From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Turkish naval forces have historically been
among the largest sea powers in the Mediterranean
Sea, Black Sea, Red Sea, Persian Gulf, Indian Ocean and the
Atlantic Ocean
since the Medieval period.
General
history
"Göke" (1495) was the flagship of the Ottoman admiral Kemal Reis.
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The Battle
of Zonchio in 1499 was the first naval battle in history where
cannons were used on ships.
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The first Anatolian Turkish naval fleet, which consisted of 33
sail ships and 17 oar ships, was established at the port of İzmir by Çaka
Bey in 1081, following his
conquest of Smyrna (İzmir), Urla,
Çeşme, Phocaea (Foça) and Sığacık on the Aegean coast of Anatolia
in that same year. Çaka Bey's fleet conquered Lesbos (1089) and Chios (1090), before defeating a Byzantine fleet near the Koyun Islands off
Chios on May 19, 1090, which
marked the first major Anatolian Seljuk naval victory in a sea war.
In 1091 Emir Çaka Bey's fleet conquered the islands of Samos and Rhodes in the Aegean Sea. In 1095 Çaka
Bey's fleet conquered the strategic port city and Gulf of
Adramyttium (Edremit) on the
Aegean coast of Anatolia and the city of Abydos on the Dardanelles Strait.
Anatolian
Seljuk emperor Alaeddin Keykubad
I conquered Alanya and
established a Turkish naval arsenal there. Alanya became the
homeport of the Turkish Mediterranean fleet. Alaeddin
Keykubad I later established a Turkish Black Sea fleet based in Sinop, which, under the command of Emir Çoban,
conquered parts of the Crimean
peninsula and Sugdak on the
Sea of Azov
(1220–1237).
The Ottomans began to develop a navy in the early 14th century, and the
conquest of İmralı
Island in the Sea of Marmara in 1308 marked the first Ottoman naval victory. In 1321 the Ottoman fleet made its first
landings on Thrace in
southeastern Europe. In 1351 the Ottoman naval forces built
the first Turkish castles in Europe, and in 1352 the Anatolian shores of the strategic Bosporus
Strait near Constantinople (Istanbul), and both shores of the equally
strategic Dardanelles Strait were conquered by the
Ottoman fleet.
Famous Turkish admirals like Kemal Reis (who twice defeated the Venetian
fleet at the First Battle of Lepanto in 1499 and the Second Battle of Lepanto in 1500); Barbaros
Hayreddin Paşa (known as Barbarossa
(Redbeard) in the West) who defeated the Holy League of Charles V under the
command of Andrea
Doria at the Island of Peñón in 1531,
Battle of Preveza in 1538 and Algiers in 1541; Turgut Reis (known as Dragut in the West) who
conquered Libya in 1551 and
defeated the fleet of Charles V under the
command of Andrea
Doria at the Battle of Ponza
in 1552; Piyale Paşa who defeated the Holy League
of Philip
II under the command of Giovanni Andrea Doria at the Battle of
Djerba in 1560; Oruç Reis who
established the Turkish presence in North Africa which lasted 4
centuries; Salih Reis
who conquered Morocco in 1553 and extended Ottoman territory
into the Atlantic
Ocean; Uluç
(Kılıç) Ali Reis who restored the Turkish domination of the
Mediterranean after the Third Battle of Lepanto in
1571 and conquered Tunisia from Spain in 1574; Murat
Reis who fought the Portuguese at the Indian Ocean between
1552 and 1554 and captured Lanzarote of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean in
1585; Seydi Ali Reis (known as Sidi Ali Reis
in the West) who fought the Portuguese at the Indian Ocean in 1554 and is famous for his books of
travel which are translated into many languages; Kurtoğlu Muslihiddin Reis
(known as Curtogoli in the West) who
played an important role in the conquests of Egypt in 1517 and Rhodes in 1522, and established the Ottoman
Indian Ocean Fleet based in Suez
which was later commanded by his son, Kurtoğlu Hızır Reis, who lead the
Turkish naval expedition to Aceh
(1568–1569) which marked the easternmost territorial expansion of
the Ottoman
Empire, and numerous others have all made it to the hall of
fame of great mariners in history.
The famous Turkish admiral and cartographer Piri Reis crafted maps and books of
navigation, including his first world map in 1513 which is one of the oldest surviving maps of
America and possibly the
oldest surviving map of Antarctica, despite being drawn more than 3
centuries before the official discovery of that
continent. The first world map (1513) and second world map
(1528) of Piri Reis are today preserved in the Library of Topkapı
Palace in Istanbul.
Other works of Piri Reis
are preserved in the Turkish Naval Museum in Istanbul.
Expansion
to the Aegean, Black, Ionian and Adriatic Seas
In 1373 the first landings and
conquests on the Aegean shores of Macedonia
were made, which was followed by the first Ottoman siege of Thessaloniki in 1374. The conquest of Thessaloniki
and Macedonia were completed in 1387. Between 1387 and 1423 the Ottoman fleet
contributed to the territorial expansions of the Ottoman Empire on
the Balkan peninsula and the Black Sea coasts of Anatolia.
