:Reşadiye-class battleship

File:SMS Kurfuerst Friedrich Wilhelm 1900-2.jpg

The Ottoman Navy had languished since the 1870s, the result of decades of little funding for new ships, poor maintenance of existing vessels, and no serious training regimen. Efforts to modernize the fleet had occurred in fits and starts during the period, including the failed attempt to build the pre-dreadnought {{ship|Ottoman battleship|Abdül Kadir||2}} in the 1890s, and a major reconstruction program launched in the aftermath of the Greco-Turkish War of 1897, which had highlighted the poor condition of the fleet.Gardiner, pp. 388–391 Starting in 1909, the Ottoman government began to seriously look for warships to purchase from foreign shipbuilders to counter the growing strength of the Greek Navy, particularly the armored cruiser {{ship|Greek cruiser|Georgios Averof||2}}. As a stopgap measure, two German {{sclass|Brandenburg|battleship|1}}s, Barbaros Hayreddin and Turgut Reis, were purchased in 1910.Langensiepen & Güleryüz, pp. 16–17

The Ottoman government then began looking for newer vessels to buy in late 1911, and first contacted Armstrong Whitworth about the possibility of acquiring the dreadnought Rio de Janeiro, then under construction for the Brazilian Navy, along with {{ship|Brazilian battleship|Minas Geraes||2}}, which had been commissioned into the Brazilian fleet in 1910. These deals fell through, so the Ottomans contacted Vickers to order two new battleships. Douglas Gamble, who had previously served as a naval adviser to the Ottoman government, prepared two designs, the first of which was ordered as Mehmed Reşad V; during construction, this ship was renamed Reşadiye.Langensiepen & Güleryüz, p. 17 A second ship, to be named Fatih Sultan Mehmed, was ordered in April 1914.Langensiepen & Güleryüz, p. 141

Ordering the Reşadiye class started a significant naval arms race between the Ottoman Empire and Greece. The Greek Navy ordered the battleship {{ship|Greek battleship|Salamis||2}} in 1912 in response,Sondhaus, p. 220 which prompted the Ottomans to resume their bid for Rio de Janeiro. The contract to purchase the ship, to be renamed Sultân Osmân-ı Evvel, was signed in January 1914. This in turn provoked the Greeks to order a second battleship, Vasilefs Konstantinos, which required a third Ottoman battleship to be ordered; this was the second Reşadiye-class ship, Fatih Sultan Mehmed.Gardiner & Gray, pp. 384, 388, 391

File:Iron Duke class battleship - Jane's Fighting Ships, 1919 - Project Gutenberg etext 24797.png

The design for the Reşadiye was based on the contemporary British {{sclass|King George V|battleship (1911)|4}}, with some improvements that had been incorporated into the subsequent {{sclass|Iron Duke|battleship|4}} then under construction. Compared to the British ships, the Reşadiyes carried their amidships main battery turret one deck higher, which improved its ability to be fired in heavier seas. They also carried a heavier secondary battery, composed of {{convert|6|in|abbr=on}} guns instead of the {{convert|4|in|abbr=on}} weapons in the King George V class. The hull was shorter and wider than the British ships, which improved her turning radius, but the lower displacement forced compromises in armor protection and coal capacity.

The Reşadiye design was {{convert|525|ft}} long between perpendiculars and {{convert|559|ft|6|in|abbr=on}} long overall. The ships had a beam of {{convert|91|ft|7|in|abbr=on}}, with a designed displacement of {{convert|23000|MT}}.Gardiner & Gray, p. 391 In service, Erin displaced {{convert|22780|MT|abbr=on}} normally and up to {{convert|25250|MT|abbr=on}} at full load. Erin was completed with a single tripod mast atop the conning tower, fitted with a spotting top to aid in gun-laying. She had a crew of 1,070 officers and enlisted men.Gardiner & Gray, p. 36

The ships were powered by four Parsons steam turbines, with steam provided by fifteen Babcock & Wilcox mixed coal and oil-fired water-tube boilers. The boilers were trunked into a pair of closely spaced funnels directly aft of the conning tower. The engines were rated at {{convert|26500|shp|lk=in}} for a top speed of {{convert|21|kn|lk=in}}. Erin carried {{convert|2120|MT|abbr=on}} of coal and {{convert|710|MT|abbr=on}} of fuel oil, and she had a cruising radius of {{convert|5100|nmi|lk=in}} at a speed of {{convert|10|kn}}.

