Turkish fleet

“ The Turkish fleet, under the command of the lord high-admiral, Khalíl Páshá, after having sailed from the port of Constantinople in the spring of this year, was met by Mohammed Beg, beg of the Morea, who had been previously sent out for the purpose of capturing such hostile vessels as might fall in his way, and who informed the admiral that he had conducted a prize-vessel into the port of Eyúbia. The fleet now sailed for Rhodes,401 where the ships were all properly pitched, and afterwards sailed for the island of Cyprus. ”

“ It has absorbed nothing but a dim idea of a military organization which when applied to a civilized, cultured nation makes for military perfection, when attempted on nomads leads to such debacles as the plains of Thessaly, the mountainous districts of Macedonia, and the stricken fields of Thrace have recently witnessed.{148}
British naval officers have for years been acting as instructors to the Turkish Navy, which from a collection of obsolete iron tanks has to outward appearance assumed the semblance of a war fleet ”

“ While companies of fearless sea-gulls spread grey wings and white breasts over the blue waters, and dance around in every graceful form that motion can assume. It is the portion of the harbour in which the world of the East is still most clearly reflected. The reach of the Golden Horn beyond the Inner Bridge is specially devoted to the service of the Turkish navy, and there may be seen such modern things as ironclads, torpedo boats, and torpedo destroyers. The time was when the Ottoman fleet which gathered here formed an imposing display of naval strength. ”

“ The Turkish fleet was reorganised and improved under his direction, but in the war of 1877 the jealousy of the authorities prevented him, as commander of the Black Sea fleet, from achieving any notable naval success, though he displayed considerable skill in baffling the Russian torpedoes, for which weapon he entertained a hearty contempt. ”

“ Their habits of ferocity, though restrained, still continue; when attached to the Turkish fleet, they carry ruin and desolation wherever they sail. These allies destroyed, in Greece, whatever the less merciless Turks had spared, and would have utterly exterminated the remnant of that people, had not Christian Europe interfered.
Beside these pirate galleys of the Mediterranean, are to be seen moored the lofty merchantmen of the Euxine. The singular structure of these vessels is peculiar to the eastern coasts of the Black Sea, and has been preserved from the earliest times. ”

“ Turkey demanded modifications which Russia refused; Turkey declared war against Russia on the 5th of October, and Russia declared war against Turkey on the 1st of November.
"A Turkish fleet of twelve ships was lying at Sinope, a port on the southern shore of the Black Sea. On the 30th of November the Russians sent a fleet of eleven ships from Sebastopol which destroyed the Turkish fleet, all except one ship that carried the news to Constantinople. Then the allied fleets of the French and English entered the Black Sea, and the war began in dead earnest. ”

“ The fleets of England, France, and Russia were cruising about the coasts of the Peloponnesus to prevent the ravages of the Turkish fleet on the islands and mainland, and selected a winter anchorage at Navarino, where the Turkish and Egyptian fleets lay. The Turks thinking they were menaced opened fire upon the combined fleets, and were annihilated in the engagement which followed. In the following year the Greeks had the aid of the French, who cleared the Morea of Turkish troops, and by the end of the year Greece was practically independent. ”

“ TURKEY DECLARES WAR
Turkish hesitation continued up to the end of October, when the war party under Enver Pasha, Minister of War, gained a dubious predominance by sending out the Turkish fleet, which rapidly returned, asserting that the ships had been fired upon by Russians (Oct. 28) —an assertion believed by few. On the 29th, Turkish torpedo boats (at first reported as the Goeben and Breslau) bombarded Odessa and Theodosia, and a swarm of Bedouins invaded the Sinai Peninsula. Turkey declared war on the 31st. ”

“ As the Turks advanced to the attack these vessels opened fire, and did so much execution that Ali, the Turkish Commander-in-Chief, ordered his line to open out and thus avoid their fire. Whatever formation the fleet was in at the time—which was, as far as we can gather, “line abreast”—this opening-out process, to avoid the galeasses, threw it into hopeless confusion. The Turkish right wing, which was hugging the coast, and was the first to come into action, passed on in an endeavour to turn the left wing of the allies. ”

