Monument to the Scuttled Ships

The monument was erected in 1905 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the First Defense of Sevastopol, during which Russian sailing ships were flooded “to block the entrance of enemy ships to the roadstead and thereby save Sevastopol” (PS Nakhimov). On September 11, 1854 across the fairway, between the Konstantinovskaya and Aleksandrovskaya batteries, seven obsolete ships were sunk: frigates Sizopol, Flora, ships Uriel, Three Saints, Silistria, Selafail, Varna. After the autumn-winter storms, due to the partial destruction of this barrier, in November-December, the ship "Gabriel", the merchant ship and the corvette "Pilad" were additionally sunk. In February 1855, from the Mikhailovsky Fort on the North side to the Nikolaev battery - a second line of masts appeared on the South side, protruding from the water - six more ships were flooded: the ships "Twelve Apostles", "Rostislav", "Svyatoslav", frigates "Cahul" , "Messemvria", "Media". On August 27, 1855, when the defenders left the South Side, the rest of the fleet was flooded in the bay. The fire of coastal batteries and sunken ships made the Sevastopol Bay inaccessible to the Anglo-French fleet.