Sevastopol harbour
Sevastopol harbour is a deep natural bay on the south-western tip of Crimea and the main base of the Black Sea Fleet since the late eighteenth century. The city grew around this harbour: narrow arms of the bays, quays, and forts at the entrances.
In Soviet times Sevastopol was a closed city: foreigners and many USSR citizens needed a permit to enter because the fleet was based here. Restrictions for tourists were lifted in the mid-1990s. In 1997 Russia and Ukraine signed agreements on the partition of the former Soviet Black Sea Fleet and on the terms for Russian ships in Sevastopol's bays at leased facilities. That is a story about the fleet and the bases, not about "handing over the city": Sevastopol was already part of independent Ukraine.
The fleet and the harbour
Under the 1997 agreements Russia received the larger share of the former fleet's ships, Ukraine the smaller; Russia leased several bays in Sevastopol for its ships. Those arrangements applied until 2014 and do not describe the city's situation after the occupation.
In the Crimean War of 1854-1855 the Russian fleet scuttled some of its own ships at the harbour entrance to block the allied squadron. Guns from the ships and their crews went into shore defence. The siege of the city lasted about a year.
The Crimean War
In the 1850s Britain, France, the Ottoman Empire and Sardinia fought the Russian Empire. The allies held a base at Balaklava and besieged Sevastopol; among the battles were Balaklava, Inkerman and the assaults on Malakhov Hill. The Charge of the Light Brigade of 1854 and Balaklava's role are covered separately: Balaklava and the Charge of the Light Brigade.
The panorama "Defence of Sevastopol" on Historical Boulevard is Franz Roubaud's painted panorama of 1905, not a sound-and-light show. About it: Panorama of the defence of Sevastopol. From the heights of Sapun Hill stretches the valley that English memory associates with the "Valley of Death" in Alfred Tennyson's poem.
1941-1942: the second siege
In the Second World War the defence of Sevastopol lasted from late October 1941 to early July 1942 - about 250 days. Artillery and air attack almost completely destroyed the city. After it fell, underground resistance continued, including in tunnels, some of which dated from the Crimean War. Soviet troops liberated the city in 1944. Memorials and Second World War dioramas were later set up on Malakhov Hill and Sapun Hill.
Nearby
On the outskirts of Sevastopol lies Tauric Chersonesus - an ancient Greek site: Tauric Chersonesus. In neighbouring Balaklava in Soviet times submarines were hidden in the rock; on the bay and the Crimean War see again Balaklava and the Charge of the Light Brigade.
Crimea and Sevastopol are temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation. For now it is not a place for tourism.