List of Battleships of The Ottoman Empire - Reshadieh Class

Reshadieh 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 Reshadieh class. The class would have consisted of three ships, Reshadieh, Reshad-I-Hammiss, and Fatih. Of the three planned battleships, only one, Reshadieh, was completed. However, Reshadieh 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 HMS Erin. 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 Reshadieh class, Reshad-I-Hammiss, was canceled and scrapped on the slipway in 1912. She was replaced by the Sultan Osman I. 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 Reshadieh. 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.