Ottoman submarine Abdül Hamid

The Nordenfelt-class Ottoman submarine Abdül Hamid (1886) was the first submarine in history to fire a torpedo while submerged under water.

Submarine Abdül Hamid (also Abdülhamid) was the first submarine built in the United Kingdom, being constructed in 1886 at the Barrow Shipyard.^[1] It was bought and put in service by the Ottoman Navy and named after Sultan Abdül Hamid^{[disambiguation needed ]}. It was also the first submarine in the world to fire a live torpedo underwater.

History

Following the Russo-Turkish War of 1878, and the disastrous performance of the Ottoman military in that conflict, there were serious attempts by the Ottomans to upgrade their military capabilities. Eventually Sultan Abdul Hamid, who had always had a fear of the navy and its potential threat to his authority, relented and authorized the Minister of the Navy (Bahriye Nazırı) Bozcaadalı Hasan Hüsnü Paşa to purchase these new boats for the navy. Rapid modernization of various Balkan navies and Greece's interest in submarines at the time were also instrumental^[2].

Barrow Shipyard built two of these steam-engined boats for the Swedish industrialist and arms dealer Thorsten Nordenfelt. These were ultimately sold to Turkey and Russia. The submarine for Russia never reached her customer, foundering on the Jutland (Danish) coast on her delivery voyage.

The Ottoman boat, Abdül Hamid, was dismantled for delivery by ship and re-assembled at Taşkızak Naval Shipyard (Turkish: Taşkızak Tersanesi) along the Golden Horn in Istanbul under the supervision of its designer British engineer George William Garrett. Another boat of Nordenfelt class, Abdül Mecid was built at the same time and later delivered to the Ottoman Navy.

Abdül Hamid was first launched on September 6, 1886 in front of many international dignitaries lined along Golden Horn. First diving tests were carried out in February 1887. Three dives were attempted successfully, 20 seconds each, with only the hemispherical navigator cockpit remaining above the water. On another test run in early 1888, the submarine was able to navigate through the strong currents around the Seraglio Point, making up to 10 knots of speed and successfully sank an old target ship with a single torpedo^[3]. After more tests and trial at Izmit naval base, they officially joined the Ottoman Navy in a flag ceremony on 24 March 1888.

Technical details

Abdül Hamid was powered by a coal-fired 250 hp Lamm steam engine turning a single screw. It carried two 356mm torpedo tubes and two 35mm machine guns.

One of the torpedoes used by Ottoman submarines Abdül Hamid and Abdül Mecit.

It could carry a total of 8 tons of coal as fuel and could dive to 160 feet. It was 30.5m long and 6m wide, and weighed 100 tons. It had a normal crew of 7. It could do 6 knots on the surface, and 4 knots submerged.

In preparation for the dive, the crew had to close up the boiler and pull down the funnel. Air tanks pressurized while sailing at surface were used to propel the boat a short distance under water. This allowed only minutes when submerged. It had multiple torpedo tubes, a first, all on deck.

Though technically cutting edge for their time, the boats were not battle worthy. They had limited speed and range and were poorly balanced which was made worse with each firing of a torpedo.

After a few more trials and shows at Izmit, they were pulled from active service in 1910 and were discarded not far from where they were first assembled.

References

1. ^ http://www.submarineheritage.com/history.html
2. ^ http://www.sephiye.com/ocak08/ocak08_07.htm
3. ^ There is some confusion in some sources if the torpedo was fired by Abdül Hamid or Abdül mecit

External links

• Turkish Submarine Command
• Ottoman ships