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| Ottoman Navy | |
|---|---|
| Turkish:Osmanlı Donanması | |
 | |
| Active | 1323–1922 |
| Country |  Ottoman Empire |
| Allegiance |  Ottoman Sultan |
| Type | Navy |
| Garrison/HQ | Ministry of the Navy,Constantinople |
| Engagements | |
| Commanders | |
| Kapudan Pasha (1567–1867) |
|
| Minister of the Navy (1867–1922) |
|
| Fleet Commander (1877–1922) |
|
Part ofa series on the |
|---|
| Military of the Ottoman Empire |
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Modern army(1861–1922) |
TheOttoman Navy (Turkish:Osmanlı Donanması) orThe Imperial Navy (Ottoman Turkish:Donanma-yı Humâyûn), also known as theOttoman Fleet, was thenaval warfare arm of theOttoman Empire. It was established after the Ottomans first reached the sea in 1323 by capturing Praenetos (later calledKaramürsel after the founder of the Ottoman Navy), the site of the first Ottomannaval shipyard and the nucleus of the future navy.
During its long existence, the Ottoman Navy wasinvolved in many conflicts and signed a number of maritime treaties. It played a decisive role in theconquest of Constantinople and the subsequent expansion into the Mediterranean and Black Seas. At its height in the 16th century, the Navyextended to the Indian Ocean, sending anexpedition to Indonesia in 1565, and by the early 17th century operated as far as theAtlantic. Commensurate with thedecline and modernization of the empire in the late 18th century, the Ottoman Navy stagnated, albeit remaining among the largest in the world: with nearly 200 warships, including 21 battleships, it ranked third after the British and French navies.[1]
For much of its history, the Navy was led by theKapudan Pasha (Grand Admiral; literally "Captain Pasha"); this position was abolished in 1867, when it wasreplaced by theMinister of the Navy (Turkish:Bahriye Nazırı) and a number ofFleet Commanders (Turkish:Donanma Komutanları).
After theend of the Ottoman Empire and the declaration of theRepublic of Turkey in 1923, the Navy's tradition was continued under the modernTurkish Naval Forces.
The first Turkish naval fleet inAnatolia, which consisted of 33 sail ships and 17 oar ships, was formed at the port ofSmyrna (İzmir) byTzachas in 1081, following his conquest of Smyrna, Vourla (Urla), Kysos (Çeşme),Phocaea (Foça) and Teos (Sığacık) on the Aegean coast of Anatolia in that same year. Tzachas's fleet raidedLesbos in 1089 andChios in 1090, before defeating aByzantine fleet near theOinousses Islands off Chios on 19 May 1090, which marked the first major naval victory of the Anatolian Turks in a naval battle. In 1091 Tzachas's fleet raided the islands ofSamos andRhodes in theAegean Sea, but was then defeated and driven out by theByzantine admiralsConstantine Dalassenos andJohn Doukas. In 1095 Tzachas's fleet raided the strategic port city and Gulf of Adramyttium (Edremit) on the Aegean coast of Anatolia and the city ofAbydos on theDardanelles Strait.[citation needed]
Seljuq sultan of RûmKayqubad I conqueredAlaiye (Alanya) and formed a naval arsenal there. Alanya became the homeport of the Seljuk fleet in theMediterranean Sea. Kayqubad I later formed a fleet in theBlack Sea based in Sinope (Sinop), which, under the command ofAmir Chupan, conquered parts of theCrimean Peninsula andSugdak on theSea of Azov (1220–1237).[citation needed]
The conquest of the island of Kalolimno (İmralı Island) in theSea of Marmara in 1308 marked the first Ottoman naval victory. The Ottoman fleet made its first landings onThrace in 1321. The first Ottoman fortress in Europe was built in 1351, and the Anatolian shores of the strategicBosporus Strait nearConstantinople in 1352, and both shores of the equally strategicDardanelles Strait were conquered by the Ottoman fleet.
