So I have read before* that the British considered transferring Menorca (which they took in the War of the Spanish Succession) to the Russians. If this happened, would Russia be able to hold onto it and use it as a naval base in the long run? Or was it too far away without access through the Dardanelles?
*It was in Marx's Secret Diplomatic History of the 18th Century, which is mostly about the British being irrationally pro-Russian in the 1700s. So I don't know how plausible it actually was.