Following the first conquests of Venetian territories in Morea, the first Ottoman-Venetian
War (1423–1430) started. In the meantime, the Ottoman fleet
continued to contribute to the expansion of the Ottoman Empire in
the Aegean and Black Seas, with the conquests of Sinop (1424), Izmir (1426) and the reconquest of
Thessaloniki from the Venetians (1430). Albania was reconquered by the Ottoman fleet
with landings between 1448 and 1479. In 1453 the Ottoman fleet participated in the
historic conquests of Constantinople (Istanbul), Gökçeada, Lemnos and Thasos. The conquest of the Duchy of Athens
in Morea was completed between
1458 and 1460, followed by the conquest of the Empire of
Trebizond and the Genoese colony of Amasra in 1461,
which brought an end to the final vestiges of the Byzantine
Empire. In 1462 the Ottoman
fleet conquered the Genoese islands of the northern Aegean Sea,
including Lesbos. This was
followed by the Ottoman-Venetian War of 1463–1479. In the following
period the Ottoman fleet gained more territory in the Aegean Sea,
and in 1475 set foot on Crimea on the northern shores of
the Black Sea. Until
1499 this was followed by further expansion on the Black Sea coasts
(such as the conquest of Georgia in 1479) and on the Balkan peninsula (such as the
final reconquest of Albania in 1497, and the conquest of Montenegro in 1499). The
loss of Venetian forts in Montenegro, near the strategic Castelnuovo, triggered
the Ottoman-Venetian War of
1499–1503, during which the Turkish fleet of Kemal Reis defeated the
Venetian forces at the Battle of Zonchio (1499) and the Battle of Modon (1500). By 1503 the Ottoman
fleet raided the northeastern Adriatic coasts of Italy, and completely captured the Venetian lands
on Morea, the Ionian Sea coast and the
southeastern Adriatic
Sea coast.
Expansion to the Levant and Maghreb, operations in the West
Mediterranean
Starting from the conquest of Syria in 1516,
the Ottoman fleet of Selim I
began expanding the Ottoman territories towards the Levant and the Mediterranean coasts of North Africa. Between
1516 and 1517, Algeria was
conquered from Spain by the forces of Oruç Reis who declared his allegiance to the
Ottoman Empire, which was followed by the conquest of Egypt and the end of the Mameluke Empire in 1517. In 1522 the strategic island of Rhodes, then the seat of the Knights of St. John, was conquered by the
naval fleet of Kurtoğlu Muslihiddin Reis;
while Suleiman I let the Knights leave the
island, who relocated their base first to Sicily and later to
Malta. In 1527 the Ottoman fleet
participated in the conquest of Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia and Bosnia. In 1529 the Ottoman fleet under Salih Reis and Aydın Reis destroyed the
Spanish fleet under the command of Rodrigo Portundo near the Isle
of Formentera. This
was followed by the first conquest of Tunisia from Spain and the reconquest of Morea from Venice by the fleet of
Barbaros
Hayreddin Paşa, which later conquered the islands belonging to
the Duchy of Naxos in 1537. Afterwards, the Ottoman fleet laid siege on
the Venetian island of Corfu,
and landed on the coasts of Calabria and Puglia, which forced the Republic of
Venice and Habsburg Spain of Charles V to ask for the
Pope to create a Holy League; which comprised Spain,
the Republic of Venice, the Republic of Genoa, the Papal States and the
Knights of Malta. The joint fleet was to be
commanded by Charles V's top admiral, Andrea Doria. The Holy League and the
Ottoman fleet under the command of Barbaros Hayreddin Paşa
encountered each other in September 1538 at the Battle of
Preveza, which is generally considered the greatest Turkish
naval victory in history. In 1541,
1544, 1552 and 1555 the
Spanish-Italian fleet of Charles V under the command of Andrea
Doria were defeated in Algiers, Naples, Ponza
and Piombino,
respectively. The Ottoman naval victory at the Battle of Preveza in
1538 and the Battle of Djerba in 1560 ensured them supremacy in the Mediterranean
Sea for several decades, until the Ottomans suffered their first
ever military defeat against the Europeans at the Battle of Lepanto (1571). But
the defeat at Lepanto, despite being much celebrated in Europe, was
only a temporary setback, as the Ottomans built an equally large
fleet within a year and took back Cyprus from the Republic of Venice in 1572 (having originally conquered the
island between 1570 and 1571) and Tunisia from Spain in 1574, which completed the Ottoman conquest of North Africa; as the
Ottoman fleet under Turgut Reis had earlier conquered Libya in 1551, while that of Salih Reis had conquered the coasts of Morocco beyond the Strait of
Gibraltar in 1553.
