Monument to the Sunken Ships
Not far from Nakhimov Square in Sevastopol is located in a monument to flooded ships, placed in honor of the heroic defense of Sevastopol ( 1854-1855 ) during the Crimean War.
The monument was erected in 1905 on the 50th anniversary of the defense of Sevastopol, then guns were removed from the sea from warships to prevent the assault of the city from the sea and during the year all civilian and combat vessels were flooded. Thus, Prince Alexander Sergeevich Menshikov closed the entrance to Sevastopol Bay to the Anglo-French fleet, which was also protected by coastal batteries. In total, almost 90,000 soldiers participated in the defense of Sevastopol, and there were about 180,000 people and navy on the coalition side. During fierce battles on August 27, 1955, the remaining soldiers left the city under cover of night, burning powder depots and remaining warships. In total, during the defense of Sevastopol, on each side, losses amounted to more than 100 thousand people killed and wounded.
It is worth noting that with the advent of Soviet power, the monument was not touched, although in those days many monuments were redone or destroyed, since they had symbols of imperial power. Nevertheless, there were offers to remake the monument to flooded ships, they even offered to put a star instead of a crown. In the first revolutionary years, the monument lost only a cross over the crown, which was restored in 2003. The rest of the monument was not touched. And in 1969, the image of the monument appeared to the coat of arms of Sevastopol. Also, the monument to flooded ships was not damaged during the Great Patriotic War, when hundreds of German aircraft bombed the city.
The height of the monument to flooded ships is 16.7 meters, the column itself accounts for 7.1 meters, the rest falls on the pedestal and rock. On the column there is a double-headed eagle with the crown of the emperor and spread wings with a scale of 2.67 meters. On the chest of the eagle is a shield with the Holy George the Victorious depicted on it. Pedestal adorns the bas-relief depicting the flooding scene of ships in the fairway.