In 1373 the first landings and conquests on theAegean shores ofMacedonia were made, which was followed by the first Ottoman siege ofThessaloniki in 1374. The first Ottoman conquest of Thessaloniki and Macedonia were completed in 1387. Between 1387 and 1423 the Ottoman fleet contributed to the territorial expansions of the Ottoman Empire on the Balkan peninsula and the Black Sea coasts of Anatolia. Following the first conquests ofVenetian territories inMorea, the first Ottoman-Venetian War (1423–1430) started.
In the meantime, the Ottoman fleet continued to contribute to the expansion of the Ottoman Empire in the Aegean and Black Seas, with the conquests ofSinop (1424),Smyrna (1426) and the reconquest of Thessaloniki from the Venetians (1430).Albania was reconquered by the Ottoman fleet with landings between 1448 and 1479.
In 1453 the Ottoman fleet participated in the historic conquests ofConstantinople,Gökçeada,Lemnos andThasos. The conquest of theDuchy of Athens and theDespotate of the Morea was completed between 1458 and 1460, followed by the conquest of theEmpire of Trebizond and theGenoese colony ofAmasra in 1461, which brought an end to the final vestiges of theByzantine Empire. In 1462 the Ottoman fleet conquered the Genoese islands of the northern Aegean Sea, which were administered by theGattilusio family, includingtheir capital Mytilene in the island ofLesbos. This was followed by theOttoman-Venetian War of 1463–1479.
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In the following period the Ottoman fleet gained more territory in the Aegean Sea, and in 1475 set foot onCrimea on the northern shores of theBlack Sea. Until 1499 this was followed by further expansion on the Black Sea coasts (such as the conquest of Georgia in 1479) and on the Balkan peninsula (such as the final reconquest of Albania in 1497, and the conquest of Montenegro in 1499). The loss of Venetian forts in Montenegro, near the strategicCastelnuovo, triggered theOttoman-Venetian War of 1499–1503, during which the Turkish fleet ofKemal Reis defeated the Venetian forces at theBattle of Zonchio (1499) and theBattle of Modon (1500). By 1503 the Ottoman fleet raided the northeasternAdriatic coasts ofItaly, and completely captured the Venetian lands onMorea, theIonian Sea coast and the southeasternAdriatic Sea coast.
According toKâtip Çelebi a typical Ottoman fleet in the mid-17th century consisted of 46 vessels (40 galleys and 6 maona's) whose crew was 15,800 men, roughly two-thirds (10,500) were oarsmen, and the remainder (5,300) fighters.[2]
Starting from the conquest ofSyria in 1516, the Ottoman fleet ofSelim I started expanding the Ottoman territories towards theLevant and theMediterranean coasts ofNorth Africa. Between 1516 and 1517Algeria was conquered from Spain by the forces ofOruç Reis, who declared his allegiance to the Ottoman Empire, which was followed by the conquest ofEgypt and the end of theMameluke Empire in 1517. In 1522 the strategic island ofRhodes, then the seat of theKnights of St. John, was conquered by the naval fleet ofKurtoğlu Muslihiddin Reis;Suleiman I let the Knights leave the island, and they relocated their base first to Sicily and later to Malta.
