Ottoman Empire Navy AU

In its heyday the Ottoman Empire was the envy of the world. But from the early 1700's the Empire started shrinking to the point that at the end of World War One the Empire was reduced to the country of Turkey as we know it as today. Dreams of Empire have never gone away and to regain its place in the world the Turks were again willing to join the Germanic States with guarantees that some of the Empires lost lands would be restored to it (Syria, Lebanon, Trans-Jordan etc). Turkeys main contribution to the coming conflict would be its land forces, the Navy being very much the secondary service. The one major asset the Turks gained was the battlecruiser Moltke purchased from the Allied War Reparation Commission. No further funds for major warship construction were allocated till 1932 when a pair of scout cruisers were ordered to act with the battlecruisers. The existing Yavuz (exGoeben) was in poor condition after its neglect through the 1920's and would require major work to bring it back to full fitness. The damage the ship had received during 1917/18 had only been poorly patched up. The Turkish Navy had a proud tradition that could be traced back to 1081.

As can be seen from the map, there will always be border disputes with the Greeks, Russians and what was the British Empire. All had taken pieces of the Ottoman Empire. That the Turks had been unable to either protect or afford their Empire from the 1800's onwards made no difference. National pride will always come before sense. The treatment of the Empires Christian sects from the 1840's also got them offside with the major Powers. In my Alternate Universe I move those Christians to Australis to fuel that countries infrastructure building. Religion rears its ugly head once again. The Turks wished to re-establish their Empire as a Muslim and Islamic ruled Empire encompassing all of the Middle Eastern Islamic nations (sounds familiar).

One of the Empires major assets was control of the Bosphorus channel between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. Treaties restricted the movement of warships through this area and those countries that had fleets in the Black Sea had to keep onside with the Turks. With the rise of the Soviet/Communist Unions during the 1920's through the Red revolution, Turkey again became a country that required to be supported with military assets and equipment to hold back the spread of 'Communism'. Russias main 'Ice Free' ports were on the Black Sea and so a lot of Russias import/exports were funnelled through the Bosphorus. It was not till the end of the 1920's that a Russian Fleet was transferred from the Baltic to the Black Sea to replace those ships removed by General Wrangel. (See Wrangels Fleet)

Ottoman Navy.
Class Name	No.	First Date	Page Address (Click on thumbnail for page view)
Battleships / Battlecruisers/Pre-Dreadnoughts.
Yavuz Sultan Selim (BC)	2	1911/12
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (PD)	1	1907
Torgud Reis	1	1944

Heavy / Light Cruisers
Caka Bey (CL)	2	1939
Caliph	2	1915



Destroyers

Bodrum (DD)	2	1915
Peyk-i Sevket (DD)	4	1935-37

Miscelaneous