Ottoman Navy Warships 1914-18

by Ryan K. Noppen, Paul Wright (Illustrator)

Overview

At the start of the 20th century the Ottoman Navy was a shadow of its former might, a reflection of the empire as a whole - the "Sick Man of Europe". Years of defeat, nepotism, and neglect had left the Ottoman Navy with a mix of obsolete vessels, whilst the list of prospective enemies was ever-growing. An increasing Russian naval presence in the Black Sea and the alarming emergence of Italy and Greece as regional Naval powers proved beyond all doubt that intensive modernization was essential, indeed, the fate of the Empire as a naval power depended on it. So the Ottoman Navy looked to the ultimate naval weapon of the age, the dreadnought battleship, two of which were ordered from the British with extreme alacrity. But politics intervened, and a succession of events culminated in the Ottoman Navy fielding a modern German battlecruiser and state-of-the-art light cruiser instead - with dramatic consequences. In this meticulous study, Ryan Noppen presents a fresh appraisal of the technical aspects and operations of the warships of the Ottoman Navy in World War I. It is the first work of its kind in the English language - produced with a wealth of rare material with the cooperation of the Turkish Consulate and Navy. Packed with precise technical specifications, revealing illustrations and exhaustive research, this is an essential guide to a crucial chapter in the Aegean arms race

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781472806192
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	07/21/2015
Series:	New Vanguard , #227
Pages:	48
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

Ryan Noppen is a military author and aviation analyst originally from Kalamazoo, Michigan. A Master of Arts holder from Purdue University, he specialised in the history of aviation, completing a major thesis on German trans-Atlantic aviation in the interwar years. He has worked as a subject matter expert for a defense firm on projects involving naval and aviation logistics, and has taught several college courses on the World Wars.

Table of Contents

Introduction 4

Ships of the Ottoman Navy 5

The Ottoman Navy at the Beginning of World War I 16

German-Ottoman Operations in the Black Sea, 1914-17 20

Yavuz versus the Pre-Dreadnoughts of the Black Sea Fleet

The Last Ottoman Fleet Action

Cruiser Operations in 1915

Midilli's Raid on Schlangen Island

Operations in the Dardanelles, 1915-18 31

The Big Guns of Barbaros Hayreddin and Torgut Reis

The Cruise of Demirhisar

Nusret's Minefield

Countering the Allied Submarine Threat

The Largest Air-Sea Battle of the War

The End of the War, 1918 43

Bibliography 46

Index 48