The Russian navy destroyed the Ottoman fleet at the Battle of Sinope in November 1853. The British were now seriously concerned about the growth of Russian naval power in the Mediterranean and the potential threat to the route to India, and indeed in the long run India itself. They were also alarmed about what they regarded as an upset of the balance of power in Europe through the Russian intervention in Austria-Hungary in 1848–9. So the British joined the French in sending a naval expedition to the Black Sea.
