.

Lucky you added 'at sea". We might have thought it was the naval war on land, or in space.

I read alot of the Crimean war land operations and the part of both the french and british navy in the siege of sebastopol,even the baltic operations aren't that new to me,but the operations taking out supplies channels,impressive😮😮

Out of the clear blue ? A book suggestion for all; When The Dancing Stopped- by Brian Hicks. While this book is not involving naval matters (or this video of Drach's...), it is a true story of the SS MORRO CASTLE disaster in 1934, off the coast of New Jersey. It is a great read & very informative. I own 5 books on the subject- this is probably the best of the lot. Trust me- it's worthwhile or I'd not have suggested it !!

Rum at 8:00 AM Eastern, yes can accommodate. Tipple and cheers

After the last year of news I understand the geography of this war so much better.

I hope he does a video on the Crimean Naval war on land, I'd like to see what that is

Hi Runkle, i can say that as a former CSAR team member with 1/75. We did not have .45 caliber pistols HK or Colt. We carried the M4. Which was by the way burst fire....which i believe the Marine Corp carried the m16a4 until just recently...which was not automatic....it was 3 round burst fire. So the dunce Col is FOS..

Time lord reference, classic.😀

8:38 Interesting fact although it may seem a bit crazy to ask Cochrane most famous for his actions during the Napoleonic war to plan an attack with a fleet increasingly reliant on steam power. He was actually very forward thinking when he was Admiral of the Brazilian navy he had constructed the first Ocean going Steam powered warships and the first cross the Atlantic, which was the 20 gun PS Rising Star commissioned in 1822. It was never used in action as the war was almost over, it had an interesting design of internal paddle wheels to protect them a bit more from cannon fire. Not content with that as Admiral of the Greek Navy, one of his ships was the first ever Steam warship to participate in combat which was the Karteria commissioned in 1826 and first saw combat in 1827 in which it was highly effective. This again involves Cohrane, he and another British naval officer Frank Abney Hastings, while employed by the Greek navy set out a plan to build 6 Steam warships and razee two 74 gun ship of the line to form the core of the Greek fleet. This was at a time no other navy had 1 ocean going Steam warship. Let alone 6. In the end only 1 Steam warship arrived and instead of razeeing 2 74 gun ships of the line, they had their heavy frigates built in the USA. Due to the contacts in the USA spending most of the money on themselves the Greeks only received one Frigate.

Professor Andrew Lamb ert was my BA Dissertation Supervisor, this gave me intense flashbacks.

"The Baltic Fleet had enough issues..." That foreshadowing is so long that you need binoculars.

Slight Audio dipping but awesome as always

Really a war that was much more interesting then I used to give it credit for

The last naval war under sail... and the first naval war under steam.

Another great piece of naval history, though I'd dearly like to know the names of the six Russian ships in the battle with Furious & Terrible.

At 50 minutes: After the assault on the town of Kola on the Kola peninsula, trade did not shift to Murmansk. Murmansk did not exist until 1915. It was constructed in order to permit Entente shipments to the Russian Empire since the area is ice-free. Archangel is iced in about 6-8 months a year. Perhaps he meant Alexandrovsk (now called Polarny). Interesting location for the Polar Bear expeditions of British and American troops in 1918-19.

I really appreciate the honest attempt by the allies here at limiting damages to only government targets. The fact that in some cases, civilians were so unaffected that they ended up conducting minor trade with the invaders makes me smile a little. Modern war has so many civilian casualties in comparison, which is tragic.