As designed, the Reşadiye class was armed with a main battery of ten {{convert|13.5|in|adj=on}} 45-caliber guns, a secondary battery of sixteen {{convert|6|in|abbr=on|0}} 50-caliber guns, and four {{convert|21|in|abbr=on}} torpedo tubes. The 13.5 in guns were the Mark VI type manufactured by Armstrong Whitworth, and they were mounted in five twin turrets, all on the centerline. The first two were in a superfiring pair forward, one amidships directly aft of the funnels, and the last two were in another superfiring pair, aft of the rear conning tower. The 6 in guns were mounted individually in casemates along the upper deck, eight to each beam. The torpedo tubes were submerged in the hull, two on each side of the ship. As completed, a number of smaller guns were added to Erin, including six 6-pounder {{convert|57|mm|abbr=on}} guns and two {{convert|76|mm|abbr=on|0}} Mk I anti-aircraft guns.

The ships were protected with an armored belt that was {{convert|12|in|abbr=on|0}} thick in the central portion, and reduced to {{convert|4|in|abbr=on|0}} on either end of the ship. The transverse bulkheads that connected the ends of the belt were {{convert|8|in|abbr=on|0}} thick. Horizontal protection consisted of an armored deck that was {{convert|3|in|abbr=on}} thick over the central part of the ship, where it covered the ammunition magazines and machinery spaces, and reduced to {{convert|1.5|in|abbr=on}} thick elsewhere. The forward conning tower had 12 in thick sides. The main battery gun turrets had {{convert|11|in|abbr=on|0}} thick faces, while the barbettes that supported them had {{convert|10|in|abbr=on|0}} thick sides, with the lower section behind the main belt reduced to 3 in.

File:Launch of Reşadiye.png

The first ship of the class, Reşadiye, was ordered on 8 June 1911. Work stopped in 1912 following the start of the First Balkan War due to the probability that the Ottoman government would run out of funds. Work resumed in May 1913 following the conclusion of the conflict. The second ship, Fatih Sultan Mehmed, was ordered on 29 April 1914 in response to the Greek order for Vasilefs Konstantinos in early 1914. The British government ordered work to stop in late July 1914, as a result of the growing tensions that culminated in the outbreak of World War I on the 28th; what material that had been assembled was dismantled on the slipway in August.As it turned out, Fatih Sultan Mehmed was laid down the day before Vasilefs Konstantinos. See: Gardiner & Gray, pp. 384, 391

There is some confusion over the number and name of ships that were part of the Reşadiye class. Some sources report Reşadiye and Mehmed Reşad V as having been different ships; these were in fact the same vessel, ordered originally under the latter name. Similarly, Fatih Sultan Mehmed is sometimes listed as Fatik or Fatih.Willmott, p. 164 Another ship, Reshad-i Hammiss, is sometimes reported to have been ordered in 1911 and cancelled in 1912, though according to multiple researchers with access to the Armstrong archives, the Ottomans initially only had ordered one vessel. Brook, pp. 143-44 The latter issue likely stems from the fact that the Reşadiye was ordered from an Armstrong design, with Armstrong designed armament - but the ship itself was to be built by Vickers. Dodson, p. 193

File:HMS Erin (1913).jpg

By 21 July 1914, the British had postponed delivery of Reşadiye and Sultan Osman-ı Evvel as tensions flared in Europe following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on 28 June. This action prompted a protest by Djemal Pasha, the Ottoman naval minister, via France, in the hopes of securing the ships' delivery. A transport ship carrying crews for the two battleships departed Constantinople on 4 August, only to be recalled on 7 August after the Ottoman government was informed that the dreadnoughts would not be delivered.Langensiepen & Güleryüz, p. 29 The First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, ordered the Royal Navy to detain the two ships on 29 July and prevent Ottoman naval personnel from boarding them; two days later, British sailors boarded the ships and formally seized them. Since Britain was not yet at war, these actions were illegal; the British government nevertheless determined to present the Ottomans with a fait accompli. On 3 August, the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire informed the government that Britain had seized the ships.Fromkin, pp. 57–58

