Reshadieh class battleship
Encyclopedia
The Reshadieh class battleship was a class of three dreadnought battleships ordered from two British shipyards by the Ottoman Navy
. Only one of the class (Reshadieh) was completed, having been seized by the Royal Navy
at the outbreak of the First World War while under construction in Britain. This is regarded as one of the reasons Turkey entered World War I on the side of the Central Powers. The second ship, the Reshad-I-Hammiss, was cancelled and scrapped on the slipway in 1912, replaced by the Sultan Osman I. A third ship, the Fatih, ordered in 1914, was expected to be completed in 1917, slightly larger than the Reshad-I-Hammiss and Reshadieh. She was scrapped on the slipway in 1914.
After her seizure, the Reshadieh was completed and renamed . She was assigned to the first division of the 2nd Battle squadron
of the Grand Fleet. She served at the Battle of Jutland
, where she did not suffer casualties. Reshadieh became flagship of the Nore
Reserve in 1919 and was scrapped in 1922 to comply with the Washington Naval Treaty
.
, the Ottoman Navy was inspected by the First Lord of the Admiralty Earl Selborne who reported that "there was no navy". In 1911, the Ottoman Empire ordered two dreadnoughts from Britain, at a combined cost of about 4,000,000 pounds sterling. This was to be paid over the course of the ships' construction with the final payment due on August 3, 1914.
, the Reshadieh class was to be modeled after the King George V
class that was recently constructed for Britain, along with several features from the . They were about 2,000 tons less than an Iron Duke-class battleship, and had a shallower armor belt than either the King George V or Iron Duke class, which was the same case with the HMS Agincourt
. The Reshadieh also had about 1,130 less tons of coal
than the King George V class. British officials did not worry about this, as North Sea operations consumed less coal and thus kept the ship at the same effectiveness as the King George V class would have had in the Mediterranean. The fact that the Reshadieh had a cleaver instead of a ram bow also helped improve seaworthiness.
of 91 ft (27.7 m) and a draft of 91 ft (27.7 m). It was crewed by 1,070 men.The class was propelled by four shaft Parsons
steam turbine
s which were rated at 26500 shp. On trials, they propelled the ship to 21 kn (41.2 km/h).
The main armament of the Reshadieh class was ten 13.5 in (342.9 mm) Mk VI gun
s in five twin turrets. This was augmented by sixteen 6 in (152.4 mm) guns, the foreword three of which tended to be wet in a heavy sea. Anti-torpedo boat
defense was provided by six 6-pounder 57 mm (2.2 in) gun
s, while the role of anti-aircraft defenses was filled by three 3 in (76.2 mm) 20 cwt
anti-aircraft gun
s. The class also carried four 21 in (533.4 mm) torpedo tube
s.The class was armoured at the main section of their belt with 12 in (30.5 cm) of armor, the same as on theKing George V. The difference between the class and the King George V class was in the slight reduction of the armour on the upper belt, 6 in (15.2 cm) as opposed to the 8 in (20.3 cm) on the King George V. The total weight of the armour was 4,207 tons.
along with the recently requisitioned Sultan Osman I. Their combined cost had been 4 million 1911 pounds-sterling. Although originally ordered as Reshad V, she was renamed during construction to Reshadieh. Construction was forced to stop when the First Balkan War
broke out due to Ottoman financial reasons, and was only resumed in May of 1913. She was launched four months later on September 3, 1913. Reshadieh was completed on August 1, 1914 with a nearly formed crew, but was seized by the Royal Navy along with Sultan Osman Ijust before the start of the First World War and one day after the final payment for the ship, due to fears that she would be used in support of the Central Powers
. The two ships were incorporated into the Royal Navy on August 22, 1914,and she joined the 2nd Battle Squadron
of the Grand Fleet in September of 1914. Ironically, the public outcry after the seizure of Reshadieh is considered one of the causes of Turkey's entrance on the side of the Central Powers. The construction of the ship had been financed mainly by highly-promoted public donations, and large contributions to the construction were recognized with a "Navy Donation Medal" (Turkish: "Donanma Cemiyeti").An attempt to compensate the Ottomans after the seizure was ignored.
