The Turkish battleship Feth-i Bülend and the Russian gunboat Vesta

The Feth-i Bülend was the name ship of a class of two Turkish ironclads built for the Ottoman Turkish navy between 1868 and 1874. The Feth-i Bülend was built by the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company Limited, whose shipyard was located at Leamouth Wharf (which was also known as Blackwall) at the confluence of Bow Creek and the River Thames in East London. She was laid down in May 1868, launched in 1869, and joined the Ottoman Turkish navy after sea trials in 1870.

A diagram showing the layout of the Turkish battleship Feth-i Bülend's armour and armament.

Her characteristics were:

• Displacement: 2,718 tons
• Dimensions:
• Length: 72m (236ft 3in)
• Beam: 11.9m (39ft 1in)
• Draught: 5.2m (17ft 1in)
• Propulsion: Six box boilers providing steam to a horizontal compound steam engine (3,250ihp) driving a single propellor
• Speed: 13 knots
• Complement: 16 officers and 153 sailors
• Armament: 4 × 9-inch (229mm) Armstrong guns
• Armour:
• Belt: 150mm (6-inch) to 229mm (9-inch) iron armour
• Casemate: 150mm (6-inch) to 229mm (9-inch) iron armour

The Turkish battleship Feth-i Bülend during her reconstruction in Armstrong-Ansaldo's shipyard in Genoa.

Despite being damaged during the Russo-Turkish War, she remained in service until 1924! She was inactive from 1880 to 1900, at which point she was reconstructed by Armstrong-Ansaldo in Genoa. She was reboilered and emerged with two water-tube boilers, which increased her speed very slightly. her armament was replaced by four 15cm (6-inch) SK L/40 guns which were mounted in the casemate, and six 75mm (3-inch) quick-firing guns and six 57mm (6-pounder) quick-firing guns on the upper deck.

She was disarmed during the Italo-Turkish War (1911-1912) and her guns were used to defend Salonika. She was then used as a barracks ship. During the First Balkan War, she remained at Salonika, and on the night of 31st October 1912, the Greek torpedo boat No.11 managed to sneak into the harbour, avoid detection, and launch three torpedoes at Feth-i Bülend. Two of the torpedoes hit the ship, and she capsized and sank with the loss of seven crew. The torpedo boat escaped undamaged.

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Little is known about the Vesta other than she was a converted steam-powered wooden merchant ship that was armed with five 6-inch mortars and two 9-pounder guns and spa torpedoes. The latter were described in contemporary publications as lance torpedoes.