I've had a crack at working out the ship profiles for the Ottoman Navy warships not already covered in the First World War version of When Dreadnoughts Ruled the Seas. These include the two ex-German Brandenburg class pre-dreadnought battleships and the armoured cruiser Hamidiye. Its not too difficult to do the number crunching except for armour hull boxes but I think I've come up with some reasonably accurate ship stats, give or take a bit of guesswork. This means I can crack on with painting the models as soon as I've finished the 1/600th scale Airco DH2's for the PC10 project.
They're a fun little ruleset! Very bloody too! I had placed an order from Navwar a few years back and managed to pick up the various Ottoman ships to extend my fleet from the Balkans War to WW1. The fleets were assembled specifically for this ruleset. I look forward to watching this project progress!
ReplyDelete[1] Re the Ottoman (ex-German) pre-dreadnoughts. Their new owners kept them smartly painted and the brass polished, but poor equipment maintenance meant their performance declined. The naval section of the British Ambassador's 1911 annual report to the Foreign Office, estimated their top speed (and that of the reconditioned Mesudiye) was only 14 kts; and except for Mesudiye this estimate was probably very optimistic. And when in October 1914 the British foreman of the shipyard workers refitting some of the Ottoman warships shared his notes with the Admiralty (who in turn then shared the data with the Russian Navy), he observed of the Barbaros Hayreddin: "Docked three months ago. Engines, boilers and hull in good condition; all guns in working order with exception of one 4.1” gun in the starboard casemate which is still under repair in the Arsenal. The centre turret of this ship with its gearing was considerably damaged by shell fire during the last [i.e. First Balkan] war, and one of the 11” guns has its outer jacket split where struck by a shell but the gun is still considered serviceable and the turret and gearing has been repaired. The training gear was fitted to all the 4.1” guns and a new fire control station was fitted in the lower tween decks. The voice pipes, however, connected to same are only 2” diameter and they are evidently causing trouble as an attempt is now being made to fit 3” pipes, but as suitable copper pipes cannot be found in Turkey it is improbable that the change can be effected. The aft torpedo tube with all its apparatus has been removed and the torpedo room converted into a wardroom. During the late war the armour belt was pierced in many places by 6” shells and these holes have been plugged with forged iron plugs and covered on the outside by ½” thick plates recessed into armour and secured by screwed rivets. The fire mains are not in good condition, and the water-tight doors through the vessel are all in doubtful condition." and of her sister ship, he noted: "Toorgood Reiss [Turgut Reis], sister ship to Barbarossa. Docked four months ago. Hull, engines and boilers in good condition. All guns in place and in good condition with exception of one 4.1” gun in starboard casemate which is under repair at the Arsenal. Also in this vessel the aft torpedo tube and fittings have been permanently removed. New training gear has been fitted to all the 4.1” guns and a new fire-control station fitted in the lower tween decks, the voice pipes to which are only 2” in diameter and are evidently giving trouble and an attempt is being made to substitute 3” pipes, but these cannot be found in Turkey. The fire mains are in poor condition as also all the water-tight doors throughout the ship. Except for the foregoing, the vessel can be considered a useful fighting unit."
ReplyDelete[2] The comments about watertight doors (which in some Ottoman ships had been taken ashore for safe keeping!) help explain why one of the battleships sank so quickly when torpedoed in 1915.
[3] The relevant volume of the German official history [by Rear-Adm Hermann Lorey] has similar comments about the state of the Ottoman ships in general, and specifically why the pre-dreadnoughts were judged unfit for any but he most local coast-defence work. Lorey's history has not been commercially translated, but an officer a the US Naval War College made a translation that was 'mimeographed' (duplicated); Churchill College's archives, and I, have transcripts of it.
[4] A summary of the significant warships on both sides in the Black Sea, 1914-15, is in my article in Warship 2024.
Excellent 👍 Thank you ☺️
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