Ottoman cruiser Hamidiye

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Ottoman cruiser Hamidiye
History
Ottoman Empire
NameHamidiye
NamesakeSultan Abdülhamid II
Ordered1900[1]
BuilderSir W. G. Armstrong, Whitworth & Co. Ltd., Newcastle[1]
Yard number732[1]
Laid downApril 1902[1]
Launched25 September 1903[1]
CommissionedApril 1904[1]
Honours and
awards		Cruiser Hamidiye Medal 1913
FateUnder British control 1918–1925, then ceded to the Turkish Navy.
Turkey
NameHamidiye
Commissioned1925
Decommissioned1947
FateSold for scrap, 10 September 1964
NotesUsed for cadet training between 1940 and 1947.[1]
General characteristics Hamidiye
TypeProtected cruiser[2]
Displacement3,904 tons (normal)[1]
Length
Beam14.5 m (48 ft)[1]
Draught4.8 m (16 ft)[1]
Propulsion
Speed
  • 22.2 knots (full speed in trials)[1]
  • 16 knots (normal cruising speed)[1]
Complement
Armament

Hamidiye

Elswick, Newcastle, in April 1902; launched on 25 September 1903; its sea trials began on 17 December 1903; and it was commissioned in April 1904.[1] It weighed 3,904 tons; was 112 m long with a beam of 14.5 m and a draught of 4.8 m; and was named after the Ottoman Sultan Abdülhamid II.[1]

It had two 150mm L/45 quick firing guns, eight

triple expansion steam engines providing a top speed of 22.2 knots and carried a nominal complement of 400 (in 1904) and 355 (in 1915).[1]

Its name Abdül Hamid was changed to Hamidiye after the 1908 Young Turk Revolution. Under the terms of the Treaty of Sèvres, which ended the First World War between the Allies and the Ottoman Empire, the ship was to be handed over to the United Kingdom as war compensation. However, the ensuing Turkish War of Independence culminated in the abrogation of the Treaty of Sèvres; it was replaced by the Treaty of Lausanne, which permitted the new Turkish republic to retain its fleet, including Hamidiye, which became a training ship.

Design

General characteristics

Hamidiye was 112 m (367 ft) long (

indicated horsepower, which produced a top speed of 22.2 knots (41.1 km/h; 25.5 mph).[1][3]

Armament

Hamidiye was armed with a wide array of medium and smaller caliber guns. The largest of these were two 6 in (15 cm) /45 Armstrong quick-firing guns each on a centre-pivot mounting with an open-backed gunshield, one forward and one aft.[3] These guns fired 100 lb (45 kg) projectiles at a rate of 5 to 7 rounds per minute. The mounts allowed elevation to 20°, which provided a maximum range of 14,600 yards (13,350 m).[4] Eight 4.7 in (12 cm) /50 Armstrong quick-firing guns rounded out the primary armament; these were placed in single shielded centre-pivot mounts on broadside amidships, four on either side.[3]

Secondary weapons consisted of six 3-pounder guns and six 1-pounder guns, each mounted in single emplacements. Hamidiye also carried a pair of 18 in (46 cm) torpedo tubes; these were emplaced in two aim-able mounts underneath the forebridge.[3]

After the First World War, Hamidiye was rearmed; both types of primary guns were removed, and replaced with 5.9 in (15 cm) SK L/45 and 3 in (7.6 cm) SK L/50 Krupp guns.[3]

Service history

1908–1909

Hamidiye was involved in putting down a Greek uprising at

31 March Incident), and anchored off Yeşilköy
, across from Sevket Pasha's headquarters.

Balkan Wars

Hamidiye fought in the

failed
.

Ottoman cruiser Hamidiye in 1913

Orbay then led his ship to shell Greek and

San Giovanni di Medua, Albania. She managed to sink or heavily damage six Greek ships and also damaged a neutral Austrian ship, as well as shell the Serbian military encampment there but, mindful of the lack of friendly ports nearby where repairs could be affected, Orbay opted to open the range by a few kilometers when a pair of Serbian mountain guns started firing back from the deck of the merchant ship Trifimia.[11] This, combined with poor Ottoman gunnery and limited shell stocks saved the allies from further damage. The whole incident sparked a furious complaint from the Serbs about a lack of protection by the Hellenic Navy of their chartered transports, compelling the Greeks to escort further convoys with the ironclad Psara. Meanwhile, Hamidiye managed to evade the Greek destroyers sent to find it, and set sail for Egypt. Another sortie south of Crete led to the capture of another Greek merchantman, but reports of Greek warships near Rhodes forced Hamidiye, whose boilers were damaged and reduced her speed, to seek refuge in the Red Sea, where it sat out the end of the war.[10]

