Avnillah class
.jpg) The type ship "Avnillah" |
|
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Type | Coastal armored ship , casemate corvette |
| units | 2 |
| Shipyard |
Thames Iron Works , Blackwall, London |
| Keel laying | 1868 |
| Launch | 1870 |
| home port | Istanbul |
| Whereabouts |
Avnillah : sunk February 24, 1912 Muin-i Zafer : broken up in 1932 |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
2362 tons |
| length |
71.9 meters |
| width |
10.9 meters |
| height |
5 meters |
| drive |
Steam engine (1641 kW) with auxiliary sails, |
| speed |
12 knots |
| Bunker quantity |
750 tons of coal |
| Armament |
Since 1891 additionally
Since 1906
|
| Armor |
|
The Avnillah class (also Avni Illah or Aunullah ) was a class of casemate corvettes designed as coastal armored ships . Avnillah means 'God's help'. From 1868 to 1870 two ships of this class were built, the Avnillah and the Muin-i Zafer . Both were in service with the Ottoman Navy .
properties
Both ships were built to a design by GC Mackrow in the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding and Engineering Company shipyards in Blackwall , in the East End of London . The Avnillah received one propeller, the Muin-i Zafer two. The aim was to compare the advantages and disadvantages of both types of drive. Both ships were equipped with brigantine sails, the two sail masts were exchanged for a military mast in 1891. Because of their armor, both were colossal ships at the time of their launch. In 1906 the muzzle-loading cannons were exchanged for rapid-fire cannons . Both ships spent most of their careers moored at Haliç in Istanbul on the orders of the Sultan . When they were used in war operations after 1912, they were out of date and their armor was inadequate.
Sinking of the Avnillah
During the Italo-Turkish War in 1912, the Italian Navy planned to sink the Ottoman warships stationed in Beirut . There, next to the Avnillah , lay the Angora , a torpedo boat. Before the so-called Battle of Beirut, the Italians relocated the two armored cruisers Giuseppe Garibaldi and Francesco Ferruccio and gave the Ottomans an ultimatum to surrender their two ships. But while the surrender decree sent by the Wālī of Beirut to the Italians was still on the way, the ultimatum passed and the Italian warships opened fire. After thirty-five minutes of firefight, in which the Avnillah's guns could not harm the Italian ships, the Avnillah was on fire. The commander ordered the flag to be lowered and the ship was abandoned. The Italian cruiser Garibaldi then sank the Avnillah with a torpedo. 58 Ottoman sailors died in the battle and 108 were wounded. The Angora was also sunk with a torpedo. With this, all Ottoman warships stationed in the southeastern Mediterranean were destroyed, and the Italian fleet was able to advance unhindered to the Suez Canal.
Conversion of the Muin-i Zafer
The Muin-i Zafer was converted into a torpedo training ship in 1913 and used as such in the First Balkan War and the First World War. By 1917, all of their protected vehicles were dismantled. In the late 1920s, the Muin-i Zafer was rebuilt again and now functioned as a submarine support ship . The 'venerable ironclad' was scrapped in 1932.
source
- Central Battery Ironclad Muin-i Zafer. And Her Sister Avnillah - "Casemate Corvettes" (1868/1871) at www.cityofart.net (with pictures), accessed November 26, 2012.
Individual evidence
- ^ William Henry Beehler: The History of the Italian-Turkish War. September 29, 1911, to October 18, 1912 Annapolis, Maryland 1913, p. 56 , accessed November 26, 2012.
- ↑ a b Central Battery Ironclad Muin-i Zafer. And Her Sister Avnillah - "Casemate Corvettes" (1868/1871) at www.cityofart.net , accessed November 26, 2012.
- ^ William Henry Beehler: The History of the Italian-Turkish War. September 29, 1911, to October 18, 1912 Annapolis, Maryland 1913, pp. 56-58, pp. 98 .
- ^ Report in the New York Times of February 26, 1912. , accessed November 26, 2012.