Hamidiye

Type

Protected Cruiser

Period

20th Century

Nation

Ottoman Empire

Overview: Hamidiye was an Ottoman protected cruiser best known for her daring solo commerce-raiding cruise in the eastern Mediterranean and Aegean during the First Balkan War, which made her a Turkish national symbol. She was built in Britain by Armstrong Whitworth and later passed to the Turkish Republic's navy, serving into the mid-20th century as a training vessel. Specifications: Ordered in 1900 as Abdül Hamid and built by Sir W. G. Armstrong, Whitworth & Co. in Elswick, she was laid down in April 1902, launched 25 September 1903, and commissioned in April 1904. She displaced 3,904 tons (normal), was 112 m (367 ft) long overall with a beam of 14.5 m (48 ft) and a draught of 4.8 m (16 ft), and her original armament comprised two 150mm L/45 quick firing guns, eight 120mm L/45 quick firing guns, six 47mm L/50 quick firing guns, six 37mm quick firing guns, and two 457mm torpedo tubes. On trials she reached about 22.2 knots, though because of high degree of machinery deterioration, in 1914 could make no more than 16kts. Service History: Hamidiye fought under Captain Rauf Orbay in the Balkan Wars, and in November 1912 was damaged in the Battle of Kaliakra by the Bulgarian torpedo boat Drazki, the torpedo tearing a 10 ft hole in her bow and killing eight men. On 14 January 1913 she famously slipped through the Greek naval blockade of the Dardanelles under cover of night, and the next day at Syros sank the Greek armed merchantman Makedonia and shelled the town of Ermoupoli, before raiding as far as Beirut and Port Said. After World War I she came under British control from 1918 to 1925, then was ceded to the Turkish Navy, was recommissioned in 1925 following a major modernization at Gölcük, and served as a training ship from 1940 until decommissioning in March 1947, and was ultimately sold for scrap on 10 September 1964. Notable Facts: The ship's 1912-13 raiding cruise earned her crew a dedicated Cruiser Hamidiye Medal in 1913, reflecting her outsized propaganda value; navypedia notes she was one of the smallest flush-decked cruisers of her era. A deeper 1930 modernization proposed by Vickers-Armstrong — converting her boilers to oil-firing, raising speed to 22-26kts and fully replacing her artillery — was never carried out for financial reasons, leaving her essentially in her 1920s Gölcük-refit configuration for the rest of her career.