A war ended because its only shot hit a soup kettle, not a soldier

In 1784 the Holy Roman Emperor sent warships up the river Scheldt to challenge Dutch control of it. The Dutch navy fired a single shot at the lead ship, hitting a kettle of soup in its galley, and the ship surrendered immediately. The conflict was settled by treaty the following year, with the Dutch paying a small indemnity and keeping the river closed to Austrian shipping.

— Standard historical accounts, Kettle War — Dutch-Habsburg dispute over the Scheldt, 1784