“ A large number of steamers of every nationality waited outside the straits for the special pilot boats of the Turkish Government, in order to pass in safety through the dangerous mine field. This measure of closing the straits was suggested to Turkey by Austria and Germany, and was primarily intended against Russia, as it was feared that her Black Sea fleet might force its way into the Sea of Marmora and the AEgean.
On August 2d the Turkish Parliament was prorogued, so that all political power might center around the Imperial throne. A vigorous endeavor was made to strengthen the Turkish navy. ”

“ Fought October 17, 1571, betweenbetween a fleet of 250 Spanish and Venetian ships, under Don John of Austria, and a Turkish fleet of 270 sail, under Piale, the Capitan Pasha. The Turkish left wing, under the Dey of Algiers, met with some success, but the centre and right were almost destroyed, the Turks losing 200 vessels, and, it is said, 30,000 men. ”

“ Of the Turkish armada 30 galleys got away, 90 were sunk in the gulf, and the remaining 178 were in the hands of the Christians, with 117 big cannon and 250 of smaller size. At the same time more than 12,000 Christian captives whom the Turks had rowing in their galleys regained their liberty. These poor creatures, wild with joy, offered spontaneously, and with the greatest enthusiasm, to take the places of the wounded and killed in the Christian fleet, both as soldiers and sailors. ”

“ Admiral Duckworth, with 8 ships of the line and 4 frigates, together with fire ships and gun boats, effected the daring pass of the Dardanelles, without loss, and appeared before Constantinople, which until then had never seen an enemy's fleet. The Turks fired stone shot from their batteries upon the fleet, some of them weighing upwards of 800 pounds. The Turkish squadron, consisting of a 64 gun ship, 4 frigates, 3 corvettes, a brig and 2 gun boats, were burnt. ”

“ The Turkish naval historian, Haji Khalifeh, [30] tells us that, 'After the taking of Constantinople, when they [the Ottomans] spread their conquests over land and sea, it became necessary to build ships and make armaments in order to subdue the fortresses and castles on the Rumelian and Anatolian shores, and in the islands of the Mediterranean.' Mohammed II established a great naval arsenal at Constantinople. In 1470 the Turks, 'for the first time, equipped a fleet with which they drove that of the Venetians out of the Grecian seas.' [31] The Turkish wars of Venice lasted a long time. ”

“ The Saraf, however, having business in the city, had already departed, and consequently escaped the inconvenience and insult destined for him.
Were I the Admiral of a Fleet charged with the conquest of a channel like that of the Bosphorus, I would employ none but Turkish sailors, who are never so much at home as when aground, or hung on to some building; they would literally carry the thing by assault. Their mighty ships of war do as they like, for they are constantly “touching,” when they are supposed to be cruizing ”

“ The objective of the armada was Patras, because, in the Gulf of Lepanto, close at hand, all of the squadrons of the Turkish navy were assembled. In all, the allies had 208 ships of war, the Ottomans slightly more, but the weakness of the Turks was due to the lack of soldiers to defend their fleet. There were but 2500 Janitschars on their galleys, the rest were troops raised from continental Greece, 22,000 in all, who were either new recruits or were not trained for naval warfare. Among the Turkish captains were present many older men who desired to avoid conflict with the Christian armada. ”

“ German officers and men in large numbers were now pouring into Constantinople to help the Turkish army and navy in the coming campaign. Germany was practically taking over the control of the fleet as well as of the army, and it was thought that Turkey would thus be able to meet the Greek navy on the open sea. Turkey, too, apparently counted on the fact that if she declared war the Balkan States would quarrel among themselves. ”

“ Turkey undertakes from the coming into force of the present Treaty not to accredit to any foreign country any military, naval or air mission, and not to send or allow the departure of such mission; she undertakes, moreover, to take the necessary steps to prevent Turkish nationals from leaving her territory in order to enlist in the army, fleet or air service of any foreign Power, or to be attached thereto with the purpose of helping in its training, or generally to give any assistance to the military, naval or air instruction in a foreign country. ”

