Ottoman cruiser Mecidiye
| Career (Ottoman Empire) | Ottoman Navy Ensign |
|---|---|
| Name: | Mecidiye |
| Launched: | July 25, 1903 |
| Commissioned: | December 19, 1903 |
| Fate: | Struck mine and sank April 3, 1915 |
| General characteristics Mecidiye | |
| Type: | Protected Cruiser |
| Displacement: | 3,250 tons |
| Length: | 102.4 metres (336 ft) |
| Beam: | 12.8 metres (42 ft) |
| Draught: | 4.8 metres (16 ft) |
| Propulsion: | 2 VQE; 12,500 hp |
| Speed: | 18 knots |
| Armament: |
2 x 152 mm L/45 guns 2 x 120 mm L/45 guns 2 torpedo tubes, 457 mm |
| Career (Russian Empire) |  |
| Name: | Prut |
| Yard number: | Ropit Yard, Odessa |
| Acquired: | Raised May 31, 1915[1] |
| Commissioned: | June 8, 1915 |
| Fate: | Captured by Germany returned to Ottoman Empire, May 1918[1] |
| General characteristics Prut | |
| Type: | Protected Cruiser |
| Displacement: | 3,250 tons |
| Length: | 102.4 metres (336 ft) |
| Beam: | 12.8 metres (42 ft) |
| Draught: | 4.8 metres (16 ft) |
| Propulsion: | 2 VQE; 12,500 hp |
| Speed: | 17.9 knots |
| Armament: |
6 x 130 mm guns 4 x 130 mm guns 4 x 75 mm AA guns[1] |
| Career (Ottoman Empire/Turkey) | Ottoman Navy Ensign Turkish Navy Ensign |
| Name: | Mecidiye |
| Acquired: | May 13, 1918[1] |
| Decommissioned: | 1947 |
| Fate: | Used as cadet training ship, scrapped in 1952 |
The protected cruiser Mecidiye (in older publications also found as Medjidiye) served in the Ottoman Navy in the Balkan Wars and the First World War. Sunk by a mine, it was salvaged and commissioned by the Russian Navy, before being returned to the Ottomans in 1918. It continued to be used as a training ship of the Turkish Navy until scrapped in 1952.
History
The Mecidiye, named after Sultan Abdülmecid I, was launched July 25, 1903 and commissioned December 19, 1903.
Balkan Wars
In October 1912, Mecidiye shelled Bulgarian forts near Varna and other military targets.[2] On 9 December, she was attacked by the Greek submarine Delfin at 800 meters, but the torpedo missed.[3] Mecidiye also participated in the two major naval battles of the war, against the Greek Navy, at Elli (16 December 1912) and Lemnos (18 January 1913), suffering slight damage in the first. On 18 February 1913, Mecidiye was part of the covering naval force for the Ottoman shore landing at Şarköy.[4]
World War I
In December 1914, the ship transported Hafiz Hakki Bey to Trebizond to deliver messages to the 3rd Army's Chief of Staff.[5]
On April 3, 1915, while attacking the Russian port of Odessa, Mecidiye struck a mine and sank, losing 26 men. She was later raised by the Russians, refitted at Ropit Yard, Odessa and renamed Prut ("Pruth"). Captured by the Germans at Sevastopol in May 1918, she was returned to the Ottoman Empire and renamed Mecidiye.
Joined the young navy of the Turkish Republic in 1925 and was used as a cadet training ship until 1947. She was scrapped in 1952.
Notes
Bibliography
- Erickson, Edward J., Defeat in detail: the Ottoman Army in the Balkans, 1912-1913, Greenwood Publishing, 2003.
- Erickson, Edward J., Ordered to die: a history of the Ottoman army in the First World War, Greenwood Press, 2001.
- Gardiner, Robert, Randal Gray and Przemyslaw Budzbon, Conway's all the world's fighting ships, 1906-1921, Naval Institute Press, 1985.
- Sondhaus, Lawrence, Naval warfare, 1815-1914, Routledge, 2001.
