Mahmudiye

Type

Ship of the Line

Period

19th Century

Nation

Ottoman Empire

Overview: Mahmudiye was a three-masted, three-decked, 128-gun ship of the line of the Ottoman Navy, built to restore national morale after the Ottoman fleet's destruction at the Battle of Navarino in 1827. Launched in 1828/1829 at the Imperial Arsenal (Tersane-i Amire) on the Golden Horn in Constantinople, she was for many years considered the largest warship in the world. Specifications: The ship measured roughly 76.15 m (some sources give a gundeck length near 65-68 m) with a beam of about 18.2-21.2 m, and carried 128 guns across three gundecks plus quarterdeck, with a crew that ranged from about 1,177 to 1,280 men. Her armament in 1829 mixed lower, middle, and upper gundeck batteries of Ottoman "okka"-rated guns, and she bore a roaring lion figurehead as a distinctive identifying feature for modelers. Service History: Built under Sultan Mahmud II, Mahmudiye served for decades and took part in major conflicts including a standoff during the Egyptian crisis of 1840 and the Siege of Sevastopol (1854-1855) during the Crimean War, for which she was awarded the honorific title of Gazi. Efforts to convert her to steam propulsion were abandoned after inspection revealed her hull was in too poor condition, and she was ultimately used mainly as a troop transport before being decommissioned in 1874 and broken up. Notable Facts: American diplomat and naval officer David Porter, while serving in Constantinople, remarked on Mahmudiye's immense size, noting she was larger than the American four-decker USS Pennsylvania. A wooden model of Mahmudiye is preserved and displayed at the Istanbul Naval Museum, offering a useful visual reference for scale modelers.