The two ships of the Belleisle class were originally commissioned by Turkey in England and taken over by the Royal Navy in 1878 , as the British government feared they would be drawn into the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878) in 1878 . In order to strengthen the company's own navy, four ships under construction in England were purchased, namely the HMS Belleisle , HMS Orion and HMS Superb built for the Turkish Navy and the HMS Neptune built for Brazil . The former should not have been extradited because of the necessary observance of the rules of neutrality.
The ships were designed by the Turkish naval architect Ahmed Pasha as small anti-tank ramming ships with a limited range that was sufficient in the Mediterranean . After they were acquired by the British, they were converted to British standards as much as possible. Because of the shallow draft, they were of certain use for coastal defense as 2nd class ships of the line .