Operations in the Indian
Ocean
In the meantime, the Ottoman Indian Ocean Fleet, based in Suez and Basra, defeated the Portuguese forces on several
occasions near the Arabian peninsula, conquering Aden and Yemen (1538–1539) which were important Portuguese
ports, along with Jeddah and
Hijaz on the
Red Sea coast. Between 1547
and 1548, Yemen was reconquered from the Portuguese, while in the
Persian Gulf and
Arabian Sea, other
important Portuguese ports such as Oman, Hormuz and Qatar were
conquered in 1552. In 1565 the Aceh Sultanate in Sumatra (Indonesia) declared allegiance to the Ottoman
Empire, and in 1569 the Ottoman
fleet of Kurtoğlu Hızır Reis set foot on
Aceh, which marked the easternmost Ottoman territorial
expansion.
Operations in the Atlantic
Ocean
Starting from the early 17th century, the Ottoman fleet began to
venture into the Atlantic Ocean (earlier, Kemal Reis had sailed to
the Canary
Islands in 1501, while the
fleet of Murat Reis the Elder had captured
Lanzarote of the Canary Islands in
1585).[1] In 1617
the Ottoman fleet captured Madeira in the Atlantic Ocean, before raiding
Sussex, Plymouth, Devon, Hartland Point, Cornwall and the other counties of western England in August 1625.[2] In 1627
Ottoman naval ships, accompanied by corsairs from the Barbary Coast,
raided the Shetland Islands, Faroe Islands, Denmark, Norway, Iceland and Vestmannaeyjar.[3][4][5] Between
1627 and 1631 the same Ottoman force also raided the coasts of Ireland and Sweden.[6][7][8] In 1655
a force of 40 Ottoman ships captured the Isle of Lundy in the Bristol Channel, which served as the
main base for Ottoman naval and privateering operations in the
North Atlantic until 1660, when Ottoman ships appeared off the
eastern coasts of North America, particularly being sighted
at the British colonies like Newfoundland
and Virginia.[9]
Stagnation in the
17th and 18th centuries
Capture of a Turkish warship in the Canal of
Malta by Bailli Russo, 25 January 1652.
In the rest of the 17th and 18th centuries, however, the
operations of the Ottoman fleet were largely limited to the Mediterranean
Sea, Black Sea, Red Sea, Persian Gulf and the
Arabian Sea. The
long lasting Ottoman-Venetian War of 1648–1669 ended with Ottoman
victory and the completion of the conquest of Crete. In 1708
another long lasting objective, the conquest of Oran (the final Spanish stronghold in Algeria) was
accomplished. The 18th century was a period of stalemate for the
Ottoman fleet, with numerous victories matched by equally numerous
defeats. The important Ottoman naval victories in this period
included the reconquest of Moldavia and Azov from the Russians in 1711; the reconquest of Morea from the Venetians
between 1714 and 1715; the Ottoman-Venetian War of 1715 and the
reconquest of Souda in Crete and the Cyclades; the Ottoman-Russian War (1738); the
reconquest of Morea and Lemnos (1770) from Venice; and the defeat
of the Russian fleet near Yılan Island (1787). Major defeats of the
Ottoman fleet in the 18th century, on the other hand, included the
Battle of Chesme (1770).
Decline in the 19th and
20th centuries
Nordenfelt class Ottoman submarine
Abdülhamid (1886) was the first
submarine in history to fire a
torpedo while submerged under
water.
[10] Two
submarines of this class,
Nordenfelt II (
Abdülhamid, 1886) and
Nordenfelt
III (
Abdülmecid, 1887) joined the Ottoman
fleet. They were built in pieces by Des Vignes (Chertsey) and
Vickers (Sheffield) in England, and assembled at the Taşkızak Naval
Shipyard in Istanbul.
The 19th century saw further decline in Ottoman naval power,
despite occasional recovery. Following the defeat against the
combined British-French-Russian fleet at the Battle of
Navarino in 1827, Sultan Mahmud II gave priority to
develop a strong and modern Ottoman naval force. The first steam
ships of the Ottoman Navy were acquired in 1828. In 1829 the
world's largest warship for many years, the 62×17×7m ship-of-the-line Mahmudiye, which
had 128 cannons on 3 decks, was built for the Ottoman Navy at the
Imperial Naval Arsenal on the Golden Horn in Istanbul.
In 1875, during the reign of
Sultan Abdülaziz,
the Ottoman Navy had 21 battleships and 173 other types of
warships, ranking as the third largest navy in the world after the
British and French navies. But the vast size of the navy was too
much of a burden for the collapsing Ottoman economy to sustain. Abdülhamid II's suspicion of the reformist
admirals, who supported Midhat Pasha, made
things even worse, and consequently almost the entire Ottoman fleet
was kept locked inside the Golden Horn for more than 3 decades, during
which the ships decayed. Even the two Nordenfelt
class submarines acquired by Abdülhamid II himself,
Abdülhamid (1886) and Abdülmecid (1887), could
seldom leave the Golden Horn due to the sultan's suspicions and
distrust for a Navy-based coup against him; which eventually
started to take place at the port of Selanik in around 1908.
