Competing strategies around the Ottoman fleet

Previous British shows of force had paused Ottoman operations, encouraging Codrington to enter with maximum visible power while retaining orders not to fire first. He privately suspected that repeated threats might eventually require action, even though he did not intend to start a battle that day. French advisers withdrew to an Austrian frigate, reflecting Vienna's competing policy of sustaining the Ottoman Empire as the buffer against Russia. Britain and France instead hoped an autonomous Greece could become a second buffer while ending a war that was steadily eroding Ottoman strength.