In the aftermath of the Crimean War, where an entire Ottoman squadron was destroyed by a Russian fleet at Sinop, the Ottoman Empire began a naval construction program, limited primarily by the chronically weak Ottoman economy. Several ironclad warships were ordered in the 1860s and 1870s, primarily from British and French shipyards. Despite the shortage of funds, by the late 1870s, the Ottomans had acquired a fleet of thirteen large ironclads and nine smaller armored warships. "Mesudiye" was designed by Edward Reed, who based the design on the recently built British ironclad .