NAVARIN, BAY OF

Greek rmos Navarnou, small, deep, and almost landlocked bay of the Ionian Sea in the noms (department) of Messenia, in the southwestern Peloponnese (Pelopnnisos), Greece. Known also as Pylos (Plos) Bay after Homeric Pylos, which has been identified farther to the north, the bay was the scene of a decisive battle in 1827 that consolidated the independence of Greece. Here, the combined fleets of Great Britain, France, and Russia destroyed the Turko-Egyptian fleet. Two years later the French built a little town on the bay's south shore that is now a popular tourist centre. Named Navarino after a neighbouring castle of the Avars, the town attracted to itself the classical name of Pylos. The historic island of Sfaktira (Sphacteria), scene of an engagement in the Peloponnesian War, functions as a giant breakwater for the bay's inner lagoon or shipping lane, leaving a broad channel on the south and the Sikis Channel on the north. The bay is one of the safest anchorages in the Mediterranean. At Palaikastron (Paleo Kastro) are the ruins of a Frankish castle built in 1278.