List of battleships of the Ottoman Empire
Encyclopedia
In the aftermath of the Young Turk Revolution
in 1908, the Committee of Union and Progress
that had taken control of the Ottoman Empire
began to draw up plans to strengthen the Ottoman Navy. The poor condition of the fleet was clearly visible in the Ottoman Naval Parade of 1910. Attempts to construct Ottoman-made battleships such as Abdul Kadir
had ended in failure, so the Ottoman Navy Foundation was established with the aim of purchasing new ships through public donations rather than having them built locally. Despite these efforts, the fleet remained in a poor state. Its inability to respond to naval threats was evident in the First Balkan War
(1913), when the Ottoman Navy was defeated in two separate engagements by the Greek Navy, during the battles of Elli
and Lemnos
.
Following the conclusion of the Balkan Wars
, a naval race began in the Balkans between Greece and the Ottoman Empire. In order to update the fleet, the Ottoman Navy Foundation purchased larger battleships such as Sultan Osman I
, and ordered three planned Reshadieh-class battleships
, including the purchase of one that had already been built, the Reshadieh. The United Kingdom confiscated the ships at the outbreak of World War I
though only two were nearing completion, Sultan Osman I and Reshadieh. Upon confiscation, Sultan Osman I was renamed HMS Agincourt while Reshadieh was renamed HMS Erin. The seizure of these battleships by the Royal Navy
outraged the Ottoman people, since public donations had been the source of most of the funds for the ships. The German Empire
took advantage of the situation by sending the battlecruiser SMS Goeben
and the light cruiser SMS Breslau
to the Ottoman capital of Constantinople in 1914, and handing them over to the Ottoman Navy. These two ships entered service as Yavuz Sultan Selim and Midilli respectively. The British seizure of these ships as well as the transfer of German ships to the Ottoman Navy significantly contributed to the Ottoman Empire's decision to enter World War I on the side of Germany and the Central Powers
a few months later.
During World War I, many of the Ottoman battleships saw little or no action.Mesudiye is not included in this list as she was constructed as a Central battery ironclad and later re-constructed into a Pre-Dreadnought design. (See Sondhaus, p. 218) Since many were in a poor condition, they simply remained at their moorings for most of the war. Out of all the battleships legally owned by the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the war, half were either scrapped or were seized by the British in the early days of the conflict. Abdul Kadir was scrapped in 1914, while Barbaros Hayreddin was sunk in 1915. Turgut Reis survived the conflict and was scrapped in the 1950s. Of the three planned Reshadieh-class ships, only one, Reshadieh, was ever built, with the rest being cancelled just before the war. Reshadieh was one of the ships seized by the British in August 1914. Sultan Osman I, which had been bought from Brazil
in 1913, was also seized by Britain in August 1914. The last battleship in the Ottoman Navy, Yavuz Sultan Selim, survived the war and was scrapped in 1973.
battleship
to be constructed. She was laid down in 1892 at the beginning of a small-scale expansion of the Ottoman Navy. Work slowed down considerably once she was framed. By the early 1900's the only progress that had been made was the addition of armor plating around her keel. Once that was finished, work ceased. Construction was planned to resume in 1904 but by that time her keel blocks, which were used to prevent hogging and sagging, had shifted and the ship was considered a total loss. She was scrapped on the slipway in 1914.
, the first class of ocean-going battleships built for the German navy. Two other ships of the class were constructed, Brandenburg and Wörth. Of the four, Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm and Weissenburg were more advanced in that their armor was composed of higher-quality steel.
Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm and Weissenburg were sold to the Ottoman Navy in 1910 and renamed Barbaros Hayreddin and Torgut Reis, respectively. The two battleships saw very little service in the Italo-Turkish War
and were mostly used to defend the Dardanelles from any Italian naval attacks. Barbaros Hayreddin and Turgut Reis saw heavy service during the Balkan Wars
however, failing in two attempts to break the Greek naval blockade of the Dardanelles in December 1912 and January 1913, and providing artillery support to Ottoman ground forces in Thrace
. On 8 August 1915, during World War I, Barbaros Hayreddin was torpedoed and sunk off the Dardanelles
by the British submarine HMS E11
, with heavy loss of life. Turgut Reis was largely inactive during World War I, in part due to her slow speed. By 1924, Turgut Reis was used as a school ship before eventually being scrapped in 1956–57.
at the outbreak of World War I while under construction in Britain, due to fears that she would be used to support the Central Powers
; the British renamed her HMS Erin. The seizure caused resentment among the Ottoman people as public donations had been the source of most of the funds for the ships, and her crew had already been formed. This action by the Royal Navy was a major contributing factor to the participation of the Ottoman Empire on the side of the Central Powers in World War I. The second ship of the Reshadieh class, Reshad-I-Hammiss, was canceled and scrapped on the slipway in 1912. She was replaced by the Sultan Osman I. A third ship, Fatih, ordered in 1914 in response to the transfer of the American battleship Mississippi
to the Greek Navy, and estimated to be completed in 1917, was to have been slightly larger than Reshad-I-Hammiss and Reshadieh. She was scrapped on the slipway in 1914.
During World War I, HMS Erin was assigned to the 1st Division of the 2nd Battle Squadron
of the Grand Fleet. While serving with the 2nd Battle Squadron, she fought in the Battle of Jutland
. Following the war, she became the flagship of the Nore
Reserve in 1919 and was scrapped in 1922 to comply with the Washington Naval Treaty
.
Sultan Osman I went through three names and legally belonged to three different navies in her career. She was originally intended for the Brazilian Navy
as Rio de Janeiro, and was laid down on 14 September 1911 by Armstrong Whitworth
in Newcastle upon Tyne
. After more than a year of construction her hull was launched on 22 January 1913. Because of an economic crisis in Brazil, the uncompleted battleship was sold to the Ottoman Navy on 28 December 1913. She was then renamed Sultan Osman I. Her sea trials were completed the next August, at the outbreak of World War I. When the war began she was still in British hands. When her Ottoman crew came to collect her, the British government seized the vessel for fear of it being used against Britain in the conflict. This act outraged the Ottoman people and was a major factor in turning Turkish public opinion against Britain, which in turn helped to drive the Ottoman Empire
into an alliance with the Central Powers. Once she was under British control, the battleship was once again renamed, this time as HMS Agincourt. She served in the Royal Navy for the remainder of the war and was decommissioned and scrapped in 1924.
SMS Goeben was originally a German battlecruiser and a member of the Moltke class. Goeben and her sister ship Moltke were ordered in 1909 and 1908 respectively. Before being transferred to the Ottoman Navy, Goeben was assigned to the Mediterranean as the flagship of the German Navy's new Mediterranean Division
. At the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Goeben and the light cruiser attempted to evade the British fleet
. With the assistance of the entire Austro-Hungarian Navy the two ships managed to safely make their way to Constantinople, arriving in the Bosporus on 11 August. They were then transferred to the Ottoman Navy. Upon transfer, SMS Goeben was renamed as Yavuz Sultan Selim. The German transfer of Goeben to the Ottoman Empire helped gain public support for the nation's entry into World War I on the side of the Central Powers following the British seizure of other Ottoman battleships. Yavuz Sultan Selim mainly operated in the Black Sea
against the Russian Black Sea Fleet stationed in Sevastopol. In 1918, Yavuz Sultan Selim attacked British forces outside the Dardanelles
; during the conflict, she struck three mines. Under attack by British bombers, she managed to beach herself and was towed back for repairs three days later. The battleship underwent a series of repairs and upgrades between 1927 and 1930. In 1936 her name was officially shortened to Yavuz. The battlecruiser continued to serve in the Turkish Navy in World War II
and had her anti-aircraft battery upgraded in 1941. Yavuz was decommissioned from active service on 20 December 1950 and stricken from the Navy register on 14 November 1954. In 1973 she was sold for scrap.
