Navarino, Battle of

During the Greek war of liberation, destruction on 20 October 1827 of a joint Turkish–Egyptian fleet by the combined fleets of the British, French, and Russians under Vice-Admiral Edward Codrington (1770–1851). The destruction of their fleet left the Turks highly vulnerable in Greece as they had no protection to their rear and no supply line, and this proved to be the decisive battle of the war. Navarino is the Italian and historic name of Pylos Bay, Greece, on the southwest coast of the Peloponnese.

After the fall of Missolonghi April 1826, Britain, France, and Russia had begun to provide assistance to the Greeks and had assembled a fleet of warships. To face this threat, a combined Egyptian and Turkish fleet had reinforced Navarino, the principal Turkish supply base, with troops from Crete, and shortly after a large Egyptian fleet arrived with more troops. The Allied fleet sailed for Navarino with the intention of negotiating a Turkish withdrawal, but the situation was so tense that as soon as a Turkish ship fired on a British gunboat a general close-quarter battle broke out and within two hours the Turkish–Egyptian fleet had been almost totally destroyed.