In 1527 the Ottoman fleet participated in the conquest ofDalmatia,Croatia,Slavonia, andBosnia. In 1529 the Ottoman fleet underSalih Reis andAydın Reis destroyed the Spanish fleet of Rodrigo Portundo near the Isle ofFormentera. This was followed by the first conquest ofTunisia from Spain and the reconquest ofMorea by the forces ofHayreddin Barbarossa, whose fleet later conquered the islands belonging to theDuchy of Naxos in 1537. Afterwards, the Ottoman fleet laid siege on the Venetian island ofCorfu, and landed on the coasts ofCalabria andApulia, which forced theRepublic of Venice andHabsburg Spain ruled byCharles V to ask the Pope to create aHoly League consisting of Spain, the Republic of Venice, theRepublic of Genoa, thePapal States and theKnights of Malta. The joint fleet was commanded by Charles V's leading admiral,Andrea Doria. The Holy League and the Ottoman fleet under the command of Hayreddin Barbarossa met in September 1538 at theBattle of Preveza, which is often considered the greatest Turkish naval victory in history. In 1543 the Ottoman fleet participated with French forces in thesiege of Nice, which at the time was part of the Duchy of Savoy. Afterwards,Francis I of France enabled the Ottoman fleet to overwinter in the French harbor ofToulon. This uniqueOttoman wintering in Toulon (sometimes inaccurately called an occupation; the Ottomans merely stayed the winter and did not impose any form of governance on the populace) allowed the Ottomans to attack Habsburg Spanish and Italian ports (enemies of France); they left Toulon in May 1544.Matrakçı Nasuh, a 16th-century OttomanJanissary,polymath, andswordmaster, reportedly participated in the wintering in Toulon.[citation needed]
In 1541, 1544, 1552 and 1555, the Spanish-Italian fleet of Charles V under the command of Andrea Doria was defeated inAlgiers,Naples,Ponza, andPiombino, respectively.
In the meantime, the Ottoman Indian Ocean Fleet, based inSuez andBasra, defeated thePortuguese forces on several occasions near theArabian peninsula, conqueringAden andYemen (1538–1539) which were important Portuguese ports, along withJeddah,Djibouti on theRed Sea coast. The Ottomansiege of Diu in 1538, which aimed to remove the Portuguese fromIndia, failed to achieve this goal.
Between 1547 and 1548, Yemen was reconquered from the Portuguese, while in thePersian Gulf andArabian Sea, other important Portuguese ports such asOman andQatar were conquered in 1552,[3] but the Ottomans failed to takeHormuz Island and therefore the control of the Persian Gulf remained firmly in Portuguese hands.[4]
In 1565 theSultanate of Aceh inSumatra (Indonesia) declared allegiance to the Ottoman Empire, and in 1569 the Ottoman fleet ofKurtoğlu Hızır Reis sailed to new ports such asDebal,Surat,Janjira and finally set foot onAceh with awell-equipped fleet of 22 ships, which marked the easternmost Ottoman territorial expansion.
The Ottoman naval victory at theBattle of Preveza in 1538 and theBattle of Djerba in 1560 ensured the Ottoman supremacy in the Mediterranean Sea for several decades, until the Ottomans suffered their first ever military defeat at the hands of the Europeans at theBattle of Lepanto (1571). But the defeat at Lepanto, despite being much celebrated in Europe, was only a temporary setback: it could not reverse the Ottomanconquest of Cyprus, and within a year, the Ottomans built an equally large fleet, which in 1574conquered Tunisia from Spain. This completed the Ottoman conquest ofNorth Africa, following the operations of the Ottoman fleet underTurgut Reis which had earlier conqueredLibya (1551); and of the fleet underSalih Reis which had conquered the coasts ofMorocco beyond theStrait of Gibraltar in 1553.
Starting from the early 17th century, the Ottoman fleet began to venture into the Atlantic Ocean (earlier,Kemal Reis had sailed to theCanary Islands in 1501, while the fleet ofMurat Reis the Elder had capturedLanzarote of theCanary Islands in 1585).[5] In 1617 the Ottoman fleet capturedMadeira in the Atlantic Ocean, before raidingSussex,Plymouth,Devon,Hartland Point,Cornwall and the other counties of western England in August 1625.[5] In 1627 Ottoman naval ships, accompanied byBarbary corsairs under the leadership ofMurat Reis the Younger, captured the Isle ofLundy in theBristol Channel, which served as the main base for Ottoman naval and privateering operations in the North Atlantic for the next five years.[6] They raided theShetland Islands,Faroe Islands,Denmark-Norway,Iceland andVestmannaeyjar.[5][7][8] Between 1627 and 1631 the same Ottoman force also raided the coasts ofIreland andSweden.[5][9][10] Ottoman ships later appeared off the eastern coasts of North America, particularly being sighted at the English colonies likeNewfoundland andVirginia.[5]
Before the Ottomans, theSeljuq sultan of Rûm,Alaeddin Keykubad I, had formed aBlack Sea fleet based inSinop, which, under the command ofAmir Chupan, had conquered parts of theCrimean peninsula andSugdak on theSea of Azov between 1220 and 1237.