Young Turk Revolution
The Young Turk Revolution of 1908 reversed the suspension of the Ottoman parliament by Sultan Abdul Hamid II, marking the onset of the Second Constitutional Era...
in 1908, the Committee of Union and Progress
Committee of Union and Progress
The Committee of Union and Progress began as a secret society established as the "Committee of Ottoman Union" in 1889 by the medical students İbrahim Temo, Abdullah Cevdet, İshak Sükuti and Ali Hüseyinzade...
that had taken control of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
began to draw up plans to strengthen the Ottoman Navy. The poor condition of the fleet was clearly visible in the Ottoman Naval Parade of 1910. Attempts to construct Ottoman-made battleships such as Abdul Kadir
Ottoman battleship Abdul Kadir
Abdul Kadir was an Ottoman pre-dreadnought battleship laid down in 1892 at the Constantinople dockyard. After she was framed with armor near the turn of the century, very little work was done to her other than to plate in the area near the keel before work ceased. When work was scheduled to resume...
had ended in failure, so the Ottoman Navy Foundation was established with the aim of purchasing new ships through public donations rather than having them built locally. Despite these efforts, the fleet remained in a poor state. Its inability to respond to naval threats was evident in the First Balkan War
First Balkan War
The First Balkan War, which lasted from October 1912 to May 1913, pitted the Balkan League against the Ottoman Empire. The combined armies of the Balkan states overcame the numerically inferior and strategically disadvantaged Ottoman armies and achieved rapid success...
(1913), when the Ottoman Navy was defeated in two separate engagements by the Greek Navy, during the battles of Elli
Naval Battle of Elli
The Battle of Elli , also known as the Battle of the Dardanelles, took place near the mouth of the Dardanelles on as part of the First Balkan War between the fleets of Greece and the Ottoman Empire...
and Lemnos
Naval Battle of Lemnos
The Battle of Lemnos , fought on , was a naval battle during the First Balkan War, which defeated the second and last attempt of the Ottoman Empire to break the Greek naval blockade of the Dardanelles and reclaim supremacy over the Aegean Sea from Greece....
.
Following the conclusion of the Balkan Wars
Balkan Wars
The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe in 1912 and 1913.By the early 20th century, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia, the countries of the Balkan League, had achieved their independence from the Ottoman Empire, but large parts of their ethnic...
, a naval race began in the Balkans between Greece and the Ottoman Empire. In order to update the fleet, the Ottoman Navy Foundation purchased larger battleships such as Sultan Osman I
HMS Agincourt (1913)
HMS Agincourt was a dreadnought built in the early 1910s. The ship was originally ordered by Brazil, but the collapse of the rubber boom plus a lessening of the rivalry with Argentina led to her resale while still under construction to the Ottoman Empire who renamed her as Sultan Osman I...
, and ordered three planned Reshadieh-class battleships
Reshadieh class battleship
The Reshadieh class battleship was a class of three dreadnought battleships ordered from two British shipyards by the Ottoman Navy. Only one of the class was completed, having been seized by the Royal Navy at the outbreak of the First World War while under construction in Britain...
, including the purchase of one that had already been built, the Reshadieh. The United Kingdom confiscated the ships at the outbreak of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
though only two were nearing completion, Sultan Osman I and Reshadieh. Upon confiscation, Sultan Osman I was renamed HMS Agincourt while Reshadieh was renamed HMS Erin. The seizure of these battleships by the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
outraged the Ottoman people, since public donations had been the source of most of the funds for the ships. The German Empire
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
took advantage of the situation by sending the battlecruiser SMS Goeben
SMS Goeben
SMS Goeben was the second of two Moltke-class battlecruisers of the Imperial German Navy, launched in 1911 and named after the German Franco-Prussian War veteran General August Karl von Goeben...
and the light cruiser SMS Breslau
SMS Breslau
SMS Breslau was a Magdeburg-class light cruiser of the German Kaiserliche Marine , built in the early 1910s. Following her commissioning, Breslau and the battlecruiser were assigned to the Mittelmeerdivision in response to the Balkan Wars...
to the Ottoman capital of Constantinople in 1914, and handing them over to the Ottoman Navy. These two ships entered service as Yavuz Sultan Selim and Midilli respectively. The British seizure of these ships as well as the transfer of German ships to the Ottoman Navy significantly contributed to the Ottoman Empire's decision to enter World War I on the side of Germany and the Central Powers
Central Powers
The Central Powers were one of the two warring factions in World War I , composed of the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria...
a few months later.
