List of battleships of the Ottoman Empire In the aftermath of the Young Turk Revolution in 1908 , the Committee of Union and Progress that had taken control of the Ottoman Empire began to draw up plans to strengthen the Ottoman Navy . The poor condition of the fleet was clearly visible in the Ottoman Naval Parade of 1910 . Attempts to construct Ottoman - made battleships such as had ended in failure , so the Ottoman Navy Foundation was established with the aim of purchasing new ships through public donations rather than having them built locally . Despite these efforts , the fleet remained in a poor state . Its inability to respond to naval threats was evident in the First Balkan War ( 1913 ) , when the Ottoman Navy was defeated in two separate engagements by the Greek Navy , during the battles of Elli and Lemnos . Following the conclusion of the Balkan Wars , a naval race began in the Balkans between Greece and the Ottoman Empire . In order to update the fleet , the Ottoman Navy Foundation purchased larger battleships such as , and ordered three planned s , including the purchase of one that had already been built , the . The United Kingdom confiscated the ships at the outbreak of World War I though only two were nearing completion , and " Reşadiye " . Upon confiscation , " Sultân Osmân - ı Evvel " was renamed while " Reşadiye " was renamed . The seizure of these battleships by the Royal Navy outraged the Ottoman people , since public donations had been the source of most of the funds for the ships . The German Empire took advantage of the situation by sending the battlecruiser and the light cruiser to the Ottoman capital of Constantinople in 1914 , and handing them over to the Ottoman Navy . These two ships entered service as and respectively . The British seizure of these ships as well as the transfer of German ships to the Ottoman Navy significantly contributed to the Ottoman Empire ' s decision to enter World War I on the side of Germany and the Central Powers a few months later . During World War I , many of the Ottoman battleships saw little or no action . Since many were in a poor condition , they simply remained at their moorings for most of the war . Out of all the battleships legally owned by the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the war , half were either scrapped or were seized by the British in the early days of the conflict . " Abdül Kadir " was scrapped in 1914 , while " Barbaros Hayreddin " was sunk in 1915 . " Turgut Reis " survived the conflict and was scrapped in the 1950s . Of the three planned " Reşadiye " - class ships , only one , " Reşadiye " , was ever built , with the rest being cancelled just before the war . " Reşadiye " was one of the ships seized by the British in August 1914 . " Sultân Osmân - ı Evvel " , which had been bought from Brazil in 1913 , was also seized by Britain in August 1914 . The last battleship in the Ottoman Navy , " Yavûz Sultân Selîm " , survived the war and was scrapped in 1973 . " Abdül Kadir " . " Abdül Kadir " was the first Ottoman pre - dreadnought battleship to be constructed . She was laid down in 1892 at the beginning of a small - scale expansion of the Ottoman Navy . Work slowed down considerably once she was framed . By the early 1900s the only progress that had been made was the addition of armor plating around her keel . Once that was finished , work ceased . Construction was planned to resume in 1904 but by that time her keel blocks , which were used to prevent hogging and sagging , had shifted and the ship was considered a total loss . She was scrapped on the slipway in 1914 . A model of this ship exists in the Constantinople Naval Museum . " Barbaros Hayreddin " and " Turgut Reis " . The Ottoman battleships " Barbaros Hayreddin " and " Turgut Reis " were originally named SMS " Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm " and SMS " Weissenburg " , respectively . They were members of the German , the first class of ocean - going battleships built for the German navy . Two other ships of the class were constructed : " Brandenburg " and " Wörth " . Of the four , " Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm " and " Weissenburg " were more advanced in that their armor was composed of higher - quality steel . " Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm " and " Weissenburg " were sold to the Ottoman Navy in 1910 and renamed " Barbaros Hayreddin " and " Turgut Reis " , respectively . The two battleships saw very little service in the Italo - Turkish War and were mostly used to defend the Dardanelles from any Italian naval attacks . " Barbaros Hayreddin " and " Turgut Reis " saw heavy service during the Balkan Wars however , failing in two attempts to break the Greek naval blockade of the Dardanelles in December 1912 and January 1913 , and providing artillery support to Ottoman ground forces in Thrace . On 8 August 1915 , during World War