In the years following theirconquest of Constantinople in 1453, the Ottoman Turks had dominated theMediterranean with their fleets ofgalleys. In 1475, the Ottoman sultanMehmed II employed 380 galleys under the command ofGedik Ahmet Pasha, whose fleet conquered theGreekPrincipality of Theodoro together with theGenoese-administeredCrimean port towns ofCembalo,Soldaia, andCaffa ("Kefe" in Turkic languages.)[11] As a result of these conquests, starting from 1478, theCrimean Khanate became avassal state andprotectorate of the Ottoman Empire, which lasted until 1774.
The failure of thesiege of Malta in 1565 and the victory of the Holy League navies over the Ottomans at theBattle of Lepanto in 1571 indicated that the pendulum was beginning to swing the other way,[12] further shown in theBattle of Cape Celidonia,[13] but theBlack Sea was, for a time, regarded as a "Turkish Lake".[14] For over a hundred years Ottoman naval supremacy in the Black Sea rested on three pillars: the Ottoman Turks controlled theTurkish Straits and the mouth of theDanube; none of the states in the region could muster an effective naval force; and the virtual absence ofpiracy on the Black Sea.[14] However, after the 1550s, it was the start of frequent naval raids byZaporozhian Cossacks that marked a major change in control of the Black Sea.[14] The Cossacks' keelless rowing boats, calledchaikas, could accommodate up to seventy men and outfitted withcannonades, the boats made formidable sea vessels. They had the advantage over the Ottoman galleys in that being small, and low in the water, they were difficult to spot and highly manoeuvrable. In the early 1600s the Cossacks were able to assemble fleets of up to 300 such boats and send them to every corner of the Black Sea.[14] They began attacking large towns such asCaffa,Varna,Trabzon, and even the suburbs ofConstantinople.[15]
Guillaume Levasseur de Beauplan, a French military engineer, provided a first-hand account of the Cossack operations and their tactics against the Turkish ships and towns on the Black Sea Coast.[14][16] The high point of the Cossack attacks came in 1637, when a large party of Zaporozhian andDon Cossacks laid siege to the fortress ofAzov. After a two-month land and sea battle, the fortress was conquered by the Cossacks.[14]
The Ottoman Navy also engaged in blockades ofGeorgia's western coast during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in order to coerce local kingdoms into submission.
In the rest of the 17th and 18th centuries, however, the operations of the Ottoman fleet were largely limited to theMediterranean Sea,Black Sea,Red Sea,Persian Gulf and theArabian Sea. The long lastingOttoman-Venetian War of 1645–1669 ended with Ottoman victory and the completion of the conquest ofCrete, marking the Empire's territorial zenith. In 1708 another long-lasting objective, the conquest ofOran (the final Spanish stronghold inAlgeria) was accomplished.
The 18th century was a period of stalemate for the Ottoman fleet, with numerous victories matched by equally numerous defeats. Important Ottoman naval victories in this period included the reconquest ofMoldavia andAzov from theRussians in 1711. TheOttoman–Venetian War of 1714–1718 saw the reconquest of Morea from the Venetians and the elimination of the last Venetian island strongholds in the Aegean.
For most of the 18th century, during a period of time in the eastern Mediterranean known by some as the Pax Ottomana, the focus of the Ottoman Navy was both on defining and defending its territorial waters from rival states and enforcing its authority over them as well as increasingly on protecting international trade routes and defending its maritime commerce from the constant problem of piracy.[17]
However, during theRusso-Turkish War of 1768–1774, the Ottoman fleet was destroyed in theBattle of Chesme (1770). The nextRusso-Turkish War (1787–1792) again saw numerous naval defeats at the hands of the RussianBlack Sea Fleet under AdmiralFyodor Ushakov.