During World War I, many of the Ottoman battleships saw little or no action.Mesudiye is not included in this list as she was constructed as a Central battery ironclad and later re-constructed into a Pre-Dreadnought design. (See Sondhaus, p. 218) Since many were in a poor condition, they simply remained at their moorings for most of the war. Out of all the battleships legally owned by the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the war, half were either scrapped or were seized by the British in the early days of the conflict. Abdul Kadir was scrapped in 1914, while Barbaros Hayreddin was sunk in 1915. Turgut Reis survived the conflict and was scrapped in the 1950s. Of the three planned Reshadieh-class ships, only one, Reshadieh, was ever built, with the rest being cancelled just before the war. Reshadieh was one of the ships seized by the British in August 1914. Sultan Osman I, which had been bought from Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
in 1913, was also seized by Britain in August 1914. The last battleship in the Ottoman Navy, Yavuz Sultan Selim, survived the war and was scrapped in 1973.
Key
| Main guns | Number and type of the main battery Main battery Generally used only in the terms of naval warfare, the main battery is the primary weapon around which a ship was designed. "Battery" is in itself a common term in the military science of artillery. For example, the United States Navy battleship USS Washington had a main battery of nine guns... guns |
| Displacement | Ship displacement Displacement (ship) A ship's displacement is its weight at any given time, generally expressed in metric tons or long tons. The term is often used to mean the ship's weight when it is loaded to its maximum capacity. A number of synonymous terms exist for this maximum weight, such as loaded displacement, full load... at full combat load |
| Propulsion | Number of shafts, type of propulsion system, and top speed generated |
| Service | Dates work began and finished on the ship and its ultimate fate |
| Laid down | Date the keel Keel In boats and ships, keel can refer to either of two parts: a structural element, or a hydrodynamic element. These parts overlap. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in construction of a ship, in British and American shipbuilding traditions the construction is dated from this event... began to be assembled |
| Launched | Date the ship was launched |
| Commissioned | Date the ship was commissioned Ship commissioning Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military... |
Abdul Kadir
Abdul Kadir was the first Ottoman pre-dreadnoughtPre-dreadnought
Pre-dreadnought battleship is the general term for all of the types of sea-going battleships built between the mid-1890s and 1905. Pre-dreadnoughts replaced the ironclad warships of the 1870s and 1880s...
battleship
Battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
to be constructed. She was laid down in 1892 at the beginning of a small-scale expansion of the Ottoman Navy. Work slowed down considerably once she was framed. By the early 1900's the only progress that had been made was the addition of armor plating around her keel. Once that was finished, work ceased. Construction was planned to resume in 1904 but by that time her keel blocks, which were used to prevent hogging and sagging, had shifted and the ship was considered a total loss. She was scrapped on the slipway in 1914.
| Ship | Main guns | Displacement | Propulsion | Service | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laid down | Launched | Commissioned | Fate | ||||
| Abdul Kadir Ottoman battleship Abdul Kadir Abdul Kadir was an Ottoman pre-dreadnought battleship laid down in 1892 at the Constantinople dockyard. After she was framed with armor near the turn of the century, very little work was done to her other than to plate in the area near the keel before work ceased. When work was scheduled to resume... |
4 × 8 inches (20.3 cm) | 8100 metric tons (7,972 LT) | 2 shafts, 18 kn (9.8 m/s) | 1892 | — | — | Scrapped in 1914 before launch |
Barbaros Hayreddin and Turgut Reis
The Ottoman battleships Barbaros Hayreddin and Turgut Reis were originally named Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm and Weissenburg, respectively. They were members of the German Brandenburg-classBrandenburg class battleship
The four Brandenburg-class pre-dreadnought battleships were Germany's first ocean-going battleships. They were also the first German warship, of any type, to be fitted with wireless communications. The class comprised , , , and . All were laid down in 1890 and completed by 1893, except for...