During World War I, she served during the Battle of Jutland
, but suffered no casualties and dealt no damage. She underwent modifications in 1917 to standardize her firing control and searchlight systems and another one in 1918 to install aircraft catapults on her B and Q, or second and third, turrets. The ship was made flagship of the Nore
Reserve in 1919 and saw no further combat. She was kept as a turret drill ship at Chatham Dockyard
until the end of 1919 and then underwent a refit at Devonport Dockyard
. Although originally intended to be kept as a training ship per the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty
, a change of plans led to Thunderer
taking her place as the training ship, which meant that Erin had to be scrapped. In the second half of 1922 the ship was sold to the shipbreaking firm Cox and Daniels, which finished scrapping Reshadieh in 1923.
to the Greek Navy. Fatih was to be slightly larger than her two sisters and was projected to be launched in 1917, although she was scrapped in 1914 soon after the outbreak of war.
Ottoman 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.- Pre-Ottoman:...
. Only one of the class (Reshadieh) was completed, having been seized by the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
at the outbreak of the First World War while under construction in Britain. This is regarded as one of the reasons Turkey entered World War I on the side of the Central Powers. The second ship, the Reshad-I-Hammiss, was cancelled and scrapped on the slipway in 1912, replaced by the Sultan Osman I. A third ship, the Fatih, ordered in 1914, was expected to be completed in 1917, slightly larger than the Reshad-I-Hammiss and Reshadieh. She was scrapped on the slipway in 1914.
After her seizure, the Reshadieh was completed and renamed . She was assigned to the first division of the 2nd Battle squadron
2nd Battle Squadron (United Kingdom)
The British Royal Navy 2nd Battle Squadron was a naval squadron consisting of battleships. The 2nd Battle Squadron was initially part of the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet. After World War I the Grand Fleet was reverted back to its original name, the Atlantic Fleet...
of the Grand Fleet. She served at the Battle of Jutland
Battle of Jutland
The Battle of Jutland was a naval battle between the British Royal Navy's Grand Fleet and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet during the First World War. The battle was fought on 31 May and 1 June 1916 in the North Sea near Jutland, Denmark. It was the largest naval battle and the only...
, where she did not suffer casualties. Reshadieh became flagship of the Nore
Nore
The Nore is a sandbank at the mouth of the Thames Estuary, England. It marks the point where the River Thames meets the North Sea, roughly halfway between Havengore Creek in Essex and Warden Point in Kent....
Reserve in 1919 and was scrapped in 1922 to comply with the Washington Naval Treaty
Washington Naval Treaty
The Washington Naval Treaty, also known as the Five-Power Treaty, was an attempt to cap and limit, and "prevent 'further' costly escalation" of the naval arms race that had begun after World War I between various International powers, each of which had significant naval fleets. The treaty was...
.
Background
Following the failed construction of the Abdul KadirOttoman battleship Abdul Kadir
Abdul Kadir was an Ottoman pre-dreadnought battleship laid down in 1892 at the Constantinople dockyard. After she was framed with armor near the turn of the century, very little work was done to her other than to plate in the area near the keel before work ceased. When work was scheduled to resume...
, the Ottoman Navy was inspected by the First Lord of the Admiralty Earl Selborne who reported that "there was no navy". In 1911, the Ottoman Empire ordered two dreadnoughts from Britain, at a combined cost of about 4,000,000 pounds sterling. This was to be paid over the course of the ships' construction with the final payment due on August 3, 1914.
Design
Designed by George ThurstonGeorge Thurston
Sir George Thurston KBE was a leading British naval architect in the early half of the 20th century.-Life and career:...
, the Reshadieh class was to be modeled after the King George V
King George V class battleship (1911)
The King George V class battleships were a series of four Royal Navy super-dreadnought battleships built just prior to and serving in the First World War.The King George V class immediately followed the Orion class upon which they were based....
class that was recently constructed for Britain, along with several features from the . They were about 2,000 tons less than an Iron Duke-class battleship, and had a shallower armor belt than either the King George V or Iron Duke class, which was the same case with the HMS Agincourt
HMS Agincourt (1913)
HMS Agincourt was a dreadnought built in the early 1910s. The ship was originally ordered by Brazil, but the collapse of the rubber boom plus a lessening of the rivalry with Argentina led to her resale while still under construction to the Ottoman Empire who renamed her as Sultan Osman I...