I , " Barbaros Hayreddin " was torpedoed and sunk off the Dardanelles by the British submarine , with heavy loss of life . " Turgut Reis " was largely inactive during World War I , in part due to her slow speed . By 1924 , " Turgut Reis " was used as a school ship before eventually being scrapped in 1956 – 57 . " Reşadiye " class . Following the purchase of SMS " Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm " and SMS " Weissenburg " from Germany , the Ottoman Navy drew up plans for a new class of battleships called the " Reşadiye " class . The class would have consisted of three ships , " Reşadiye " , , and . Of the three planned battleships , only one , , was completed . However , " Reşadiye " was seized by the Royal Navy at the outbreak of World War I while under construction in Britain , due to fears that she would be used to support the Central Powers ; the British renamed her . The seizure caused resentment among the Ottoman people as public donations had been the source of most of the funds for the ships , and her crew had already been formed . This action by the Royal Navy was a major contributing factor to the participation of the Ottoman Empire on the side of the Central Powers in World War I . The second ship of the " Reşadiye " class , " Reshad - I - Hammiss " , was canceled and scrapped on the slipway in 1912 . She was replaced by the . A third ship , " Fatih " , ordered in 1914 in response to the transfer of the American battleship " Mississippi " to the Greek Navy , and estimated to be completed in 1917 , was to have been slightly larger than " Reshad - I - Hammiss " and " Reşadiye " . She was scrapped on the slipway in 1914 . During World War I , HMS " Erin " was assigned to the 1st Division of the 2nd Battle Squadron of the Grand Fleet . While serving with the 2nd Battle Squadron , she fought in the Battle of Jutland . Following the war , she became the flagship of the Nore Reserve in 1919 and was scrapped in 1922 to comply with the Washington Naval Treaty . " Sultân Osmân - ı Evvel " . went through three names and legally belonged to three different navies in her career . She was originally intended for the Brazilian Navy as , and was laid down on 14 September 1911 by Armstrong Whitworth in Newcastle upon Tyne . After more than a year of construction her hull was launched on 22 January 1913 . Because of an economic crisis in Brazil , the uncompleted battleship was sold to the Ottoman Navy on 28 December 1913 . She was then renamed " Sultân Osmân - ı Evvel " . Her sea trials were completed the next August , at the outbreak of World War I . When the war began she was still in British hands . When her Ottoman crew came to collect her , the British government seized the vessel for fear of it being used against Britain in the conflict . This act outraged the Ottoman people and was a major factor in turning Turkish public opinion against Britain , which in turn helped to drive the Ottoman Empire into an alliance with the Central Powers . Once she was under British control , the battleship was once again renamed , this time as . She served in the Royal Navy for the remainder of the war and was decommissioned and scrapped in 1924 . " Yavûz Sultân Selîm " . SMS " Goeben " was originally a German battlecruiser and a member of the . " Goeben " and her sister ship " Moltke " were ordered in 1909 and 1908 respectively . Before being transferred to the Ottoman Navy , " Goeben " was assigned to the Mediterranean as the flagship of the German Navy ' s new Mediterranean Division . At the outbreak of World War I in 1914 , " Goeben " and the light cruiser attempted to evade the British fleet . With the assistance of the entire Austro - Hungarian Navy the two ships managed to safely make their way to Constantinople , arriving in the Bosporus on 11 August . They were then transferred to the Ottoman Navy . Upon transfer , SMS " Goeben " was renamed as . The German transfer of " Goeben " to the Ottoman Empire helped gain public support for the nation ' s entry into World War I on the side of the Central Powers following the British seizure of other Ottoman battleships . " Yavûz Sultân Selîm " mainly operated in the Black Sea against the Russian Black Sea Fleet stationed in Sevastopol . In 1918 , " Yavûz Sultân Selîm " attacked British forces outside the Dardanelles ; during the conflict , she struck three mines . Under attack by British bombers , she managed to beach herself and was towed back for repairs three days later . The battleship underwent a series of repairs and upgrades between 1927 and 1930 . In 1936 her name was officially shortened to " Yavûz " . The battlecruiser continued to serve in the Turkish Navy in World War II and had her anti - aircraft battery upgraded in 1941 . " Yavûz " was decommissioned from active service on 20 December 1950 and stricken from the Navy register on 14 November 1954 . In 1973 she was sold for scrap .