“ Other non-combatant troops, such as military train, medical corps, &c., are undergoing reorganization. (For the history of the Turkish army, see Army, 98.)
Navy.—The Turkish sea-power, already decayed owing to a variety of causes (for the effect of the revolt of the Greek islanders see Greek Independence, War of) , was shattered by the catastrophe of Sinope (1853) . Abd-ul-Aziz, however, with the aid of British naval officers, succeeded in creating an imposing fleet of ironclads constructed in English and French yards. ”

“ The Turks took Constantinople in 1453, and the contests between them and the Venetians continued with even greater bitterness; and after the capture of Cyprus by the Moslems, and the fitting out by the Sultan Selim of an immense and powerful fleet, it became evident to the western world that some supreme effort should be put forth to curb the advance of the Turkish power. ”

“ Attempts to destroy Turkish ships in harbour. The sudden appearance of the seventy or eighty ships in the inner harbour of the Golden Horn caused consternation in the city. Every one could understand that if this fleet were not destroyed, the number of men available for the defence of the landward walls must be very greatly lessened. Moreover, the walls now for the first time requiring defence were low and required constant watching. ”

“ The Turkish admiral with his fleet has gone to meet them, and orders them to lower their sails. The south wind still blows full astern, and with bellying sails they hold on their course. The wind continues until they are carried to a position where the Bosporus strains against the shore of either land.593 That is, as I understand the phrase, until they are at least well past the present lighthouse. ‘There the wind fails them; the sails flap idly under the walls of the citadel.594 Then, indeed, began the fight; the spirits of the Turks are aroused by the fall of the wind ”

“ With admirable strategic insight he conquered Rhodes, and thus freed himself from the danger of a hostile force on his flank. 'The centenary of the conquest of Constantinople was past, and the Turk had developed a great naval power besides annexing Egypt and Syria.' [33] The Turkish fleets, under such leaders as Khair-ad-din (Barbarossa) , Piale, and Dragut, seemed to command the Mediterranean including its western basin; but the repulse at Malta in 1565 was a serious check, and the defeat at Lepanto in 1571 virtually put an end to the prospect of Turkish maritime dominion. ”

“ The war became at once popular among the British people when the news was spread that a Russian fleet, consisting of six men-of-war and several smaller vessels, had darted out of Sebastopol, and, taking advantage of a dense fog, had entered the harbour of Sinope, where they found a Turkish squadron of eight frigates, two schooners, and three transports, totally unprepared for battle. ”

“ It might be said therefore that this fleet was equipped rather by the dead than the living. It consisted of 70 sail, most of them being large gallies, well stored with cannon, ammunition, and provisions; on board of which he embarked 7000 soldiers, part Turkish janizaries and part Mamelukes; besides a great number of choice sailors and galley-slaves, many of the latter being taken from the Venetian gallies then at Alexandria, which were seized in consequence of a war breaking out between the Turks and the republic of Venice. ”

“ The navy of Turkey, which was formidable a few years ago, possessing as it did some of the most powerful and efficient iron-clads in the world at that period, both large and small, is rapidly declining in importance in presence of the powerful ships constructed or constructing in England, France, Russia (Black Sea) , and Italy. The Turkish navy would not have held its high position so long had it not been for the foresight of the late Sultan Abdul-Aziz, having all his armored ships built of iron. There is not a wood-built iron-clad in the Turkish navy. ”

“ If every merchantman had put up as good a fight as Captain Thomas Grantham, the Turks would soon have had to retire from their piratical business. As it was, they were able to continue their depredations for some years longer, but not in quite the same wholesale way. The British Navy became more and more active, and in 1681-2 made prizes of a number of Turkish vessels, among them the Admiral of Sally, the Two Lyons and Crown of Argiers, the Three Half Moons, the Golden Lyon, and—what a name for a man-of-war!—the Flowerpott. ”