World War I

Ottoman cruiser Hamidiye (right) as seen from the battlecruiser Yavûz Sultân Selîm at the İzmit Naval Base in the Sea of Marmara
Türkische Minenleger vor dem Bosporus werden um 1915 von den Kreuzern HAMIDIJE und BERC-I-SATWET bewacht

During World War I, it fought against the Russian Navy in Black Sea and joined Yavûz Sultân Selîm and Midilli in maintaining control over Black Sea lanes and ports. It engaged in numerous naval battles, was hit many times. Hamidiye conducted a series of operations in company with Yavûz and Midilli; on 23 September 1914, Hamidiye sailed with Yavûz to Trebizond to escort three transports.[12] In November it bombarded military installations at Russian port Tuapse. The ship sortied again in January 1915 along with Midilli; on 9 January the two ships accidentally encountered the Russian fleet off Yalta. In the brief engagement, Midilli hit the Russian battleship Evstafi once. On their return they were pursued by ships of the Russian fleet. The recently repaired Yavûz steamed out of the Bosporus to cover the arrival of Hamidiye and Midilli and force off the pursuing Russians.[13]

Post World War I

The war between the Allies and the Ottoman Empire was ended with the signing of the

Turkish Navy
in 1925.

On 23 October 1937, Hamidiye was involved in a collision with Ordu at Beşiktaş. Ordu sank with the loss of two crew members.[15]

Awards

View of the Golden Horn near Istanbul, 1955. Hamidiye can be seen laid up at the right.

The only commemorative military medal issued by the Ottomans for the Balkan Wars was the Cruiser Hamidiye Medal 1913, which was given to each of the ship's 394 crew members.[16]

The ship was decommissioned in March 1947 after a service of training cadets since 1940.

Bosphorus.[1] Hamidiye was then laid up at the Golden Horn between 1951 and 1964, until it was sold for scrap on 10 September 1964.[1] It was then towed to the Paşabahçe quarter in the Beykoz district of Istanbul, on the Anatolian shoreline of the Bosphorus, and its breaking-up was completed there in 1966.[1]

Notes

  1. ^ The name is also sometimes rendered as Hamidieh in English; see Gardiner and Gray, p. 389, and Halpern, p. 228. Also it was rendered Hamidié in French. See "L'entree du Hamidié à Odessa". Servet-i Fünun. 20 June 1918. p. unstated.

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an B. Langensiepen, A. Güleryüz, J. Cooper, The Ottoman Steam Navy, 1828–1923, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, United States, 1995. pp. 149–150. ASIN 1557506590.
  2. ^ Nicolle, David and Raffaele Ruggeri, p. 34
  3. ^ a b c d e Gardiner, Chesneau, & Kolesnik, p. 392
  4. ^ DiGiulian, Tony (21 January 2009). "British 6"/45 (15.2 cm) BL Mark VII 6"/45 (15.2 cm) BL Mark VIII 6"/45 (15.2 cm) BL Mark XXIV". Navweaps.com. Retrieved 8 December 2009.
  5. ^ Hough, pp. 66–67
  6. ^ Sondhaus, p. 219
  7. ^ Hough, p. 67
  8. ^ Gardiner and Gray, p. 389
  9. ^ Hall, p. 200, p. 65
  10. ^ a b "Hamidiye". Turkey in the First World War. Archived from the original on 25 February 2010. Retrieved 4 December 2009.
  11. ISBN 978-1-4738-3821-5
    .
  12. ^ Halpern, p. 228
  13. ^ Halpern, pp. 228–229
  14. ^ a b Gardiner and Gray, p. 388
  15. ^ "6,554-ton ship sunk". The Times. No. 47824. London. 25 October 1937. col C, p. 16.
  16. ^ "Ottoman Campaign Medals". Archived from the original on 15 December 2009. Retrieved 29 January 2012.

Bibliography

Books

Online

External links

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