Following the Young Turk Revolution in 1908, the Committee of Union and
Progress which effectively took control of the country sought
to develop a strong Ottoman naval force. The poor condition of the
fleet during the Ottoman Naval Parade of 1910 saddened the Turks
who witnessed the event, and the Ottoman Navy Foundation
was established in order to purchase new ships through public
donations. Those who made donations received different types of
medals according to the size of their contributions. In 1910, the
Ottoman Navy purchased two pre-dreadnought battleships
from Germany: SMS Weißenburg, and her
sister ship SMS Kurfürst
Friedrich Wilhelm. These ships were renamed Turgut
Reis and Barbaros Hayreddin, respectively. With this
public money, the Ottoman government also ordered large dreadnought battleships like Sultan
Osman I and Reşadiye, but despite the payment for
both ships, the United Kingdom confiscated them at the
outbreak of World War
I and renamed them as HMS Agincourt and HMS
Erin. This caused some ill-feeling towards Britain among the
Ottoman public, and the German Empire took advantage of the
situation by sending the battlecruiser SMS Goeben renamed Yavuz
Sultan Selim and light cruiser SMS Breslau renamed
Midilli which entered service in the Ottoman fleet. This
event significantly contributed to the decision of supporting
Germany in the First World War, with whom the Ottomans
sided.
The British, French and ANZAC fleets
could not pass through the Dardanelles Strait (Çanakkale
Boğazı) during the Battle of
Gallipoli in 1915 thanks to
the heavy Turkish fortifications lining the strait and mining by
Turkish minelayers like Nusret, and fierce fighting by the
Turkish forces on land, sea and air, who were well aware that they
were resisting the capture of Istanbul and the occupation of their homeland.
During the battle, Hayreddin Barbarossa was sunk by the
British submarine E11 on August 8, 1915. In the last
year of World War I,
while returning from a bombardment mission of the Allied port of Mudros on the
Greek island of Lemnos,
Midilli ran into a minefield between Lemnos and Gökçeada on January 20, 1918, and sank
after being severely damaged by five consecutive mine hits. During
the mission, Midilli, together with Yavuz Sultan
Selim, had managed to sink the British warships HMS Raglan and
M28, as well as a 2,000-ton transport ship, and had bombarded the
port of Mudros, together with the communication posts and air
fields of the Allies on the other parts of Lemnos. The
battlecruiser Yavuz Sultan Selim was one of the most
active Ottoman warships throughout the First World War; she
bombarded numerous ports on the Black Sea and Aegean Sea, while engaging with Russian dreadnought battleships
of the Imperatritsa
Mariya class, and sinking a number of Russian and British
warships and transport vessels.
Following the end of World War I, the Ottoman Navy was dissolved
by the victorious Allies and the large ships of the
Ottoman fleet were towed to the Princes' Islands in the Sea of Marmara
under the control of Allied warships, or locked inside the Golden Horn. Some of
them were scrapped. After the independence of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, the remaining major warships of the former
Ottoman fleet, such as the battlecruiser TCG Yavuz, the pre-dreadnought battleship
TCG
Turgut Reis, protected cruisers TCG Hamidiye and TCG Mecidiye, light cruisers TCG
Berk-i Satvet and TCG Peyk-i Şevket, destroyers TCG
Samsun, TCG Bafra and TCG Taşoz, and torpedo boats TCG
Burak Reis, TCG Kemal Reis, TCG İsa Reis
and TCG Sakız were overhauled, repaired and modernized,
while new ships and submarines were acquired.
Famous
admirals
Major
victories, conquests and territorial acquisitions
- Conquest of Smyrna (İzmir), Urla, Çeşme, Sığacık and Phocaea
(Foça) on the Aegean coast of Anatolia by Emir Çaka Bey,
construction of the first Anatolian Seljuk naval fleet of 50
vessels (33 sail ships and 17 oar ships) in that same year at the
naval arsenal of İzmir, which was established by Emir Çaka Bey
(1081)
- First Turkish conquests of Lesbos (1089) and Chios (1090) in
the Aegean Sea by the fleet of Emir Çaka Bey
- Emir Çaka Bey's fleet defeats the Byzantine fleet near the
Koyun Islands off Chios on May 19, which marks the first major
Anatolian Seljuk naval victory in a sea war (1090)
- Emir Çaka Bey's fleet conquers the islands of Samos and Rhodes
in the Aegean Sea (1091)
- Emir Çaka Bey's fleet conquers the strategic port city and gulf
