The fleet's arrival alarmed Russian commanders. Grand Duke Nicholas demanded the Ottoman fleet's surrender and threatened to occupy Istanbul, but Russian troops remained twelve miles short of fortified lines and the sultan rejected the demand. The prize carried religious as well as strategic meaning: Russian rulers had long imagined restoring the city to Orthodox Christianity and reconsecrating Hagia Sophia. Admiral Geoffrey Hornby sent HMS Salamis to open telegraph links, then entered the Bosphorus with four battleships. The Channel Fleet had moved toward Malta and a third British force was mobilizing, so the squadron represented far more than four hulls. Its presence turned Britain's naval, industrial, and economic capacity into an immediate obstacle that Russia had to include in its calculations.
Notable Point · 5:22-6:35
Hornby's Bosphorus fleet deters a Russian advance
A visible British squadron in the Bosphorus raised the risks of a Russian move against Istanbul by tying four ships to Britain's wider naval power.