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Ottoman Navy - 1880s

An erroneous impression was gained as to the services the Ottoman navy rendered during the 1877 Russo-Turkish war. Because there were no bombardments of forts, and no hostile encounters at sea, beyond the 'Fethi-Bulend'-'Vesta' episode, which was merely an unsuccessful chase after a flying foe, the outside world in general was disposed to think that the Turkish men-of-war did nothing. So far from this being true, the services they rendered to the country were of the utmost importance. The Ottoman fleet maintained the command of the Black Sea throughout the war. It materially assisted in the defence of Batoum and Sulina, and it performed the whole work of transporting the troops from one point to another. In respect to the latter, it would be difficult to find a match in the annals of any naval Power to two such feats as were performed by ships of the Ottoman navy during the late war, the removal of Suleiman Pasha's army from Montenegro to Roumelia by sea, and the embarkation under the eyes of the Russians, by Hobart Pasha's squadron of ironclads, of the expeditionary corps which had been landed at Tchamchira on the Circassian coast, with a view to assisting the Akbassian revolt.

The Ottoman navy in the mid-1880s was much the same as it was then in point of efficiency and strength. A number of the ironclads, it is true, have been laid up for years past in the Golden Horn, but this does not mean that they have been neglected, or allowed to deteriorate. A Turkish man-of-war is never put out of commission. She has always her full complement of officer and men on her books, although when not employed on active service a large proportion of the crew may be on leave. This is due to the custom that has grown up of late years, of allowing men in the last three years of their period of service in what is termed the 'Nizam' to pass into the 'Iktihat,' or class of immediate reserves.

The manning of the Ottoman navy was on the military system. A line-of-battle ship, or ironclad of the first class, is a regiment, and a smaller vessel a battalion. The officers all bear military titles identical with those of the army, and the crews are divided into and worked by' Buluts,' or companies, instead of watches. The conscripts for both services are drawn by the War Office, which drafts off to the Admiralty each year the number of men that may be required. Just as each corps d'armee has its reserves residing at home, so the navy has its reserves immediately available for manning the fleet to its full strength at the shortest notice.

The men for the navy were selected from the population of the districts bordering the Black Sea. A large proportion of them were Lazes, a people with special aptitude for a seafaring life. Here and there a man may be met with more familiar on first arriving at Constantinople with a plough-tail than a windlass or tiller, but as a rule they either hailed from Trebizonde or one of the many small ports beyond. All that has been said in favor of the Turkish soldier may be said with equal truth of the Turkish sailor. He was the same good fellow, patient and docile, with the instinct of discipline very strongly developed in his mental constitution. He was very easily trained, for he follows instruction with unquestioning obedience, and had in him the making of a seaman and gunner of whom any nation may well be proud.

It was not by the number of old broken-down hulks lying about dockyard creeks that the efficiency of a navy is to be measured, but by the number of vessels afloat, and those held ready for service in the reserve classes. 'Relics of the past,' the sight of which lying in a tier off the dockyard wall has no doubt given rise to the stories extant about the deterioration of the Turkish fleet, are to be found elsewhere than in Turkey. These old craft in the Golden Horn were for the most part a legacy of the Cretan war, when old American blockade-runners were hastily purchased by the Government, with a view to catching the Greek steamers that were carrying supplies to the insurgents. Their day was past before the beginning of the 1877 war, and their condition, therefore, in no wise detracted from the efficiency of the fleet as compared to what it was when last put upon a war footing. The mistake was made of confounding the dismantled ironclads of the second class reserve with these old craft, because of their proximity, and to imagine that their hulls and engine-rooms were in a similar state.

Turkey possessed in all some fourteen ironclads, frigates and corvettes. This was the main element of its naval strength, although there are a considerable number of wooden vessels stationed for the maintenance of order at various points on the extensive coasts of the Empire. Of these ironclads, three of the corvette class were away from Constantinople on service, two frigates and two corvettes were in the first reserve, always maintained in a position to proceed to sea at the shortest notice, and the remainder were lying in a tier with their upper masts and yards down. Nevertheless these ships were by no means neglected. They were docked from time to time and the engines are worked by hand. They were not out of commission, and having their guns on board, as also a good proportion of their crews, it was only a question of supplying them with the necessary coals and stores to have them also ready for sea.

Turkey possessed in the 'Messoudieh' one large broadside ironclad frigate of the first class, mounting 16-centimetre Armstrong guns, and carrying round her sides twelve inches of armor. The 'Assari Tevfyk,' a French-built ironclad frigate, a vessel very efficient in point of speed and handiness, carried eight heavy Armstrong guns and four Krupps, and was armored to six inches. These two ships, with the corvettes 'Fethi-Bulend' and 'Monani Gafer,' each of which carried four large Armstrongs in central batteries arranged for fore and aft fire, as well as a Krupp gun on the forecastle, formed the squadron of reserve held ready for sea. The 'Mukademieh Khair' and the 'Avni-Illah' are similar ships. The first-mentioned was stationed at Tripoli in Africa, whilst the last was at Constantinople in the second class reserve, with a few defects to make good in her engine-room.

Then came the French-built corvettes 'Idjlalieh,' 'Nedjnieh Shefket,' and 'Assari Shefket,' not of very much account as fighting ships, but useful for blockading purposes and the protection of convoys. Each carried five heavy Armstrongs, four in broadside ports, and the remaining one in an open turret on the upper deck. The two first-mentioned vessels were stationed in the Archipelago, while the third formed part of the second class reserve. The remainder of the ironclad fleet consisted of the four English-built broadside frigates 'Osmanieh,''Orkhanieh,''Azizieh,' and 'Mahmoudieh.' These vessels were somewhat out of date as fighting vessels, on account of the lightness of their armor, which was only four inches. Their boilers were not in the best condition, nevertheless these ships could be safely trusted to do their eight or nine knots, and they would serve very well for blockading purposes. With their fine flush upper decks these frigates form admirable transports, and as such they rendered most valuable service during the 1877 war. Each carried fourteen heavy Armstrong guns. The last on the list is the turret-vessel 'Iftzi Rahman' of three guns, a craft only fit for harbor defence. Such was the Turkish fleet of the year 1885.

In addition to these ironclads Turkey had three wooden frigates lying in the second class reserve, and eight corvettes, and eleven gunboats in commission away from Constantinople. There were three Imperial yachts, two of which, as well as three fast despatch vessels, were always held in readiness for service. Three other paddle despatch boats were stationed in the Archipelago, whilst another four are lying in the Golden Horn awaiting repairs. Of transports there were fourteen, all under the pennant, exclusive of the ships of the 'Mabsoussieh' Company.

The subject of Turkey's naval strength can hardly be dismissed without some notice of the fine arsenal and dockyard in the Golden Horn. Commencing at the upper bridge, the dockyard extended along the shore for nearly a mile and a«half in an extensive array of dry docks, magazines, ships, and workshops. There was one basin large enough to admit the largest ironclad afloat, and three others, as well as a floating dock, and a building shed. The Turkish dockyard possessed machinery of every description, from that required for the rolling of armour for ironclads to the making of small rivets. Its weak point was the want of hands, which, however, would soon disappear with the flow of a little gold into its treasury, as there is plenty of skilled labor in the market of Constantinople.