Mesudiye battleship sinks
Having joined the Ottoman fleet during the naval mobilization initiated in the reign of Sultan Abdülaziz and a favorite battleship of the sultan, the Mesudiye was sunk by a British submarine in Çanakkale on December 13, 1914. The veteran ship had served successfully in the 1887 Otto-Russian, 1897 Otto-Greek, and 1912 Balkan Wars and was used as a stationary battery against the enemy ships trying to enter the straits during the Çanakkale Naval Battles.
At the time, Mesudiye lacked the most important guns, namely the two 25-cm cannons. The guns were sent to England for repair in 1913, but could not be brought back due to the onset of the war. Various sources point that in order to conceal the absence of these guns, wooden gun barrels were built in their place.
The British submarine entered the Dardanelles on December 13, 1914 and, crossing the mine lines, approached the Mesudiye at 12:00. Meanwhile, the crew was at lunch in the lower section of the ship. The submarine torpedoed Mesudiye at 11:58 from an approximate distance of 800 meters. Although Mesudiye began to retaliate towards the point where the submarine was seen, the second torpedo fired by the enemy caused the Mesduiye to sink. 10 officers and 25 privates from the crew of 598 were martyred in the incident.
