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Ottoman Navy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Main article: History of the Turkish Navy
The Ottoman Navy was established in the early 14th century. During its long existence it was
involved in many conflicts; refer to list of Ottoman sieges and landings and list of Admirals in the
Ottoman Empire for a brief chronology.
Contents
■ 1 Rise (1299–1453)
■ 2 Growth (1453–1683)
■ 3 Stagnation (1683–1827)
■ 4 Decline (1828–1908)
■ 5 Dissolution (1908–1922)
■ 5.1 World War I and aftermath
■ 6 Gallery
■ 7 See also
■ 8 References and sources
Rise (1299–1453)
See also: Rise of the Ottoman Empire
In 1373 the first landings and conquests on the Aegean shores of Macedonia were made, which was
followed by the first Ottoman siege of Thessaloniki in 1374. The 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 of Venetian territories in Morea, 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 of Sinop (1424),
Izmir (1426) and the reconquest of Thessaloniki from the Venetians (1430). Albania was
reconquered by the Ottoman fleet with landings between 1448 and 1450.
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Growth (1453–1683)
See also: Growth of the Ottoman Empire
Starting from the conquest of Syria in 1516, the Ottoman fleet of Selim I started expanding the
Ottoman territories towards the Levant and the Mediterranean coasts of North Africa. Between 1516
and 1517 Algeria was conquered from Spain by the forces of Oruç Reis who declared his allegiance
to the Ottoman Empire, which was followed by the conquest of Egypt and the end of the Mameluke
Empire in 1517. In 1522 the strategic island of Rhodes, then the seat of the Knights of St. John, was
conquered by the naval fleet of Kurtoğlu Muslihiddin Reis; Suleiman I let the Knights leave the
island, who relocated their base first to Sicily and later to Malta.
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Turkish naval victory in history. The Ottoman fleet participated with French forces to the Siege of
Nice, and, with Matrakçı Nasuh penetrated the French harbor of Toulon in 1543, in the Ottoman
occupation of Toulon.
Starting from the early 17th century, the Ottoman fleet began to venture into the Atlantic Ocean
(earlier, Kemal Reis had ventured into the Canary Islands in 1501, while the fleet of Murat Reis the
Elder had captured Lanzarote of the Canary Islands in 1585). In 1617 the Ottoman fleet captured
Madeira in the Atlantic Ocean, before raiding Sussex, Plymouth, Devon, Hartland Point, Cornwall
and the other counties of western England in August 1625. In 1627 Ottoman naval ships,
accompanied by corsairs from the Barbary Coast, raided the Shetland Islands, Faroe Islands,
Denmark, Norway and Iceland. Between 1627 and 1631 the same Ottoman force also raided the
coasts of Ireland and Sweden.
In 1655 a force of 40 Ottoman ships captured the Isle of Lundy in the Bristol Channel, which served
as the main base for Ottoman naval and privateering operations in the North Atlantic until 1660,
when Ottoman ships appeared off the eastern coasts of North America, particularly being sighted at
the British colonies like Newfoundland and Virginia. Finally, the long lasting Ottoman-Venetian
War of 1645–1669 ended with Ottoman victory and the completion of the conquest of Crete,
marking the Empire's territorial zenith.
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Stagnation (1683–1827)
See also: Stagnation of the Ottoman Empire
During the Greek War of Independence, the much larger Ottoman fleet proved unable to effectively
counter the Greek fleets. Several large-scale engagements, such as Samos and Gerontas were won
for the rebels by the use of fireships, which negated the presence of the far superior Ottoman ships-of
-the-line.
Decline (1828–1908)
See also: Decline of the Ottoman Empire
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In 1875, during the reign of Sultan Abdülaziz, the Ottoman Nordenfelt class Ottoman submarine
Navy had 21 battleships and 173 other types of warships, Abdülhamid (1886) was the first
ranking as the third largest navy in the world after the British submarine in history to fire a
and French navies. But the vast size of the navy was too torpedo while submerged under
much of a burden for the collapsing Ottoman economy to water. Two submarines of this class,
sustain. Abdülhamid II's suspicion of the reformist admirals, Nordenfelt II (Abdülhamid, 1886)
who supported Midhat Pasha, made things even worse, and and Nordenfelt III (Abdülmecid,
consequently almost the entire Ottoman fleet was kept locked 1887) joined the Ottoman fleet.
