[1][5] The Russian navy had recently adopted naval artillery that fired explosive shells, which gave them a decisive advantage in the battle.

[5] By the early 1850s the Ottoman Empire was deeply in debt and relied exclusively on British and French loans as a means of support.

Despite the Ottoman declaration of war, the naval aspect was mostly uneventful until November, when the Vice Admiral Osman Pasha was forced to dock at Sinop during a storm on the Black Sea.

Osman Pasha, himself aboard the 60-gun Avni Illah, had been sailing with seven frigates, two corvettes and several transports to resupply the Turkish land forces.

Abdulmecid ordered a second convoy commanded by Osman Pasha, but by this time it was late November and the fleet was forced to seek winter quarters.

The Ottomans had wanted to send ships of the line to Sinop, but the British ambassador in Constantinople, Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe, had objected to this plan, and only frigates were sent.

[13] Initial Ottoman activity in the Black Sea had been allowed to proceed unhindered, but as the situation of the Russian Caucasus Corps deteriorated, St. Petersburg was forced to act.

[14] On 30 November, Vice Admiral Fyodor Novosilski rallied six more ships to Nakhimov, completing the blockade force in a loose semi-circle.

Six Russian warships from Sevastopol under command of Vice Admiral Fyodor Novosilsky (including three 120-cannon first-rate ships of the line) joined Nakhimov on 28 November.

His squadron included six modern battleships, two frigates, and three streamers, with the heavier guns armed with explosive shells, their first use in a sea battle.

The Russians planned to deploy their ships in two columns that would advance to within close range of the enemy vessels before dropping anchor and opening fire.

[citation needed] After about 30 minutes of combat the Ottoman flag frigate Auni Allah was shot full of holes and ran aground when her anchor cable was cut.

[17] Only one Ottoman vessel, the 12-gun paddle frigate Taif, managed to escape the battle while all the others were either sunk or purposely run ashore to prevent sinking.

She fled to Istanbul and arrived on 2 December, informing the Ottoman government and Admiral Stratford of the Royal Navy of the defeat at Sinop.

The affair was rather grand, and included dancers, bands, parading troops who had not taken part in the battle and criminals dressed up in Ottoman uniforms.

The destruction of the harbor defenses opened the door to Russian invasion and suddenly the entire Samsun and Trabzon Coast was now at risk.

[16]: 143, 147 "She [Turkey] hears from all sides that the occupation of the Principalities by Russia constitutes a cause of war; and she has not only put herself into a state of respectable defence, but she has appealed with perfect success to the zeal of her Mussulmen and to the loyalty of her Christian subjects.

[20] The attack strengthened the pro-war factions in Britain and France, and provided them with the justification for a war to curb Russian bellicosity.

"[22] Sinop was presented by the media as not so much a battle but an ambush, but its results were nonetheless important to the practice of 19th-century warfare and the evolution of naval doctrine.

As a result, an arms race ensued with participant nations desperately looking for ways to up-gun existing ships and incorporate the shell-firing guns into new ironclad vessels.