, the first class of ocean-going battleships built for the German navy. Two other ships of the class were constructed, Brandenburg and Wörth. Of the four, Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm and Weissenburg were more advanced in that their armor was composed of higher-quality steel.
Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm and Weissenburg were sold to the Ottoman Navy in 1910 and renamed Barbaros Hayreddin and Torgut Reis, respectively. The two battleships saw very little service in the Italo-Turkish War
Italo-Turkish War
The Italo-Turkish or Turco-Italian War was fought between the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Italy from September 29, 1911 to October 18, 1912.As a result of this conflict, Italy was awarded the Ottoman provinces of Tripolitania, Fezzan, and...
and were mostly used to defend the Dardanelles from any Italian naval attacks. Barbaros Hayreddin and Turgut Reis saw heavy service during the Balkan Wars
Balkan Wars
The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe in 1912 and 1913.By the early 20th century, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia, the countries of the Balkan League, had achieved their independence from the Ottoman Empire, but large parts of their ethnic...
however, failing in two attempts to break the Greek naval blockade of the Dardanelles in December 1912 and January 1913, and providing artillery support to Ottoman ground forces in Thrace
Thrace
Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...
. On 8 August 1915, during World War I, Barbaros Hayreddin was torpedoed and sunk off the Dardanelles
Dardanelles
The Dardanelles , formerly known as the Hellespont, is a narrow strait in northwestern Turkey connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara. It is one of the Turkish Straits, along with its counterpart the Bosphorus. It is located at approximately...
by the British submarine HMS E11
HMS E11
HMS E11 was an E-class submarine of the Royal Navy launched on 23 April 1914. E11 was one of the most successful submarines in action during the 1915 naval operations in the Dardanelles Campaign, sinking over 80 vessels of all sizes in three tours of the Sea of Marmara.-European operations:In...
, with heavy loss of life. Turgut Reis was largely inactive during World War I, in part due to her slow speed. By 1924, Turgut Reis was used as a school ship before eventually being scrapped in 1956–57.
| Ship | Main guns | Displacement | Propulsion | Service | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laid down | Launched | Commissioned | Fate | ||||
| Barbaros Hayreddin SMS Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm SMS Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm"SMS" stands for "Seiner Majestät Schiff", or "His Majesty's Ship" in German. was one of the first ocean-going battleshipsAt the time she was laid down, the German navy referred to the ship as an "armored ship" , instead of "battleship" , see Gröner, p13. of the German... |
6 × 28 centimetres (11 in) | 10670 metric tons (10,501.5 LT) | 2 screws, triple expansion engines, 16.5 kn (9 m/s) | May 1890 | 30 June 1891 | 29 April 1894 | Transferred to the Ottoman Empire on 12 September 1910, sunk 8 August 1915 |
| Turgut Reis | 6 × 28 centimetres (11 in) | 10670 metric tons (10,501.5 LT) | 2 screws, triple expansion engines, 16.5 kn (9 m/s) | May 1890 | 14 December 1891 | 14 October 1894 | Transferred to the Ottoman Empire on 12 September 1910, scrapped in 1956–57 |
Reshadieh class
Following the purchase of SMS Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm and SMS Weissenburg from Germany, the Ottoman Navy drew up plans for a new class of battleships called the Reshadieh class. The class would have consisted of three ships, Reshadieh, Reshad-I-Hammiss, and Fatih. Of the three planned battleships, only one, Reshadieh, was completed. However, Reshadieh was seized by the Royal NavyRoyal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
at the outbreak of World War I while under construction in Britain, due to fears that she would be used to support the Central Powers
Central Powers
The Central Powers were one of the two warring factions in World War I , composed of the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria...