of Adramyttium (Edremit) on the Aegean coast of Anatolia and the
city of Abydos on the Dardanelles Strait (1095)
- Anatolian Seljuk emperor Alaeddin Keykubad I conquers Alanya
and establishes a Turkish naval arsenal there. Alanya becomes the
homeport of the Turkish Mediterranean fleet. Alaeddin Keykubad I
later establishes a Turkish Black Sea fleet based in Sinop, which,
under the command of Emir Çoban, conquers parts of the Crimean
peninsula and Sugdak on the Sea of Azov (1220–1237)
- Conquest of İmralı Island and the beginning of Ottoman presence
in the Sea of Marmara (1308)
- Conquest of Mudanya by the Ottoman Turks and the first Turkish
landings in Thrace, southeastern Europe (1321)
- Conquest of the strategic port city and gulf of Gemlik on the
Sea of Marmara by the Ottoman Turks (1333)
- Naval victories of Umur Bey against the Byzantine and Genoese
fleets off the Aegean coasts of Anatolia, Rhodes, the Dardanelles
Strait, Macedonia and Morea (1334–1348)
- Conquest of the strategic port city and gulf of İzmit
(Nicomedia) on the Sea of Marmara by the Ottoman Turks (1337)
- Alliance with the Byzantine Empire (1346) following the
marriage between Sultan Orhan Gazi and Princess Theodora, daughter
of John VI Cantacuzenus (1341). Turkish naval landings in Thrace
and the Balkan peninsula for aiding the Byzantine Empire, defeat of
the Serbs and Bulgarians, acquisition of the first Turkish castles
in Europe (1351)
- Conquest of Üsküdar (Scutari/Chrysopolis) and Kadıköy
(Chalcedon) on the Anatolian side of İstanbul, the Marmara Island,
Thrace and Gallipoli (1352)
- First conquests and acquisitions in Macedonia (1373)
- First siege of Thessaloniki (1374) and the beginning of Turkish
advance towards Serbia (1375), Bulgaria (1376), Albania (1383) and
Bosnia-Hercegovina (1384)
- Conquest of Thessaloniki and Macedonia (1387)
- Conquest of northern Bulgaria, southern Romania and most of the
Balkan peninsula (1389)
- Conquest of northern Albania and southern Montenegro
(1392)
- Conquest of Albania (1396)
- Conquest of several coastal settlements on the Aegean coasts of
Greece and of several Turkish beyliks (principalities) on the Black
Sea coasts of Anatolia (1397)
- Conquest of several islands in the Aegean Sea (1415–1416)
- Conquest of the strategic port of Samsun in the Black Sea
(1417)
- Reconquest of Albania, conquests of several coastal settlements
in Morea (1423)
- Turkish-Venetian War (1423–1430)
- Conquest of the strategic port of Sinop in the Black Sea
(1424)
- Conquest of İzmir from the Turkish beylik of that city
(1426)
- Reconquest of Thessaloniki (1430)
- Reconquest of Albania (1448–1479)
- Conquest of Constantinople (İstanbul), Imvros (Gökçeada),
Lemnos, Thasos (1453)
- Conquest of Morea and the Duchy of Athens (1458–1460)
- Conquest of the Empire of Trebizond and the Genoese colony of
Amasra (1461)
- Conquest of the Genoese islands in the northern Aegean Sea,
including Lesbos (1462)
- Turkish-Venetian War (1463–1479)
- Conquest of castles and forts in Albania (1466)
- Conquest of Euboea (1470)
- Conquest of Crimea (1475)
- Conquest of Venetian forts in Albania (1477–1478)
- Conquest of Georgia on the Black Sea; Kefalonia, Zakynthos
(Zante) and Lefkada (Lefkas) in the Ionian Sea (1479)
- Final complete reconquest of Albania (1497)
- Conquest of Montenegro (1499)
- Ottoman–Venetian War
(1499–1503)
- Battle
of Zonchio (1499)
- Battle of
Modon (1500)
- Reconquest of Morea (1503)
- Conquest of Moldavia (1512)
- Conquest of Syria (1516)
- Conquest of Algeria from Spain (1516–1517)
- Conquest of Egypt and the end of the Mameluke Empire
(1517)
- Conquest of Rhodes from the Knights of St. John, who relocate
their base first to Sicily and later to Malta (1522)
- Conquest of Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia and Bosnia (1527)
- Turkish-Spanish War near the Isle of Formentera (1529)
- First conquest of Tunisia from Spain, reconquest of Morea
(1534)
- Conquest of the Duchy of Naxos, Syros, Aegina, Ios, Paros,
Tinos, Karpathos, Kasos (1537)
- Battle of Preveza (1538)
- Conquest of Castelnuovo (Herceg Novi) in Dalmatia (1538)
- Conquest of Aden and Yemen from the Portuguese, Jeddah and
Hijaz in Arabia (1538–1539)
- Conquest of Risan, Skiathos, Skyros, Andros and Serifos
(1539)
- Reconquest of Castelnuovo (1539–1540)
- Defeat of the Spanish-Italian fleet in Algiers (1541)
- Defeat of the Spanish-Italian fleet in the Tyrrhenian Sea,
assault on the Kingdom of Naples (1544)
- Reconquest of Yemen from the Portuguese (1547–1548)
