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.
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.
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Hi Bob,
ReplyDeleteOne of my favourite Turkish ships and is in the process of being built again as part of my Anglo-Turkish war of the mid 1880s.
All the best,
DC
David,
DeleteAs a long-term supporter the ‘The Irons’, any ship built by Thames Ironworks gets my vote!
I look forward to seeing your new model of her.
All the best,
Bob
Bob -
ReplyDeleteNow you have got me wondering if the future of my Turcowaz Navy will contain a new ironclad battleship! Going by my usual scaling, it comes out pretty tiny (6cm length x 2cm beam) and I'd probably dispense with the secondary armament.
Something to think about, anyhow! In case you're wondering, the name might be translated as 'Sublime Victory' (Beth meaning victory). A good name for a Turcowaz warship...
Cheers,
Ion
Archduke Piccolo (Ion),
DeleteShe would make an excellent coastal defence or guard ship for your Turcowaz navy … and I think that using its name in some way would be a great idea.
All the best,
Bob
Bob -
ReplyDeleteLooking at the arrangement of the (main) guns, it seemed to me that the firing arc of all of them is so limited as to require perhaps special rules under (my modified) PNW game system.
I'd probably allow 2 guns to shoot at targets only in the same grid row fore and aft, or the same grid row abeam. At that, although the range of the 9-inch guns is respectable, the two guns shooting will be half (my) 4-gun standard rate; and the one only, a quarter (the rounding of which will shorten its effective range).
The 6pr QF might turn out to be essential if the thing has to deal with rambunctious torpedo boats!
Food for thought, anyhow!
Cheers,
Ion
Archduke Piccolo (Ion),
DeleteI must admit that the absence of some sort of secondary armament does impede the ship’s effectiveness. She’s great if attacking an enemy head on - which was the current tactical thinking when she was built - or broadside on, but any target in one of its quarters can only be engaged by a single heavy gun. Other ships of her generation tended to have either a gun - often of a smaller calibre - mounted fore and aft in a swivel mount/turret/barrette or above the main battery on either side.
It’s an interesting design … and a modernised version might need a few small calibre QF guns - or even some Gatlings or Nordenfelts - to ‘see off’ enemy torpedo boats or launches.
All the best,
Bob
Bob -
DeleteI think the 3-inch QF might be the caper: 6 single mounts with shields, 1 fwd, 1 aft, 2 in each broadside. Seems to me a reasonable supposition. I'll put some more thought into this.
Cheers,
Ion
Archduke Piccolo (Ion),
DeleteI think that would make it a much more potent warship. She could certainly act as a convoy escort as well as in a coastal defence role.
All the best,
Bob
Bob,
DeleteI imagine the half-dozen TBs that make up Chervenia's (Bulgaria's) navy will be a handful for any Turcowaz convoy! I've measured out a hull, adding 25% to the length and beam dimensions. It still looks like a tiny ship!
Cheers,
Ion
Archduke Piccolo (Ion),
DeleteIt’s certainly no behemoth!
Does Chervenia’s navy have that many TBs? If they have, they’ve certainly embraced the ideas of the Jeune Ecole!
All the best,
Bob
Bob -
DeleteChervenia is of course Bulgaria in our world. I've given it its entire sea-going navy (not counting its port-bound cruiser) - 6 T-boats.
Now, I have proposed a slight rule change in which torpedoes are handled in the same way as gunnery for scoring hits, but damage is assessed after the hit has been recorded. Attacking the 'Ali Zafer', does the TB stand off out of the 3-inch range and fire off 1 die; or run the gauntlet (which the TB has to survive) to fire off 2 or 3 dice (per torpedo)?
Sixes to hit, and, although 2 or 3 sixes from our close-in T-boat, is still just one hit, the rolls still add to the (catastrophic!) damage. Tentative damage assessment for a torpedo strike: 2+D6 taken from flotation (i.e. W/L hit plus extra), plus any critical damage going.
I have an idea that, Rhumbabaria still neutral, and potentially hostile towards Izumrud-Zeleniya, a convoy might set off from Ionople to that country...
Cheers,
Ion
Archduke Piccolo (Ion),
DeleteIt sounds as if the Chervenian Navy is ideally suited for a coastal defence role … and six TBs is quite a potent force for a small country.
Your suggested torpedo rules sound very interesting and I look forward to seeing how they work in practice.
All the best,
Bob