. The Reshadieh also had about 1,130 less tons of coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
than the King George V class. British officials did not worry about this, as North Sea operations consumed less coal and thus kept the ship at the same effectiveness as the King George V class would have had in the Mediterranean. The fact that the Reshadieh had a cleaver instead of a ram bow also helped improve seaworthiness.
Description
The Reshadieh class displaced 27500 LT (27,941.4 t) normally and 30250 LT (30,735.5 t) at full load. It had a length of 559 in 6 in (170.54 m), a beamBeam (nautical)
The beam of a ship is its width at the widest point. Generally speaking, the wider the beam of a ship , the more initial stability it has, at expense of reserve stability in the event of a capsize, where more energy is required to right the vessel from its inverted position...
of 91 ft (27.7 m) and a draft of 91 ft (27.7 m). It was crewed by 1,070 men.The class was propelled by four shaft Parsons
Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company
Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company was a British engineering company based in Wallsend, North England, on the River Tyne.-History:The company was founded by Charles Algernon Parsons in 1897 with £500,000 of capital, and specialised in building the steam turbine engines that he had invented for...
steam turbine
Steam turbine
A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into rotary motion. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884....
s which were rated at 26500 shp. On trials, they propelled the ship to 21 kn (41.2 km/h).
The main armament of the Reshadieh class was ten 13.5 in (342.9 mm) Mk VI gun
BL 13.5 inch /45 naval gun
The BL 13.5 inch Mk V gun was a British heavy naval gun, introduced in 1912 as the main armament for the new super-dreadnought battleships of the Orion class. The calibre was 13.5 inches and the barrels were 45 calibres long i.e. 607.5 inches...
s in five twin turrets. This was augmented by sixteen 6 in (152.4 mm) guns, the foreword three of which tended to be wet in a heavy sea. Anti-torpedo boat
Torpedo boat
A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval vessel designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs rammed enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes, and later designs launched self-propelled Whitehead torpedoes. They were created to counter battleships and other large, slow and...
defense was provided by six 6-pounder 57 mm (2.2 in) gun
QF 6 pounder Hotchkiss
The QF 6 pounder Hotchkiss was a light 57 mm naval gun and coast defence gun of the late 19th century used by many countries, and was adapted for use in the early British tanks in World War I.- Canada History :...
s, while the role of anti-aircraft defenses was filled by three 3 in (76.2 mm) 20 cwt
QF 3 inch 20 cwt
The QF 3 inch 20 cwt anti-aircraft gun became the standard anti-aircraft gun used in the home defence of the United Kingdom against German airships and bombers and on the Western Front in World War I. It was also common on British warships in World War I and submarines in World War II...
anti-aircraft gun
Anti-aircraft warfare
NATO defines air defence as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action." They include ground and air based weapon systems, associated sensor systems, command and control arrangements and passive measures. It may be to protect naval, ground and air forces...
s. The class also carried four 21 in (533.4 mm) torpedo tube
Torpedo tube
A torpedo tube is a device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units installed aboard surface vessels...
s.The class was armoured at the main section of their belt with 12 in (30.5 cm) of armor, the same as on theKing George V. The difference between the class and the King George V class was in the slight reduction of the armour on the upper belt, 6 in (15.2 cm) as opposed to the 8 in (20.3 cm) on the King George V. The total weight of the armour was 4,207 tons.
Reshadieh
The only ship of the class not to be scrapped before completion, the Erin, was laid down on December 6, 1911 at the Vickers Naval Construction Yard at Barrow in Furness in CumbriaCumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...
along with the recently requisitioned Sultan Osman I. Their combined cost had been 4 million 1911 pounds-sterling. Although originally ordered as Reshad V, she was renamed during construction to Reshadieh. Construction was forced to stop when the First Balkan War
First Balkan War
The First Balkan War, which lasted from October 1912 to May 1913, pitted the Balkan League against the Ottoman Empire. The combined armies of the Balkan states overcame the numerically inferior and strategically disadvantaged Ottoman armies and achieved rapid success...
broke out due to Ottoman financial reasons, and was only resumed in May of 1913. She was launched four months later on September 3, 1913. Reshadieh was completed on August 1, 1914 with a nearly formed crew, but was seized by the Royal Navy along with Sultan Osman Ijust before the start of the First World War and one day after the final payment for the ship, due to fears that she would be used in support of the Central Powers
Central Powers
The Central Powers were one of the two warring factions in World War I , composed of the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria...