- Conquest of Libya from Spain and Malta (1551)
- Defeat of the Spanish-Italian fleet near Ponza (1552)
- Conquest of Oman, Hormuz and Qatar from the Portuguese
(1552)
- Conquest of Morocco (1553)
- Defeat of the Spanish-Italian fleet near Piombino (1555)
- Battle of
Djerba (1560)
- Annexation of Aceh in Sumatra, Indonesia, upon request by
Sultan Alaaddin of Aceh who declares allegiance to the Ottoman
Empire and asks for protection against Portuguese aggression
(1565)
- Conquest of Chios and the end of Genoese presence in the Aegean
(1566)
- First Ottoman naval forces are stationed on Aceh in Sumatra,
Indonesia (1569)
- Reconquest of San'a (1568), Aden (1569) and the rest of Yemen
(1570)
- Battle of Gozo (1570)
- Conquest of Cyprus from the Republic of Venice (1570–1571)
- Reconquest of Dalmatia from the Republic of Venice (1571)
- Reconquest of Tunisia from Spain (1574)
- Defeat of the Portuguese fleet off the coast of Morocco
(1578)
- Reconquest of Crimea and parts of Ukraine (1584)
- Defeat of the French-Maltese fleet in the Levant (1609)
- Reconquest of Azov from the Russians (1642)
- Conquest of Chania in Crete (1645)
- Conquest of Chisamo and Souda in Crete (1646)
- First siege and conquest of Heraklion (Candia) in Crete
(1648)
- Turkish-Venetian War (1648–1669)
- Turkish-Venetian War (1654)
- Turkish-Venetian War (1668)
- Fourth siege and final reconquest of Heraklion (Candia) in
Crete, conquest of Crete completed (1669)
- Conquest of the castles controlling the Black Sea entrance of
the Dnieper River (1679)
- Turkish-Venetian War and the reconquest of Chios (1695)
- Conquest of Oran, the final Spanish stronghold in Algeria
(1708)
- Reconquest of Moldavia and Azov from the Russians (1711)
- Reconquest of Morea (1714–1715)
- Turkish-Venetian War and the reconquest of Souda in Crete and
the Cyclades (1715)
- Turkish-Russian War (1738)
- Reconquest of Morea and Lemnos (1770)
- Defeat of the Russian fleet near Yılan Island (1787)
- Reconquest of Egypt (1801)
- Reconquest of Medina, Mecca and Hijaz in Arabia
(1812–1813)
- Defeat of the Russian forces in the Crimean War, assisted by France, the United
Kingdom and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1854-1856)
- Reconquest of the islands controlling the Black Sea entrance of
the Danube River (1857)
- Reconquest of Montenegro and Shkodër (1862)
- Battle of Gallipoli (1915)
- Landing operation in northern Cyprus (1974)
Major short-term
territorial acquisitions
- Capture of Morea (1446)
- First siege and capture of Otranto (1480)
- Capture of Malaga in Spain (1487)
- Capture of the Isle of Pianosa (1501)
- Capture of several towns in Sardinia (1501)
- Capture of Jijel in Algeria and Mahdiya in Tunisia (1514)
- Capture of Capo Passero in Sicily (1526)
- Capture of the Isle of Peñón (1529)
- Capture of the Isle of Cabrera (1530)
- Capture of San Lucido, Cetraro, Capri, Procida, Tunis
(1534)
- Recapture of Capri (1535)
- Second siege and capture of Otranto, Castro, Ugento (1537)
- Capture of Diu in India (1538)
- Capture of the Gulf of Preveza, Isle of Lefkada, eastern
Adriatic and Aegean islands belonging to the Republic of Venice,
Candia in Crete (1538)
- Capture of Gozo, Pantelleria, Capraia (1540)
- Capture of Reggio Calabria, Messina, Nice, Antibes, Île Sainte-Marguerite,
Monaco, San Remo, La Turbie (1543)
- Capture of Bonifacio in Corsica, Castiglione della Pescaia,
Talamone, Orbetello, Grosseto, Montiano, Porto Ercole, Isle of
Giglio, Ischia, Forio, and the Isle of Procida (1544)
- Capture of Capraia, Monterosso, Corniglia, Rapallo, Pegli,
Levanto (1545)
- Capture of Mahdiya, Sfax, Sousse, Al Munastir in Tunisia;
Laigueglia and Andora in Liguria; Gozo in Malta (1546)
- Recapture of Gozo in Malta (1547)
- Capture of Castellamare di Stabia, Pozzuoli and Procida at the
Gulf of Naples (1548)
- Recapture of Mahdiya, Sousse, Al Munastir in Tunisia, Rapallo
in Liguria (1550)
- Recapture of Gozo, capture of Taggia and Riva Brigoso in
Liguria (1551)
- Capture of Pantelleria, Ponza, Massa Lubrense, Sorrento,
Pozzuoli, Minturno, Nola (1552)
- Capture of Crotone and Castello in Calabria; Marciana Marina,
Rio and Capoliveri in Elba; Bonifacio, Bastia and Calvi in Corsica; recapture of
Pianosa and Capri (1553)
- Capture of Vieste near Foggia; Elba and Corsica (1554)
- Capture of Paola and Santo Noceto in Calabria, Papulonia in
Elba; Bastia in Corsica; Ospedaletti in Liguria (1555)
- Capture of Bergeggi and San Lorenzo in Liguria; Gafsa in
Tunisia (1556)
