In the 1860s and 1870s, the Ottoman Navy ordered or acquired a series of ironclad warships, built almost entirely in foreign shipyards. The first class, the four s, were ordered from British shipyards in the early 1860s, and a fifth ship, , was ordered in 1864; this vessel was purchased by the Prussian Navy in 1867. That year the Ottomans ordered the ironclad and the two-ship , all from Britain. In the meantime, the Eyalet of Egypt, a province of the Ottoman Empire, placed orders for several ironclads from French shipyards; these included and the and es. They also awarded the contract for to an Austro-Hungarian firm. Egyptian efforts to assert their independence angered Sultan Abdülaziz, who demanded Egypt surrender all of the ironclads it had ordered, which it did in 1868. By this time, a second had been ordered; this ship, , was the first ironclad built in the Ottoman Imperial Arsenal. In 1871, the Ottomans ordered two s from Britain, the second of which was purchased by the Royal Navy in 1878 in the midst of a war scare with Russia, and laid down a third vessel, , at the Imperial Arsenal. Two final ships, the , were ordered from Britain in 1874, but the Royal Navy bought both vessels during the 1878 war scare.
Most of the Ottoman ironclads saw action during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, with the exception of the four Osmaniyes, which the Ottoman command considered too large and too valuable to risk. The rest of the ships served in the Black Sea, where they supported Ottoman forces in the Caucasus and in the eastern Balkans. One vessel, , was sunk by Russian artillery while patrolling the Danube. The Ottoman fleet was laid up from the end of the war until 1897, when the government attempted to mobilize the ships during the Greco-Turkish War. After two decades of neglect, most of the ships were found to be unseaworthy, and those vessels that could put to sea were operated by untrained crews who could not effectively operate them. The navy embarked on a major reconstruction program aimed at modernizing the ironclads over the following decade, and many of the vessels were rebuilt or broken up.
Despite having been recently modernized, the Ottoman fleet was in no condition to challenge the powerful Italian fleet during the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–1912, and the bulk of the Ottoman fleet remained in port. Italian cruisers sank one rebuilt ironclad, , in the Battle of Beirut. In the First Balkan War, which broke out before the war with Italy ended, a Greek torpedo boat sank Feth-i Bülend in Salonika. In 1913, Asar-i Tevfik ran aground off the coast of Bulgaria; wave action coupled with Bulgarian artillery fire destroyed the ship. took part in two major naval actions against the Greek fleet, the Battle of Elli in December 1912 and the Battle of Lemnos in January 1913, both of which were Ottoman defeats. By the outbreak of World War I in 1914, only Mesudiye served in an active capacity; the other surviving vessels had been reduced to secondary roles like training ships and floating barracks. In December 1914, Mesudiye was sunk by a British submarine in the Dardanelles. After the chaos of the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922 subsided, the fleet discarded the ironclads remaining in inventory. The last vessel, , which had been converted into a depot ship for submarines, was scrapped in 1932.
+ Key Armament The number and type of the primary armament Armor The maximum thickness of the armored belt Displacement Ship displacement at full combat load Propulsion Number of shafts, type of propulsion system, and top speed and horsepower generated Service The dates work began and finished on the ship and its ultimate fate Laid down The date the keel assembly commenced Commissioned The date the ship was commissioned into service __TOC__
Osmaniye class
The Osmaniye class was the first group of ironclads ordered by the Ottoman government, part of a naval construction program to replace the heavy losses sustained during the Crimean War of 1853–1856. The contracts were placed with British and French shipyards, with the four Osmaniye-class ships being ordered from Britain. They were broadside ironclads, mounting their battery of guns in traditional gun decks along the sides of the hull, which was typical for the first generation of ironclads built in the early 1860s. They were the largest ironclads of the Ottoman fleet until was completed a decade later in 1875. As the largest and most valuable members of the Ottoman fleet, the Osmaniye class was kept safely in the Mediterranean Sea during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, because the Ottoman command did not want to risk them in coastal operations in the Black Sea.
The four ships were reduced to reserve status in Constantinople after the war, with the rest of the Ottoman fleet. The four ships were heavily rebuilt in the early 1890s, being converted into more modern barbette ships. Nevertheless, they were in poor condition by the outbreak of the Greco-Turkish War in February 1897, with many of their guns damaged or incomplete. Training exercises conducted in May highlighted the very low standard of training of their crews, and reinforced the decision not to confront the Greek Navy at sea. All four ships were disarmed after the war and laid up, before being decommissioned in 1909. Aziziye, Orhaniye, and Mahmudiye were briefly used as barracks ships; the latter two were sold for scrap in 1913, and Aziziye and Osmaniye followed them to the ship breakers in 1923.