During theGreek War of Independence (1821–1829), the Greek rebel navy consisting of converted merchant ships originally challenged Ottoman naval supremacy in the Aegean, blockading Ottoman forts in the Morea and contributing to their capture by Greek land forces. Following the intervention of theOttoman eyalet of Egypt in 1824, the far superior Ottoman-Egyptian fleet under the command ofIbrahim Pasha gained the upper hand and successfully invaded Crete and the Morea until the arrival of the combinedBritish-French-Russian fleets which destroyed most of the Ottoman-Egyptian naval force at theBattle of Navarino in 1827.
| Size of crew in Ottoman ships in 1699 and 1738[18] | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Size of crew | ships in 1699 | ships in 1738 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1500 | - | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1300 | - | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1100 | - | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1000 | - | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 800 | - | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 750 | - | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 650 | - | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 600 | 1 | - | ||||||||||||||||||
| 500 | - | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 450 | - | 7 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 400 | 2 | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 350 | 3 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 300 | 8 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 250 | 3 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||
| 200 | 3 | - | ||||||||||||||||||
| Total | 20 | 33 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Note: Between 1699 and 1738 the Ottoman navy started to use more sailing ships who needed more crew on each ship instead of galleys with less men. | ||||||||||||||||||||
The size of theDanube fleet of the Ottoman Navy at the time of theGreat Turkish War in the late 17th century was 52 vessels (4galliots, 28frigates and 20 flat-bottomed river boats) manned by 4,070 crew.[19]
The 19th century saw further decline in Ottoman naval power, despite occasional recovery. Following the defeat against the combined British-French-Russian fleet at theBattle of Navarino in 1827, SultanMahmud II gave priority to develop a strong and modern Ottoman naval force. The first steam ships of the Ottoman Navy were acquired in 1828. In 1829 the world's largest warship for many years, the 201 x 56kadem (1kadem = 37.887 cm[23]) or 76.15 m × 21.22 m (249.8 ft × 69.6 ft)ship of the lineMahmudiye, which had 128 cannons on 3 decks and carried 1,280 sailors on board, was built for the Ottoman Navy at theImperial Arsenal on theGolden Horn inConstantinople. In the 1830s, about 2.500 Christian sailors (mainly Armenians and Greeks) were recruited in the Ottoman navy. This caused negative reactions from the Christian communities. Many Greeks from Rhodos and Chios fled to the neighboring smaller islands. In 1847, Christian sailors demanded their own priests and chapels on the warships, which was refused on the basis of Sharia. The Great Admiral and the GrandVizier were in favour of the Christians' demands, but the Sheih ul-Islam declared that Christian services on board were equivalent to the construction of new churches, and thus forbidden by religious law.[24]
In 1875, during the reign of SultanAbdülaziz, the Ottoman Navy had 21 battleships and 173 other types of warships, ranking as the third largest navy in the world after the British and French navies. But the vast size of the navy was too much of a burden for thecollapsing Ottoman economy to sustain.Abdülhamid II was aware that the empire needed a navy to shield herself from the ever-growing Russian threat. However, the Ottoman economic crisis of 1875 and the additional financial burden of the disastrousRusso-Turkish War (1877–1878) deprived the Ottoman Empire from the financial resources andeconomic independence to maintain and modernize a large fleet. The second half of the 19th century was a period of breakthroughs in the field of naval engineering. The Ottoman Navy was rapidly becoming obsolete, and needed to replace all her warships once a decade to keep up with the pace in technological progress – which, given the dismal state of the economy, was clearly not an option.
