Konstantin Battery

[1] Despite renouncing its claims to Crimea in the 1774 Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca, naval ships of the Ottoman Empire still felt able to cruise off the peninsula.

They were dissuaded from doing so by Alexander Suvorov's annexation of Crimea and construction of earth fortifications at the entrance to Sevastopol Bay on the night of 15 June 1778, within range of ten Ottoman ships then offshore.

[2] In 1794, also on Suvorov's orders, a two-tier stone and earth battery was built to designs by François Sainte de Wollant, who also managed construction of the port of Akhtiar in the city.

[3] In 1834 it was decided to demolish de Wollant's fort and replace it with a stone casemate battery, taking into account more modern developments in fortification design.

At that time the battery was equipped with 43 heavy guns in its seaward side; of these, 27 were barbette mounted, with the rest in casemates.