Ertuğrul

Type

Frigate

Period

19th Century

Nation

Ottoman Empire

Overview: Ertuğrul was a screw frigate of the Ottoman Navy, launched in 1863, best known for a 1889-90 goodwill diplomatic voyage to Japan and her subsequent loss in a typhoon off Kushimoto, an event still regarded as a foundation of modern Turkish-Japanese friendship. Specifications: The ship displaced about 2,344 tons burthen and measured roughly 79 m (260 ft) long with a 15.5 m (51 ft) beam and 8 m (26 ft) draft. She was propelled by two horizontal engines of 600 hp in addition to sail, and carried a mixed battery of 8 15 cm Krupp guns, 5 150 lb Armstrong guns, smaller Krupp guns, 5-barreled Hotchkiss and Nordenfeld revolving guns, rocket launchers, a torpedo launcher with two torpedoes, plus Martini-Henry and Winchester rifles and pistols for the crew. This eclectic ordnance mix, spanning several manufacturers and calibers, reflects the transitional sail-to-steam, muzzle-to-breech era in which she was built and later refitted. Service History: Ordered in 1854 by Ottoman Sultan Abdülaziz, she was built at the Taşkızak Shipyard in Galata and launched on 19 October 1863 in the presence of the sultan. Following the 1887 visit of Japanese Prince Komatsu Akihito to Istanbul, the Ottoman government decided to send a ship on a goodwill voyage to Japan in return, and Ertuğrul departed in July 1889 under Rear Admiral Ali Osman Pasha with a crew of over 600, reaching Yokohama in June 1890 after a long, trouble-plagued voyage. While returning home in September 1890 she was caught in a typhoon off the Kushimoto coast of Wakayama Prefecture, drifted into a reef, and sank, with the loss of more than 500 sailors and officers including Rear Admiral Ali Osman Pasha; only 69 survivors returned home aboard two Japanese corvettes. Notable Facts: The disaster is still commemorated as a foundation stone of Japanese-Turkish friendship, and is remembered at the Kushimoto Turkish Memorial and Museum, dedicated in 1929. Since 2007 the wreck has been the subject of ongoing underwater archaeological work by a collaboration between the Institute of Nautical Archaeology (College Station, Texas), BOSAV foundation (Bodrum, Turkey) and Kushimoto Municipality (Wakayama, Japan), with over 1,000 artifacts recovered in the 2008 season alone, giving modelers unusually rich physical reference material for fittings and construction details.