Nordenfelt-class Ottoman submarineAbdül Hamid (1886) was the firstsubmarine in history to fire atorpedo while submerged under water.[25] Two submarines of this class,Nordenfelt II (Abdül Hamid, 1886) andNordenfelt III (Abdül Mecid, 1887) were built for the Ottoman Navy. They were built in pieces by Des Vignes (Chertsey) and Vickers (Sheffield) in England, and assembled at the Taşkızak Naval Shipyard in Constantinople (Istanbul). These submarines were an attempt to gain an edge over the Greek navy (which had only one Nordenfelt submarine, a smaller and older version). However, it was quickly realized that – like the other Nordenfelt submarines ordered by Russia – they suffered from stability problems and were too easy to swamp on the surface. The Turks could not find a crew that was willing to serve on the primitive submarines.Abdül Hamid ended up rotting at dock, whileAbdül Mecid was never fully completed.[26]
Following theYoung Turk Revolution in 1908, theCommittee of Union and Progress which effectively took control of the country sought to develop a strong Ottoman naval force. The poor condition of the fleet became evident during the Ottoman Naval Parade of 1910, and theOttoman Navy Foundation was established by the Ottoman government in order to purchase new ships through public donations. Those who made donations received different types of medals according to the size of their contributions.
In 1910, the Ottoman Navy purchased twopre-dreadnought battleships from Germany:SMS Weissenburg and her sister shipSMS Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm. These ships were renamedTurgut Reis andBarbaros Hayreddin, respectively.
TheItalo-Turkish War of 1911–1912 and theBalkan Wars of 1912–1913 proved disastrous for the Ottoman Empire. In the former, the Italians occupiedOttoman Tripolitania (present-dayLibya) and theDodecanese Islands in the Aegean Sea and theRegia Marina defeated Ottoman light naval forces in the battles ofPreveza,Beirut andKunfuda Bay. In the latter, a smaller Greek fleet successfully engaged with Ottoman battleships in the naval skirmishes ofElli andLemnos. The better condition of the Greek fleet in the Aegean Sea during the Balkan Wars led to the liberation of all Ottoman-heldAegean islands other than those in the Italian-occupied Dodecanese. It also prevented Ottoman reinforcements and supplies to the land battles on the Balkan peninsula, where theBalkan League emerged victorious. The only Ottoman naval successes during the Balkan Wars were the raiding actions of the light cruiserHamidiye under the command ofRauf Orbay.
In the aftermath of the Balkan Wars, the Ottomans remained engaged in a dispute over the sovereignty of theNorth Aegean islands with Greece. A naval race ensued in 1913–1914, with the Ottoman Navy ordering largedreadnoughtbattleships likeSultan Osman-ı Evvel andReşadiye with the aforementioned public donations made to the Ottoman Navy Foundation. Although the Ottoman government had fully completed the payments for both battleships and sent a Turkish delegation to theUnited Kingdom to collect them after the completion of their sea trials, the British government confiscated them at the outbreak of theFirst World War in August 1914 and renamed them asHMS Agincourt andHMS Erin. This caused considerable ill-feeling towards Britain among the Ottoman public, and theGerman Empire took advantage of the situation when thebattlecruiserSMS Goeben andlight cruiserSMS Breslau arrived at theDardanelles and entered service in the Ottoman Navy asYavuz Sultan Selim andMidilli, respectively. These events significantly contributed to thePorte's decision toenter the First World War on the side of theCentral Powers. However, Germany and the Ottomans had already signed a secret alliance, theOttoman-German alliance on 2 August 1914, before the British naval seizures.
The Ottomans' first military action in theFirst World War was theBlack Sea raid and was a surprise attack by the Ottoman Navy on the Russian Black Sea coast on 29 October 1914. The naval raid prompted Russia and its allies, Britain and France, to declare war on the Ottoman Empire in November 1914. During WWI, the Ottoman Navy engaged the Entente Powers in the Mediterranean and Black Sea.
In 1915 at theBattle of Gallipoli, theBritish andFrench fleets failed to pass through theDardanelles Strait (Çanakkale Boğazı) thanks to the heavy Turkish fortifications lining the Strait, mining by Turkish minelayers likeNusret, and fierce fighting by the Turkish soldiers on land, sea and air.[27][page needed] During the battle, the British submarineHMS E11 sankBarbaros Hayreddin on 8 August 1915.