inside the Golden Horn for more than 3 decades, during They were built in pieces by Des
which the ships decayed. Vignes (Chertsey) and Vickers
(Sheffield) in England, and
Abdulhamid has often been blamed for the long inactivity assembled at the Taşkızak Naval
and the decay of the navy. It has been suggested that the two Shipyard in Istanbul
Nordenfelt class submarines acquired by Abdulhamid
himself, Abdülhamid (1886) and Abdülmecid (1887), could seldom leave the Golden Horn due to the
sultan's suspicions and fear of a Navy-based coup against him; which eventually started to take place
with the naval demonstration at the port of Selanik in 1908.
In fact, despite his suspicions of his admirals, Abdülhamid was painfully aware that the empire
needed a navy to shield herself from the ever-growing Russian threat. He was fresh out of options,
however. 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 pace with technological progress - which, given the dismal state of
the economy, was clearly not an option.
The aforementioned 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. Abdülhamid ended up rotting at dock, while Abdülmecid was never fully
completed.[1]
Dissolution (1908–1922)
See also: Dissolution of the Ottoman Empire
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In the aftermath of the Balkan Wars, the Ottomans remained engaged in a dispute over the
sovereignty of the North Aegean islands with Greece. A naval race ensued in 1914, with the
Ottoman government ordering large dreadnought battleships like Sultan Osman I and Reşadiye.
Despite the payment for both ships, the United Kingdom confiscated them at the outbreak of World
War I and renamed them as HMS Agincourt and HMS Erin. This caused some ill-feeling towards
Britain among the Ottoman public, and the German Empire took advantage of the situation by
sending the battlecruiser SMS Goeben and light cruiser SMS Breslau which entered service in the
Ottoman fleet as Yavuz Sultan Selim and Midilli respectively. This event significantly contributed to
the decision of entry into World War I on the side of Germany and the Central Powers.
Following the end of World War I, the Ottoman Navy was dissolved by the victorious Allies and the
large ships of the Ottoman fleet were towed to the Princes' Islands in the Sea of Marmara under the
control of Allied warships, or locked inside the Golden Horn. Some of them were scrapped. Some
eventually became part of the new Turkish Navy.[citation needed]
Gallery
See also
■ Turkish Navy
■ History of Turkish navies
■ List of battleships of the Ottoman Empire
■ List of sail battleships of the Ottoman Empire
■ List of Ottoman sieges and landings
■ List of admirals in the Ottoman Empire
■ List of naval collaboration treaties signed by the Ottoman Empire
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■ The Ottomans: Comprehensive and detailed online chronology of Ottoman history in English.
(http://www.theottomans.org/english/chronology/index.asp#)
■ A Sea Empire (http://www.barbaros.biz/Deniz.htm)
■ E. Hamilton Currey, Sea-Wolves of the Mediterranean, London, 1910
■ Bono, Salvatore: Corsari nel Mediterraneo (Corsairs in the Mediterranean), Oscar Storia
Mondadori. Perugia, 1993.
■ Corsari nel Mediterraneo: Condottieri di ventura. Online database in Italian, based on
Salvatore Bono's book. (http://www.corsaridelmediterraneo.it/indice/a.htm)
■ Bradford, Ernle, The Sultan's Admiral: The life of Barbarossa, London, 1968.
■ Wolf, John B., The Barbary Coast: Algeria under the Turks, New York, 1979; ISBN 0-393-
01205-0
■ Turkish Navy official website: Historic heritage of the Turkish Navy (in Turkish)
(http://www.dzkk.tsk.mil.tr/TURKCE/tarihiMiras.asp?
strAnaFrame=TarihiMiras&strIFrame=INDEX)
■ Turkish Navy official website: Turkish seamen in the Atlantic Ocean (in Turkish)
(http://www.dzkk.tsk.mil.tr/TURKCE/TarihiMiras/AtlantikteTurkDenizciligi.asp)
■ Istanbul Naval Museum Official Website (http://www.denizmuzeleri.tsk.tr/idmk)
■ Navy pages in 'Turkey in WW1' web site (http://www.turkeyswar.com/navy/navy_index.htm)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_Navy"
Categories: Naval history of the Ottoman Empire | Military of the Ottoman Empire | Ottoman Navy
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