- Capture of Cariati in Calabria (1557)
- Capture of Gharyan, Misratah, Tagiora, Djerba, Reggio Calabria,
Aeolian Islands, Massa Lubrense, Cantone, Sorrento, Minorca
(1558)
- Capture of Granada in Spain; Naples in Italy and the fortresses
around the city, Chiaia (1563)
- Capture of Fort St. Elmo and the Bastion of Castiglia on Fort
St. Michael in Malta (1565)
- Capture of Lanzarote of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic
Ocean (1585)
- Capture of Madeira in the Atlantic Ocean (1617)
- Capture of Vestmannaeyjar near Iceland (1627)
- Capture of Baltimore, County Cork, in Ireland (1631)
- Capture of the Isle of Lundy in the Bristol Channel with a
force of 40 ships. Lundy becomes the main base of the Ottoman
marine operations in the Atlantic Ocean for the next 5 years
(1655)
Major
inconclusive wars
- Turkish-Portuguese Wars in the Indian Ocean (1538–1566)
Major inconclusive
sieges and landings
- First Turkish landings in Attika, Morea and the Adriatic Sea
(1372)
- First Turkish siege of Constantinople (1390)
- Landings at Chios, Euboea, Attika, Morea (1390–1391)
- Landings at Morea (1394)
- Second Turkish siege of Constantinople (1395)
- Third Turkish siege of Constantinople (1397)
- Landings at Thessaly, Morea, Albania and Epirus
(1397–1399)
- Fourth Turkish siege of Constantinople (1400)
- Fifth Turkish siege of Constantinople (1422)
- Landings at the Dodecanese Islands (1454)
- Landings at Lepanto in Greece and Veneto in Italy
(1477–1478)
- First siege of Rhodes (1480–1481)
- Landings at the Balearic Islands, Corsica and Pisa
(1487–1490)
- Landings at Elche, Almeria, Malaga (1490–1495)
- Landings at the Gulf of Taranto (1496)
- Landings at Corfu (1500)
- Landings at Piombino (1501)
- Landings at the Balearic Islands and Andalusia (1501)
- Landings at Rhodes, Calabria, Sicily and Andalusia (1505)
- Landings at Sicily (1506)
- Landings at Liguria (1508 and 1509)
- Landings at Capo Passero in Sicily (1510)
- Landings at Bougie, Oran and Algiers (1510)
- Landings at Reggio Calabria (1511)
- Landings at Andalusia and Minorca (1512)
- Landings at Alicante, Malaga, Cherchell (1513–1514)
- Bombardment of Bougie, landings at Ceuta, Balearic Islands,
Sardinia, Sicily (1514)
- Landings at Elba and Liguria (1516)
- Landings at Capo Limiti, Capo Rizzuto, Calabria (1517)
- Landings at Provence, Toulon and the Îles d'Hyères in France
(1519)
- Landings at the Balearic Islands (1521)
- Landings at Sardinia (1525)
- Landings at Crotone, Reggio Calabria, Castignano, Capo
Spartivento, Messina, Tuscany, Campania (1526)
- Landings at Italian and Spanish coastal towns (1527)
- Landings at Andalusia (1529)
- Landings at Sicily, the Balearic Islands, Marseilles, Provence,
Liguria, Sardinia, Piombino (1530)
- Landings at the Isle of Favignana, Calabria, Puglia, Tripoli,
Spain (1531)
- Landings at Sardinia, Bonifacio, Montecristo, Elba, Lampedusa,
Messina, Calabria (1532)
- Landings at Reggio Calabria, Gaeta, Villa Santa Lucia,
Sant'Isidoro, Sperlonga, Fondi, Terracina, Ostia, Ponza, Sicily,
Sardinia, bombardment of the ports at the Gulf of Naples
(1534)
- Landings at Spain, the Balearic Islands, Tlemcen (1535)
- Landings at Calabria and Corfu (1537)
- Landings at Crete in Greece and Gujarat in India (1538)
- Landings at Cattaro and Pesaro, Corfu, Crete (1539)
- Landings at Sicily, Corsica, Spain (1540)
- Landings at Campania, Lazio, venturing into the Tiber River
near Rome (1543)
- Landings at San Remo, Borghetto Santo Spirito, Ceriale, Vado
Ligure, Piombino, Civitavecchia, Sardinia, Gozo, Pozzuoli, Capo
Palinuro, Catona, Fiumara, Calanna, Cariati, Lipari (1544)
- Landings at Spain, the Balearic Islands, Sicily, Liguria,
Menarola, Riomaggiore, La Spezia (1545)
- Landings at Liguria, San Lorenzo al Mare (1546)
- Landings at both islands of Malta, Sicily, Aeolian Islands,
Salina Island, Puglia, Salve, Calabria, Corsica (1547)
- Landings at Rapallo, San Fruttuoso, Portofino, San Remo,
Corsica, Calabria (1549)
- Landings at Sardinia, Spain, Corsica, Gozo, Liguria, Mahdiya,
Tunis, Djerba (1550)
- Landings at the Adriatic ports, Sicily, both islands of Malta
(1551)
- Landings at Augusta and Licata in Sicily, Taormina, Gulf of
Policastro, Palmi, Gulf of Naples, Sardinia, Corsica, Lazio
(1552)
- Landings at Sicily, Tavolara, Sardinia, Porto Ercole, Piombino,
Portoferraio (1553)
- Landings at Dalmatia, Dubrovnik, Orbetello and Tuscany
(1554)
- Landings at Capo Vaticano, Ceramica, San Lucido in Calabria;
Piombino in Elba; Calvi in Corsica; Sardinia; San Remo and Liguria
