TURKEY'S ROTTED NAVY.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 348, 29 March 1911, Page 7

TURKEY'S ROTTED NAVY.

Admiral Sir D. Gamble, who has been retained 'by the Turkish Government, by permission of the English Government, to reorganise the Ottoman navy, is making heroic efforts to evolve some sort of fleet from the collection of venerable derelicts. The process of elimination was first resorted to. It was a task of some difficulty to know where to draw the line. In the end, however, it was resolved to class as effective all those warships which have undergone renovation within the last decade. Practically all the others are condemned to the scrap heap, and the. local newspapers announce that over sixty battleships, cruisers, monitors, gunboats, and torpedo vessels are to be sold by auction. Some of these discarded veterans are interesting specimens of the earliest types of ironclad. Practically all date their birth from towards the middle of last century. Among other oddities to be disposed of is one of the oldest submarines extent. It has been peacefully reposing under a shed in the Golden Horn for the last quarter of a century, literally dropping to pieces from rust and neglect. It never saw active service, and only made one trial trip after its purchase by the Turkish Government. On that occasion it dived prematurely in the Golden Horn, and stuck in the mud in a shallow part of that harbour. The crew was rescued a'ter some hours' imprisonment, but apparently could never be persuaded to make another attempt. Barring some torpedo craft and two comparatively modern cruisers, the vessels retained on the active list are very few degrees superior to those which are to be sold. The flagship, the battleship "Messoudich," was sister ship to the old "Superb," which was withdrawn as obsolete from the British Navy about the "eighties." At considerable cost she was patched up and renovated in Genoa four op five years ago, and when handed over was able to steam a littio uver ten miles an hour. The only other battleship is the "Assail Tewnk," an obsolete coast defence vessel, which underwent so-called renovation at German hands in 1906. On her outward voyage from Kiel her commander esteemed himself fortunate when able to knock six knots out of her. and her condition has not improved after months of idleness. The "Fethibulend," an overgrown gunboat, and one or two other odd craft, complete the list.—"Spare Moments."