Mesudiye (Messudieh) Battleship Research Project

The little prince watched the ships passing to and from in front of the palace with great enthusiasm, and even drew their pictures. While getting prepared for the throne, he would cruise on the Marmara Sea with his own yacht, and get in contact with sailors. From these contacts, he would learn about the navies of the world, and make plans to put both his army and navy among of the foremost in the world when it was his turn to rule.
This prince was none other than Sultan Abdülaziz; who ascended the throne on June 25th, 1861, an ruled for 15 years until 1876.

Apart from the childhood dreams of the Sultan, the times were changing fast after the invention of the steam engine, and the shipmaking industry was also affected by these changes. Steam engines replaced the sails; ships were being built from metal instead of wood. The Ottoman Empire first faced these changes during the Crimean War. The British and French ships came to Istanbul, bringing a virtual technology fair to our doorstep.

Seemingly Matchless…

The time had come for Sultan Abdülaziz to realise his childhood dreams. However, the financial budget of the plan was a big obstacle in front of his plans. Sultan Abdülaziz persevered against all odds, and did not abandon his plan to strengthen the navy with armoured ships. Battleships, corvettes, and frigates were ordered to England, France, and Austria within this context. Among these was the ‘Mesudiye Zırhlı Firkateyn-i Hümayunu’: The Royal Armoured Frigate Mesudiye.

The Mesudiye was commissioned to the Thames Iron Works in England in 1871. It was laid down on 1872, and launched on 1874. Trial runs were made during 1875, and the ship was commissioned on december of that year.

Mr. Abidin Daver, who has made many valuable studies on our naval history, stresses the importance of the Mesudiye: “The Mesudiye was one of the biggest and strongest battleships of its time, and only the English navy had a greater ship.”

Disloyalty to the ‘Master’

One morning while Sultan Abdülaziz was on the point of enjoying the realisation of his dreams, the navy, including the Mesudiye, and the army of War Academy students under the command of Süleyman Pasha laid siege to the Dolmabahçe Palace. They had obtained approval of the head mufti. Tha navy fired its guns to salute the new Sultan. Sultan Abdülaziz understood. He did not show any resistance, and left the palace on his own free will. They put him in a boat, and passed by his precious navy to take him to Sarayburnu. Later, in a letter to his successor, he would say; “The army that I have equipped with my own hands did this to me.”

The Mesudiye had been disloyal to the master who had commissioned her, and played an important role in his dethronement.

The Mesudiye had completed her mission in the country with the dethronement of Sultan Abdülaziz. She could now go back to her duty of defending the country. Within this context, the ship joined the Ottoman-Russia, Greco-Ottoman, Imroz-Mondros, and Balkan wars and won important victories.

RENOVATION IN ITALY

Both the passing of the years, and going from battle to battle had tired and worn out the ship. As such, she could be no match to contemporary modern ships. However, Sultan Abdülhamid disliked and feared the navy intensely for its role in the dethronement of his uncle Sultan Abdülaziz. Nevertheless, even he understood that the navy was rotting away, and approved the maintenance of a few ships to protect the straits at least.

Consequently, the battleship Mesudiye was sent to the Ansaldo shipyards in Genoa, Italy in 1903. It was almost rejuvenated, and returned in a totally different condition than when it was sent.

Abidin Daver explains these changes as follows: “The three long and rigged masts were removed, and replaced with a single, round topped mast. The old 35 inches guns in the central battery were replaced with long and serial firing 15 inches; two turrets were placed on the head and stern with 24 inches long Armstrong guns inside. The part added to the center of the ship had an imposing appearance. (…) However, the defense and protection strength had not been much increased.”

The Mesudiye was refitted, but still unable to answer the demands of the age. This would play a big role in the loss of the ship. Even under those circumstances, hundreds of thousands of gold liras had been spent for the refitting, and this meant a fortune in those days.

TOWARDS THE SAD END…

The mission assigned to the Mesudiye during the first days of World War I was almost a death warrant. The most important characteristics of battleships are their abilty to fire while moving, and to be able minimize chances of being hit by changing places continuously. The Mesudiye, however, was ordered to anchor in the Sarısığlar inlet as a floating battery to protect the mine lines. This order was wholly controversial with standard naval practices.

Both the ship’s captain and several officers were insistent and sent letters, but the opinions of the German officers influential in the navy in those days prevailed, and the ship dropped anchor in the area for her last mission.

The French and the English believed that if their submarines passed from under the minelies in the Dardanelles to appear in the Sea of Marmara and around Istanbul, the Ottoman government would be excluded from the war. They made several attemptes accordingly. One of the purposes of such a submarine maneuver was to torpedo the Yavuz heavy battle cruiser; which had tilted the balance of powers in the Black Sea against the Tsarist Russia and in favour of the Ottoman Empire.

This mission had caused a sense of competition between the French and English submariners. At the end the mission was assigned, on grounds of sufficient batteries, to the British submarine B-11 under the command of N.Holbrook.

FROM 800 METRES

On Dec.13th, 1924 the B-11 entered the Dardanelles with the eagerness of a hunter looking for prey. It passed from under the minelines, and torpedoed the Mesudiye from a distance of 800 metres at 12:00 noon, just as the ship’s crew were congregated underdecks for lunch.

The watchmen saw the torpedo and the periscope, and sounded the alarm. The Mesudiye’s guns began to fire towards the point where the submarine was sighted.

The gunfire got more and more difficult because of the damage, but was bravely continued until the very last minute.

There was complete mayhem in the engine room. Some officers and sailors had survived the explosion and were trying to get out, but as the ship keeled sideways and the doors got stuck, there attempts were in vain.

AND THE SECOND TORPEDO…

Meanwhile, the enemy submarine targeted the ship again with a second torpedo. After this second hit the ship sank completely.

Surviving personnel reached the land in boats. The enemy did not knew which ship it was that had been torpedoed. However, they had seen that it was a big battleship.

The British submarine left the Dardanelles with difficulty. It had to navigate by periscope because of a malfunction of the compass, and after submerging to the bottom several times, finally got out of the strait in the afternoon.

MAYHEM

During the inspection after the ship had sunk, itwas seen that the room where the engineers had got stuck was still above water. Hopes were raised that if there were any survivors sinside, they could be saved by drilling a hole in the ship’s hull.

A signal was given by tapping the hull with a piece of iron, which was echoed from inside. This created much excitement among the rescue personnel, and they immediately sent a telegraph to Istanbul requesting equipment. Meanwhile, a gunnery officer entered from a gun port and heard engineer Lt. Ziya Bey’s cries for help. The rescue efforts were hastened accordingly. After much effort, the hole was widened, and the three officers inside were saved.

After all efforts were completed, the loss count was 35 people including 25 sailors and 10 officers.

The sad story of the Mesudiye was over, but her brave efforts were not. After the ship sank, its guns were mounted on a battery bearing her name, and ‘avenged their ship’ by giving great damage to the French battleship Bouvet during the Dardanelles Naval Operation on March 18th, 1915.