(1555)
- Landings at Lampedusa (1556)
- Landings at the Gulf of Taranto and Puglia (1557)
- Landings at the Strait of Messina, Amalfi, Gulf of Salerno,
Torre del Greco, Tuscany, Piombino, Spain (1558)
- Landings at Stromboli, Gozo, Gulf of Naples (1561)
- Siege of Oran (1562)
- Landings at Malaga, another siege on Spanish-controlled Oran
and Mers-el-Kebir; landings at Liguria, Sardinia, Oristano,
Marcellino, Ercolento, Puglia, Abruzzo, San Giovanni near Messina,
Capo Passero in Sicily, Gozo in Malta (1563)
- Siege of Malta (1565)
- Landings at Puglia (1566)
- Landings at Sumatra in Indonesia (1569)
- Landings at Corfu (1571)
- Landings at Puglia and Corfu (1573)
- Landings at Morocco (1574)
- Landings at Calabria (1576)
- Landings at Malta and southern Morea (1614)
- Landings at the shoreline between Cadiz and Lisbon (1616)
- Landings at Sussex, Plymouth (27 ships were taken away from its
port), Devon, Hartland Point, Cornwall and the other counties of
western England in August (1625)
- Landings in the Northern Atlantic including the British Isles,
Shetland Islands, Faroe Islands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland,
Labrador, Gulf of Saint Lawrence, Newfoundland and Virginia
(1627–1660)
- Landings at Denmark, Norway and Iceland (1627)
- Landings at England, Ireland, Denmark and Iceland (1631)
- Second siege of Heraklion (Candia) in Crete (1649)
- Landings at England, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark
(1655–1660)
- Third siege of Heraklion (Candia) in Crete (1666)
- Landings at the entrance of the Dniester River and northern
Crimea (1769)
Major
defeats
Important treaties of naval collaboration for securing maritime
trade
- Treaty with the Republic of Genoa signed (1352)
- Treaty with the Republic of Ragusa signed (1365)
- Treaty with the Mameluke Empire signed (1386)
- Treaty with the Republic of Ragusa signed (1458)
- Treaty with the Republic of Venice signed (1479)
- Treaty with the Republic of Ragusa signed (1481)
- Treaty with the Republic of Venice signed (1503)
- Treaty with the Republic of Venice signed (1522)
- Treaty with France signed (1536)
- Treaty with the Republic of Venice signed (1540)
- Treaty with France signed (1569)
- Treaty with the Republic of Venice signed (1575)
- Treaty with England signed (1579)
- Treaty with France signed (1581)
- Treaty with The Netherlands signed (1612)
- Treaty with Russia signed (1774)
- Treaty with the United Kingdom signed (1809)
- Treaty with Russia signed (1829)
- Treaty with Russia signed (1833)
- London Straits Convention and the international recognition of
the Ottoman Empire's right to block the Turkish Straits and refuse
passage permission to foreign warships in case of a major risk to
national security (1841)
- Treaty of Lausanne and the demilitarization of the Turkish
Straits (1923)
- Montreux Convention recognizing Turkey's right to remilitarize
the Turkish Straits and regulate sea traffic in case of natural
hazard risks, or completely block it in case of a military conflict
(1936)
See also
References and sources
- The Ottomans: Comprehensive
and detailed online chronology of Ottoman history in
English.
- E. Hamilton Currey, Sea-Wolves of the Mediterranean,
London, 1910
- Bono, Salvatore: Corsari nel Mediterraneo
(Corsairs in the Mediterranean), Oscar Storia Mondadori.
Perugia, 1993.
- Melis, Nicola, “The importance of Hormuz for Luso-Ottoman
Gulf-centred policies in the 16th century: Some observations based
on contemporary sources", in R. Loureiro-D. Couto (eds.),
Revisiting Hormuz - Portuguese Interactions in the Persian Gulf
Region in the Early Modern Period, "Maritime Asia" 19,
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian/Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden 2008,
pp. 107–120.
- Corsari nel Mediterraneo:
Condottieri di ventura. Online database in Italian, based on
Salvatore Bono's book.
- Bradford, Ernle, The Sultan's Admiral: The life of
Barbarossa, London, 1968.
- Wolf, John B., The Barbary Coast: Algeria under the
Turks, New York, 1979; ISBN 0-393-01205-0
- Comprehensive and detailed
online chronology of Ottoman history in Turkish.
- Turkish Navy official
website: Historic heritage of the Turkish Navy (in
Turkish)
- Turkish Navy official
website: Turkish seamen in the Atlantic Ocean (in Turkish)
- Tarih Bilgi Bankası: Online
history database in Turkish.
- Tarihte Bugün: Online history
database in Turkish.
External
links
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