Ship Armament Armor Displacement Propulsion Service Laid down Commissioned Fate 1 × Armstrong gun14 × Armstrong guns10 × 36-pounder guns 1 shaft1 compound steam engine March 1863 November 1865 Broken up, 1923 May 1863 August 1865 1863 1866 Broken up, 1913 1864 1866
Fatih
Fatih was laid down at the Thames Ironworks shipyard in London, England, in 1865, originally ordered by the Ottoman Empire. The ship was built to a design created by the British naval architect Edward Reed. Before the ship's launch, the Ottomans determined they could not afford the large and expensive ironclad, and so they sold the unfinished vessel to the Prussian Navy on 6 February 1867; she was initially renamed Wilhelm I, and on 14 December 1867, the ship was renamed again, as König Wilhelm. The ship had an uneventful career in the Prussian and Imperial Navies, seeing little action during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870–1871. She was involved in an accidental collision with the ironclad in 1878, which saw the sinking of the latter vessel. König Wilhelm was rebuilt as an armored cruiser in the mid-1890s, and continued to serve with the fleet until 1904, when she was withdrawn for subsidiary duties, including serving as a barracks ship and a training ship. She continued as a training vessel until after World War I, ultimately being stricken from the naval register on 4 January 1921 and broken up thereafter.
Ship Armament Armor Displacement Propulsion Service Laid down Commissioned Fate Fatih 33 × 72-pounder rifled guns 1 shaft1 compound steam engine 1865 20 February 1869, as Broken up, 1921
Fettah
Fettah was ordered from the Imperial Arsenal in 1864, to be built along the same lines as the Osmaniye class. The ship was to have been the same size, with the same armament, though she would have incorporated Ottoman-built machinery, which would have reduced her top speed by a knot and a half. Work never began on the ship, and she was formally cancelled on 24 April 1865.
Ship Armament Armor Displacement Propulsion Service Laid down Commissioned Fate Fettah 1 × 229 mm Armstrong gun14 × 203 mm Armstrong guns10 × 36-pounder guns Unknown 6,400 t 1 shaft1 compound steam engine — — —
Asar-i Tevfik
In the early 1860s, the Eyalet of Egypt, a province of the Ottoman Empire, ordered several ironclad warships for its fleet as part of a rearmament program to challenge the power of the central government for the first time since the Second Egyptian–Ottoman War, twenty years earlier. The first of these ships was the casemate ship Asar-i Tevfik. Built by the Société Nouvelle des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée shipyard in La Seyne, Asar-i Tevfik was based on the contemporary French ironclads of the , though significantly reduced in size. She was the first Ottoman ironclad to discard the traditional broadside arrangement for her main battery. Instead, she carried her main armament amidships, with six guns in a central, armored casemate and two atop the casemate in revolving barbette mounts side by side in sponsons.
Like the rest of the Ottoman ironclad fleet, Asar-i Tevfik had a long and largely uneventful career. She saw limited action during the Russo-Turkish War, during which she was attacked but only slightly damaged by a Russian torpedo boat. She was laid up for the next two decades, and was in poor condition by the outbreak of the Greco-Turkish War in 1897, which prompted a radical reconstruction of the vessel in Germany after the war. Her battery of old muzzle-loading guns was replaced with new, medium-caliber breech-loaders, and she received additional armor protection and an entirely new propulsion system. During the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–1912, the Ottoman fleet was kept in port to protect it from the powerful Italian fleet. Asar-i Tevfik saw action during the First Balkan War in 1912 and 1913, including the inconclusive Battle of Elli in December 1912. Starting in early 1913, Asar-i Tevfik transferred to the Black Sea to support Ottoman forces fighting the Bulgarian Army, and on 8 February she ran aground while conducting a bombardment. A combination of Bulgarian artillery fire and heavy seas destroyed the stranded vessel.
Ship Armament Armor Displacement Propulsion Service Laid down Commissioned Fate Asar-i Tevfik 8 × guns 1 shaft1 compound steam engine 1867 1870 Wrecked off Çernes, 11 February 1913
Asar-i Şevket class
The Asar-i Şevket class was also ordered by Egypt, and the design was based on the preceding Asar-i Tevfik, albeit significantly reduced in size. They displaced less than half as much as the earlier vessel and carried a significantly lighter armament of four guns in the casemate and a single barbette gun, though this was on the centerline, affording it nearly the same firing arc as the two sponsoned guns aboard Asar-i Tevfik. Like the rest of the ironclads that Egypt attempted to purchase in the 1860s, both vessels were seized by the central government in 1868, before either vessel had been completed.
The two ships saw action during the Russo-Turkish War, supporting Ottoman army operations in the Caucasus, before being laid up from the late 1870s until 1897. Like the rest of the Ottoman fleet, both ships were in poor condition and were unable to be used offensively. Asar-i Şevket was decommissioned and sold for scrap in the 1900s but Necm-i Şevket lingered on in service, primarily as a barracks ship until 1929. During this period, she briefly saw action again during the First Balkan War, when she provided fire support to beleaguered Ottoman defenders protecting Constantinople from the Bulgarian Army. She was finally decommissioned in 1929 and broken up.
Ship Armament Armor Displacement Propulsion Service Laid down Commissioned Fate 1 × Armstrong gun4 × Armstrong guns 1 shaft1 compound steam engine 1867 3 March 1870 Broken up, 1909 Broken up, 1929
Lütf-ü Celil class
Egypt also ordered a pair of sea-going monitors, the Lütf-ü Celil class, the only vessels of that type built for the Ottoman Navy. They carried their main battery in a pair of revolving gun turrets, which were mounted on the centerline. Their firing arcs were restricted by large forecastles and sterncastles that were necessary to provide the freeboard required to operate at sea. Though they had one fewer gun than the Asar-i Şevket-class casemate ships, their turrets allowed them to fire all four guns to either side, compared to only three per broadside for the casemate ships.