The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-01-08
THE EASTERN QUESTION.
The Standing OF tho NRVies of Turkey
and Greece,

The Pail Mall Gasette giveg an account OF the
present condition OF the navles of Greece and
captain In the English navy, IL now the prinoi
palnaval officer in the Turkish service During
improve the slate of the Turkish navy At great
cost IL has been increased both in man aud
SHIPS. sp English Ideas and English practice being
Ioiowed as closely as possible; not only are
u glish officers employed in the princ nal posts
IN tne navy and In the direction OF naval
Aualrs, Dut even In matters OF finance and adj
mipistration England has been taken as a
model. The admiralty, which is not regarded
WIN admiration here, Is considered by Abdul
ALE worthy not only of respect but Imitation.
Before the Russian war the TurKish navy
was very feeble. 1t consisted OF about seventy
vessels and 40 600 men. or these ships six were
SHIPS @ HJ lhe line and ten frigates; wnile of the
We're LOST G9rI sflnfs M Nearly all these ships
were not destroyed at Sinope were lost In
storms in the Black Sea. In 1856 therefore, the
turkish navy did not, for any practical pur pose
exist. But in the course of tive three years
more than twenty new screw steamers were
sisted OF $50 guns. These were hardly com.
pleted before the introduction of iron. clad SHIPS
At this time the Sultan, Abdul Medjid, died,
ana was succeeded by his brother, the present
sultan; One OF his first determinations after
ful navy. Accordingly he has add ed TO his sea
forces eight iron clads. Tne largest of these
SHIPS is lhe Osman Ghazy, which was built by
from their yard in 1864. 1t Is arm .piateI
throughout, and 1t is not unlike the D5f,nae.
fore a large n-of.war
Shortly after tnis vessel was launched another
was begun by the Thames Iron Snip Bdtldiug
Company This was not 30 large ship as the
Osman, but she was to be plated with iron eight
inches thick, and to carry an armament of
thirty three large Armstrong guns. Tue Sui
tan, In ordering the construction OF this ves sci
in 1868, ez pressed q wish that "she might EN-
brdy the advantages of every iron-clau known,
and be Inc most powerful iron-clad in tne
world" The other six iron men. of-war were
also built In England. namely. the Abdul Am,
the Ourkham, the Feltah, Inc Izzedin, Flu &c, ,
and Ismail. The three last were in com tn ss IN
four years ago and are, for irou-clads, almost
out Of date. Most OF the other ships. which
were screw steamers, were built at the Turkish
another at Ismidt another Mt Ghiumlek, and
the last at Amasura, in Asia Minor Alto
gether. then, the Turkish navy consists of
about forty ships and about thirty thousand
men, of whom IL is very doubtful whether even
decent minority are good sailors and good
fighting men. This force costs the Government
ABOUT Gl, 600 sterling annually.
The Greek navy Is very poor, In oom parlson
with Turkey, as regards ships. IL has only ten
lighting ships exclusive of about twenty gun .
boats The largest ship is a frlgste of Hfty guns
and the other vessels which carry more tn an
five guns each are either cOrvettes or ploops
But the strength OF the Greek navy docs n If
consist so much In its ships az In itE men
These are forced TO serve chiefly by oonHorip-
tion, and are drawn from the seacoast. Thoy
are a hardy, servceRble class of mon, aud, in
many instances, volunteer for the navy of tnelI
own accord.