. The two ships were incorporated into the Royal Navy on August 22, 1914,and she joined the 2nd Battle Squadron
2nd Battle Squadron (United Kingdom)
The British Royal Navy 2nd Battle Squadron was a naval squadron consisting of battleships. The 2nd Battle Squadron was initially part of the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet. After World War I the Grand Fleet was reverted back to its original name, the Atlantic Fleet...
of the Grand Fleet in September of 1914. Ironically, the public outcry after the seizure of Reshadieh is considered one of the causes of Turkey's entrance on the side of the Central Powers. The construction of the ship had been financed mainly by highly-promoted public donations, and large contributions to the construction were recognized with a "Navy Donation Medal" (Turkish: "Donanma Cemiyeti").An attempt to compensate the Ottomans after the seizure was ignored.
During World War I, she served during the Battle of Jutland
Battle of Jutland
The Battle of Jutland was a naval battle between the British Royal Navy's Grand Fleet and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet during the First World War. The battle was fought on 31 May and 1 June 1916 in the North Sea near Jutland, Denmark. It was the largest naval battle and the only...
, but suffered no casualties and dealt no damage. She underwent modifications in 1917 to standardize her firing control and searchlight systems and another one in 1918 to install aircraft catapults on her B and Q, or second and third, turrets. The ship was made flagship of the Nore
Nore
The Nore is a sandbank at the mouth of the Thames Estuary, England. It marks the point where the River Thames meets the North Sea, roughly halfway between Havengore Creek in Essex and Warden Point in Kent....
Reserve in 1919 and saw no further combat. She was kept as a turret drill ship at Chatham Dockyard
Chatham Dockyard
Chatham Dockyard, located on the River Medway and of which two-thirds is in Gillingham and one third in Chatham, Kent, England, came into existence at the time when, following the Reformation, relations with the Catholic countries of Europe had worsened, leading to a requirement for additional...
until the end of 1919 and then underwent a refit at Devonport Dockyard
HMNB Devonport
Her Majesty's Naval Base Devonport , is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy . HMNB Devonport is located in Devonport, in the west of the city of Plymouth in Devon, England...
. Although originally intended to be kept as a training ship per the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty
Washington Naval Treaty
The Washington Naval Treaty, also known as the Five-Power Treaty, was an attempt to cap and limit, and "prevent 'further' costly escalation" of the naval arms race that had begun after World War I between various International powers, each of which had significant naval fleets. The treaty was...
, a change of plans led to Thunderer
HMS Thunderer (1911)
HMS Thunderer was the third Orion class battleship built for the Royal Navy and was the last vessel to be constructed by Thames Iron Works. She was the last and largest warship ever built on the River Thames, and after her completion her builders declared bankruptcy.By a margin of £1000, she was...
taking her place as the training ship, which meant that Erin had to be scrapped. In the second half of 1922 the ship was sold to the shipbreaking firm Cox and Daniels, which finished scrapping Reshadieh in 1923.
Reshad-I-Hammiss
Reshad-I-Hammiss was to have been the second ship of the Reshadieh class, but was cancelled due to financial reasons and scrapped in favor of the Sultan Osman I, a then-Brazilian dreadnought also under construction in Britain. However, Sultan Osman I was also seized by the Royal Navy on August 1, 1914, along with Reshadieh and was renamed Agincourt.Fatih
Fatih was the third ship planned for the Reshadieh class, ordered in 1914 mainly due to the transfer of the American battleship MisssissippiGreek Battleship Kilkis
Kilkis was a 13,000 ton Mississippi-class battleship originally built by the US Navy in 1904–1908. The Greek Navy purchased the ship in 1914, along with her sister , renamed Limnos. Kilkis was named for the Battle of Kilkis-Lahanas, a crucial engagement of the Second Balkan War...
to the Greek Navy. Fatih was to be slightly larger than her two sisters and was projected to be launched in 1917, although she was scrapped in 1914 soon after the outbreak of war.