In the last year of World War I, while returning from a bombardment mission of the Allied port ofMudros on the Greek island ofLemnos,Midilli ran into a minefield between Lemnos andGökçeada on 20 January 1918, and sank after being severely damaged by five consecutive mine hits. During the mission,Midilli, together withYavuz Sultan Selim, had managed to sink the British warshipsHMS Raglan andHMS M28, as well as a 2,000-ton transport ship, and hadbombarded the port of Mudros, together with the communication posts and air fields of the Entente on the other parts of Lemnos. The battlecruiserYavuz Sultan Selim became one of the most active Ottoman warships throughout the First World War; she bombarded numerous ports on theBlack Sea andAegean Sea, while engaging with Russiandreadnought battleships of theImperatritsa Mariya class and sinking a number of Russian and British warships and transport vessels.[citation needed]
_of_the_Turkish_Navy_in_Istanbul.jpg)
Following the end ofWorld War I, the victorious Entente dissolved the Ottoman Navy and the large ships of the Ottoman fleet were towed to thePrince Islands in theSea of Marmara under the control of Allied warships, or locked inside theGolden Horn. Some of them were scrapped[citation needed].
After the independence of theRepublic of Turkey in 1923, the remaining major warships of the former Ottoman fleet, such as thebattlecruiserTCG Yavuz, thepre-dreadnought battleshipTCGTurgut Reis,protected cruisersTCG Hamidiye andTCG Mecidiye,torpedo cruisersBerk-i Satvet andPeyk-i Şevket,destroyersTCG Samsun,TCG Basra andTCG Taşoz, andtorpedo boatsTCG Burak Reis,TCG Kemal Reis,TCG Îsâ Reis andTCG Sakız were overhauled, repaired and modernized in the 1920s, while new ships and submarines were acquired starting from the early 1930s.
Famed Ottoman admirals include:
The Ottoman admiral and cartographerPiri Reis crafted maps and books of navigation, includinghis first world map (1513) which is one of the oldest surviving maps ofAmerica and possibly the oldest surviving map ofAntarctica. The first world map (1513) and second world map (1528) of Piri Reis are today preserved at the Library ofTopkapı Palace inIstanbul. Other works ofPiri Reis are preserved at theNaval Museum inIstanbul.[28]
TheIstanbul Naval Museum is located in theBeşiktaş district ofIstanbul,Turkey. It was established in 1897 by the OttomanMinister of the Navy (Bahriye Nazırı)Bozcaadalı Hasan Hüsnü Pasha.[33][34]
The museum contains an important collection of military artifacts pertaining to the Ottoman Navy.[33] In the maritime field, it is Turkey's largest museum, with a great variety of collections. Around 20,000 pieces are present in its collection, including the late 16th or early 17th century Ottoman Navygalley known asTarihi Kadırga, built in the period between the reigns of SultanMurad III (1574–1595) and SultanMehmed IV (1648–1687),[29][30] as evidenced byAMS radiocarbon dating anddendrochronological research.[30] She is the only surviving original galley in the world,[29][31] and has the world's oldest continuously maintained wooden hull.[32]
Being connected to the Turkish Naval Forces Command, it is also the country's first military museum.[35]
In the early 21st century a new exhibition building was constructed. The construction began in 2008, and the building was reopened on October 4, 2013. It has two floors above ground level and one basement floor, all covering 20,000 m2 (220,000 sq ft).[35]
The basement consists of diverse items likefigureheads, ornaments of naval ships, ship models, and pieces of theByzantine chain that was used for blocking the entrance of theGolden Horn during theOttoman conquest of Constantinople (Istanbul) in 1453. In the first and second floors, a large number of imperial and othercaïques are exhibited.
Many exhibition items underwent special restoration and conservation works due to deformation of the raw materials caused by heat, light, humidity, atmospheric conditions, vandalism and other factors.[35]
_the_flagship_of_Kemal_Reis.jpg)
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