The French floating batteries were deployed in 1855 as a supplement to the wooden steam battle fleet in the Crimean War. The role of the battery was to assist unarmored mortar and gunboats bombarding shore fortifications. The French used three of their ironclad batteries ("Lave", "Tonnante" and "Dévastation") in 1855 against the defenses at the Battle of Kinburn on the Black Sea, where they were effective against Russian shore defences. They would later be used again during the Italian war in the Adriatic in 1859. The British floating batteries and arrived too late to participate to the action at Kinburn. The British planned to use theirs in the Baltic Sea against the well-fortified naval base at Kronstadt.