The problem of the Black Sea Straits was on the agenda of Russian Empire policy throughout the XIX century. Especially after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, when the Ottoman Empire noticeably lost its power, this issue became one of the main ones in Russian foreign policy. In the conditions of international crises that took place on the eve of the First World War and during the war, the possibility of Istanbul falling into the hands of another power caused fears in Russia. A plan was prepared to capture the Bosphorus as part of an amphibious operation to prevent such a situation and prevent the access of foreign ships to the Black Sea.
The key condition for the success of the amphibious operation (according to the ideas of naval theorists of the early twentieth century) was the possession of the sea, and the main prerequisite for the possession of the sea was a squadron of battleships capable of winning a general battle. Therefore, the ratio of the linear fleets of Russia and its opponents on the Black Sea (Turkey and Austria-Hungary, whose intervention in favor of Turkey was considered likely) was the most important condition determining whether it made sense to prepare a landing or not. Until 1910, Russia maintained dominance on the Black Sea, but the
construction of dreadnoughts in Austria-Hungary and their order by Turkey dramatically changed the balance of power. Therefore, the amphibious operation was actively prepared in the 1880s-1890s, and in our opinion, the greatest success could accompany it in 1896-1897.
Russian leadership’s distraction to the Far East, the defeat in the Russo-Japanese War, and then the strengthening of the Austro-Hungarian and Turkish fleets forced them to temporarily abandon the idea of landing. Only during the First World War they were returned to them again, but for a number of reasons the landing was not carried out. This study examines the issue through the prism of the ratio of the linear forces of the Russian Black Sea, Turkish, and Austro-Hungarian fleets. For a better understanding of the balance of forces, tables of tactical and technical characteristics of battleships of Russia, Turkey and Austria-Hungary were added at the end of the study.