; the British renamed her HMS Erin. The seizure caused resentment among the Ottoman people as public donations had been the source of most of the funds for the ships, and her crew had already been formed. This action by the Royal Navy was a major contributing factor to the participation of the Ottoman Empire on the side of the Central Powers in World War I. The second ship of the Reshadieh class, Reshad-I-Hammiss, was canceled and scrapped on the slipway in 1912. She was replaced by the Sultan Osman I. A third ship, Fatih, ordered in 1914 in response to the transfer of the American battleship Mississippi
Greek Battleship Limnos
Limnos, sometimes spelled Lemnos , was a 13,000 ton Mississippi-class Greek battleship named for a crucial naval battle of the First Balkan War.-History of the ship:...
to the Greek Navy, and estimated to be completed in 1917, was to have been slightly larger than Reshad-I-Hammiss and Reshadieh. She was scrapped on the slipway in 1914.
During World War I, HMS Erin was assigned to the 1st Division of the 2nd Battle Squadron
2nd Battle Squadron (United Kingdom)
The British Royal Navy 2nd Battle Squadron was a naval squadron consisting of battleships. The 2nd Battle Squadron was initially part of the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet. After World War I the Grand Fleet was reverted back to its original name, the Atlantic Fleet...
of the Grand Fleet. While serving with the 2nd Battle Squadron, she fought in the Battle of Jutland
Battle of Jutland
The Battle of Jutland was a naval battle between the British Royal Navy's Grand Fleet and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet during the First World War. The battle was fought on 31 May and 1 June 1916 in the North Sea near Jutland, Denmark. It was the largest naval battle and the only...
. Following the war, she became the flagship of the Nore
Nore
The Nore is a sandbank at the mouth of the Thames Estuary, England. It marks the point where the River Thames meets the North Sea, roughly halfway between Havengore Creek in Essex and Warden Point in Kent....
Reserve in 1919 and was scrapped in 1922 to comply with the Washington Naval Treaty
Washington Naval Treaty
The Washington Naval Treaty, also known as the Five-Power Treaty, was an attempt to cap and limit, and "prevent 'further' costly escalation" of the naval arms race that had begun after World War I between various International powers, each of which had significant naval fleets. The treaty was...
.
| Ship | Main guns | Displacement | Propulsion | Service | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laid down | Launched | Commissioned | Fate | ||||
| Reshadieh | 10 × 13.5 in (34 cm) | 27900 metric tons (27,459.3 LT) | 4 Parsons steam turbines, 21 kn (11.4 m/s) | 1 August 1911 | 3 September 1913 | August 1914 | Seized by the Royal Navy in August 1914, later scrapped in 1922 in Britain |
| Reshad-I-Hamiss | 10 × 13.5 in (34 cm) | 27900 metric tons (27,459.3 LT) | 4 Parsons steam turbines, 21 kn (11.4 m/s) | — | — | — | Scrapped on the slipway in 1912 |
| Fatih | 10 × 13.5 in (34 cm) | UnknownFatih would have been slightly larger than her sisterships in weight but her exact tonnage is unknown. (See Hore, p. 145) | 4 Parsons steam turbines, 21 kn (11.4 m/s) | — | — | — | Scrapped on the slipway in 1914 |
Sultan Osman I
Brazilian Navy
The Brazilian Navy is a branch of the Brazilian Armed Forces responsible for conducting naval operations. It is the largest navy in Latin America...
as Rio de Janeiro, and was laid down on 14 September 1911 by Armstrong Whitworth
Armstrong Whitworth
Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd was a major British manufacturing company of the early years of the 20th century. Headquartered in Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne, Armstrong Whitworth engaged in the construction of armaments, ships, locomotives, automobiles, and aircraft.-History:In 1847,...
in Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
. After more than a year of construction her hull was launched on 22 January 1913. Because of an economic crisis in Brazil, the uncompleted battleship was sold to the Ottoman Navy on 28 December 1913. She was then renamed Sultan Osman I. Her sea trials were completed the next August, at the outbreak of World War I. When the war began she was still in British hands. When her Ottoman crew came to collect her, the British government seized the vessel for fear of it being used against Britain in the conflict. This act outraged the Ottoman people and was a major factor in turning Turkish public opinion against Britain, which in turn helped to drive the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
into an alliance with the Central Powers. Once she was under British control, the battleship was once again renamed, this time as HMS Agincourt. She served in the Royal Navy for the remainder of the war and was decommissioned and scrapped in 1924.
| Ship | Main guns | Displacement | Propulsion | Service | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laid down | Launched | Commissioned (Into the Royal Navy) | Fate | ||||
| Sultan Osman I HMS Agincourt (1913) HMS Agincourt was a dreadnought built in the early 1910s. The ship was originally ordered by Brazil, but the collapse of the rubber boom plus a lessening of the rivalry with Argentina led to her resale while still under construction to the Ottoman Empire who renamed her as Sultan Osman I... |
14 × 12 in (30.5 cm) | 27500 metric tons (27,065.6 LT) | 4 Parsons steam turbines, 22 Babcock and Wilcox water-tube boilers 22 kn (12 m/s) | 14 September 1911 | align= center| 22 January 1913 |
7 August 1914 | Seized by the Royal Navy in August 1914 and subsequently re-named HMS Agincourt; scrapped in 1924 | |
Yavuz Sultan Selim
Mediterranean Division
The Mediterranean Division was a division consisting of one battlecruiser , one light cruiser , and a yacht of the Kaiserliche Marine. It saw service in the First Balkan War, Second Balkan War, and First World War...
. At the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Goeben and the light cruiser attempted to evade the British fleet
Pursuit of Goeben and Breslau
The pursuit of Goeben and Breslau was a naval action that occurred in the Mediterranean Sea at the outbreak of the First World War when elements of the British Mediterranean Fleet attempted to intercept the German Mittelmeerdivision comprising the battlecruiser and the light cruiser...
. With the assistance of the entire Austro-Hungarian Navy the two ships managed to safely make their way to Constantinople, arriving in the Bosporus on 11 August. They were then transferred to the Ottoman Navy. Upon transfer, SMS Goeben was renamed as Yavuz Sultan Selim. The German transfer of Goeben to the Ottoman Empire helped gain public support for the nation's entry into World War I on the side of the Central Powers following the British seizure of other Ottoman battleships. Yavuz Sultan Selim mainly operated in the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
against the Russian Black Sea Fleet stationed in Sevastopol. In 1918, Yavuz Sultan Selim attacked British forces outside the Dardanelles
Dardanelles
The Dardanelles , formerly known as the Hellespont, is a narrow strait in northwestern Turkey connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara. It is one of the Turkish Straits, along with its counterpart the Bosphorus. It is located at approximately...
; during the conflict, she struck three mines. Under attack by British bombers, she managed to beach herself and was towed back for repairs three days later. The battleship underwent a series of repairs and upgrades between 1927 and 1930. In 1936 her name was officially shortened to Yavuz. The battlecruiser continued to serve in the Turkish Navy in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and had her anti-aircraft battery upgraded in 1941. Yavuz was decommissioned from active service on 20 December 1950 and stricken from the Navy register on 14 November 1954. In 1973 she was sold for scrap.
| Ship | Main guns | Displacement | Propulsion | Service | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laid down | Launched | Commissioned | Fate | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Yavuz Sultan Selim SMS Goeben SMS Goeben was the second of two Moltke-class battlecruisers of the Imperial German Navy, launched in 1911 and named after the German Franco-Prussian War veteran General August Karl von Goeben... |
10 × 28 cm (11 in) | 25400 metric tons (24,998.8 LT) | 4 screws, Parsons steam turbines, 28 kn (15.2 m/s) | 28 August 1909 | 28 March 1911 | 2 July 1912 | Transferred to the Ottoman Navy on 16 August 1914, scrapped in 1973 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||