Reşadiye and Sultan Osman-ı Evvel were then pressed into British service. Reşadiye was completed that month and commissioned as HMS Erin, with Sultan Osman-ı Evvel entering service as HMS Agincourt. In September, Erin joined the 2nd Battle Squadron of the Grand Fleet, where she served for the duration of the conflict. She took part in the Battle of Jutland on 31 May & 1 June 1916. There, she was the fourth ship in the British line of battle, along with her three surviving King George V-class half-sisters.Campbell, p. 16 She did not fire her main battery during the battle, the only British capital ship not to do so during the engagement;Campbell, p. 205 her secondary battery fired only six shells.Campbell, p. 358

In 1917, fire control directors were installed, and she received flying off platforms atop her forward superfiring and amidships turrets. After the end of the war, Erin was assigned to the Nore Reserve and served as its flagship. Her postwar career was cut short by the Washington Naval Treaty, signed in February 1922, which mandated significant draw downs in naval strength for the signatories. The Royal Navy had originally intended to keep Erin as a training ship under the terms of the treaty, but a change of plans led to {{HMS|Thunderer|1911|6}} taking her place as the training ship, which meant that Erin had to be scrapped. The ship was sold for scrap in December 1922, and subsequently broken up by the ship breaking firm Cox and Daniels, which finished scrapping Erin in 1923.Burt, p. 230

{{reflist|20em}}

• {{Cite book|last=Brook|first=Peter|title=Warships for Export: Armstrong Warships, 1867-1927 |date=1999 |publisher=World Ship Society |isbn=978-0-905617-89-3 |location=Gravesend }}
• {{cite book|last=Burt|first=R. A.|title=British Battleships of World War One|year=1986 |publisher=Arms and Armour Press|location=London|isbn=0-85368-771-4}}
• {{cite book |last=Campbell|first=John|title=Jutland: An Analysis of the Fighting|year=1998|location=London|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|isbn=1-55821-759-2}}
• {{cite book|last=Dodson|first=Aidan|chapter='Zombies' in Warship History|year=2023|editor1-last=Jordan|editor1-first=John|title=Warship 2023|location=Oxford|publisher=Osprey Publishing|isbn=978-1-47285-713-2}}
• {{cite book|last=Fromkin|first=David|author-link=David Fromkin|title=A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East|location=New York|publisher=H. Holt|year=1989|isbn=0-8050-0857-8}}
• {{cite book |editor-last=Gardiner|editor-first=Robert|title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905|year=1979|location=London|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|isbn=0-85177-133-5}}
• {{cite book |editor1-last=Gardiner|editor1-first=Robert|editor2-last=Gray|editor2-first=Randal|title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921|year=1985|location=Annapolis|publisher=Naval Institute Press|isbn=0-85177-245-5| name-list-style=amp | url=https://archive.org/details/conwaysallworlds0000unse_z3o0}}
• {{cite book|last1=Langensiepen|first1=Bernd|last2=Güleryüz|first2=Ahmet|year=1995|title=The Ottoman Steam Navy 1828–1923|publisher=Conway Maritime Press|location=London|isbn=978-0-85177-610-1|name-list-style=amp}}
• {{cite book |last=Sondhaus|first=Lawrence|title=Naval Warfare, 1815–1914|year=2001|publisher=Routledge|location=New York|isbn=978-0-415-21478-0}}
• {{Cite book|editor-last=Willmott|editor-first=H. P.|title=The Last Century of Sea Power (Volume 1, From Port Arthur to Chanak, 1894–1922)|year=2009|location=Bloomington|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=9780253352149}}

{{Reshadieh class battleship}}

{{WWI Ottoman ships}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Resadiye-class battleship}}

Category:Battleship classes

Category:Battleships of the Ottoman Navy

Category:Ship classes of the Royal Navy