Reshadieh-class battleship

The Reshadieh-class battleship was a class of three dreadnought battleships ordered from two British shipyards by the Ottoman Navy. Only one of the class (OTTOMAN BATTLESHIP Reşadiye) was completed, having been seized by the Royal Navy at the outbreak of the First World War while under construction in Britain. This is regarded as one of the reasons Turkey entered World War I on the side of the Central Powers. The second ship, the Reshad-I-Hammiss, was cancelled and scrapped on the slipway in 1912, replaced by the OTTOMAN BATTLESHIP Sultân Osmân-ı Evvel. A third ship, slightly larger than the Reshad-I-Hammiss and Reşadiye called the Fatih, had been ordered in 1914 and was expected to be completed in 1917. She was also scrapped on the slipway in 1914.

After her seizure, the Reşadiye was completed and renamed HMS Erin (1913). She was assigned to the first division of the 2nd Battle squadron of the Grand Fleet. She served at the Battle of Jutland, where she did not suffer any casualties. Reşadiye became the flagship of the Nore Reserve in 1919 but was scrapped in 1922 in order to comply with the Washington Naval Treaty.

Background
Following the failed construction of the OTTOMAN BATTLESHIP Abdül Kadir, the Ottoman Navy was inspected by the First Lord of the Admiralty Earl Selborne who reported that "there was no navy". In 1911, the Ottoman Empire ordered two dreadnoughts from Britain at a combined cost of about 4,000,000 pounds sterling. This was to be paid over the course of the ships' construction with the final payment due on August 3, 1914.

Design
Designed by George Thurston, the Reshadieh class was to be modeled after the that was recently constructed for Britain, along with several features from the. They were about 2,000 tons less than an Iron Duke-class battleship and had a shallower armor belt than either the King George V or Iron Duke classes, which was the same case as the HMS Agincourt (1913). The Reşadiye also had about 1,130 less tons of coal than the King George V class. British officials did not worry about this, as North Sea operations consumed less coal and thus kept the ship at the same effectiveness as the King George V class would have had in the Mediterranean. The fact that the Reşadiye had a cleaver instead of a ram bow also helped improve seaworthiness.

Description
The Reshadieh class displaced 27500 LT normally and 30250 LT at full load. It had a length of 559 ft, a beam of 91 ft and a draft of 91 ft. It was crewed by 1,070 men. The class was propelled by four shaft Parsons steam turbines, which were rated at 26500 shp. On trials, they propelled the ship to 21 kn.

The main armament of the Reshadieh class were ten 13.5 in Mk VI guns in five twin turrets. This was augmented by sixteen 6 in guns, the foreword three of which tended to be wet in a heavy sea. Anti-torpedo boat defense was provided by six 6-pounder 57 mm guns, while the role of anti-aircraft defense was filled by three 3 in 20 cwt anti-aircraft guns. The class also carried four 21 in torpedo tubes, and the class was armoured at the main section of its belt with 12 in of armor, the same as on the King George V. The difference between the Reshadieh class and the King George V class was in the slight reduction of the armour on the upper belt, 6 in as opposed to the 8 in on the King George V. The total weight of the armour was 4,207 tons.

Reşadiye
The only ship of the class not to be scrapped before completion, the Erin, was laid down on December 6, 1911 at the Vickers Naval Construction Yard at Barrow in Furness in Cumbria along with the recently requisitioned Sultân Osmân-ı Evvel. Their combined cost had been 4 million 1911 pounds-sterling. Although originally ordered as Reshad V, she was renamed during construction to Reşadiye. Construction was forced to stop when the First Balkan War broke out due to Ottoman financial reasons, and it was only resumed in May 1913. She was launched four months later on September 3, 1913. Reşadiye was completed on August 1, 1914 with a nearly formed crew, but it was seized by the Royal Navy along with Sultân Osmân-ı Evvel just before the start of the First World War and one day after the final payment for the ship due to fears that she would be used in support of the Central Powers. The two ships were incorporated into the Royal Navy on August 22, 1914, and she joined the 2nd Battle Squadron of the Grand Fleet in September 1914. Ironically, the public outcry after the seizure of Reşadiye is considered one of the causes of Turkey's entrance on the side of the Central Powers. The construction of the ship had been financed mainly by highly-promoted public donations, and large contributions to the construction were recognized with a "Navy Donation Medal" (Turkish: "Donanma Cemiyeti"). An attempt to compensate the Ottomans after the seizure was ignored.

During World War I, she served during the Battle of Jutland, but suffered no casualties and dealt no damage. She underwent modifications in 1917 to standardize her firing control and searchlight systems and had another modification in 1918 to install aircraft catapults on her B and Q, or second and third, turrets. The ship was made flagship of the Nore Reserve in 1919 and saw no further combat after that. She was kept as a turret drill ship at Chatham Dockyard until the end of 1919 and then underwent a refit at Devonport Dockyard. Although originally intended to be kept as a training ship per the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty, a change of plans led to HMS Thunderer (1911) taking her place as the training ship, which meant that Erin had to be scrapped. In the second half of 1922, the ship was sold to the ship breaking firm Cox and Daniels, which finished scrapping Reşadiye in 1923.

Reshad-I-Hammiss
Reshad-I-Hammiss was to have been the second ship of the Reshadieh class, but it was cancelled due to financial reasons and scrapped in favor of the Sultân Osmân-ı Evvel, a then-Brazilian dreadnought also under construction in Britain. However, Sultân Osmân-ı Evvel was also seized by the Royal Navy on August 1, 1914, along with Reşadiye and was renamed HMS Agincourt.

Fatih
Fatih was the third ship planned for the Reshadieh class, ordered in 1914 mainly due to the transfer of the American battleship Mississippi to the Greek Navy. Fatih was to be slightly larger than her two sister ships, and it was projected to be launched in 1917, although she was scrapped in 1914 soon after the outbreak of World War I.