THE MODERNIZATION OF THE OTTOMAN NAVY DURING THE REIGN OF SULTAN ABDÜLAZİZ (1861-1876) by DİLARA DAL A thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies Department of Classics, Ancient History and Archaeology College of Arts and Law The University of Birmingham April, 2015 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT The main focus of this study is to examine the modernization of the Ottoman navy during the reign of Sultan Abdülaziz, exploring naval administration, education, and technology. Giving a summary of the transformation of shipbuilding technologies and bureaucratic institutions of the Ottoman naval forces between 1808 and 1861, it analyses the structure of the Ottoman navy, its level of development in comparison to previous periods of time, and the condition of the vessels making up the naval fleet from 1861 to 1876. It also intends to evaluate the character of existing administrative structures at the outset of Abdülaziz’s reign in 1861 and the nature of subsequent changes, including structural reorganization of the Imperial Naval Arsenal, the Ministry of Marine, and the Naval Academy, as well as advancements in military training and seafaring; all within the context of the impact of these changes on the military, political, and economic condition of the Empire during the reign of Sultan Abdülaziz. To my beloved family ACKNOWLEGEMENTS This comprehensive and challenging study could not have been accomplished without the help and support given by my supervisor Dr. Rhoads MURPHEY. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to him for the continuous encouragement and guidance he has provided throughout my project. I am also deeply indebted to him for giving me the opportunity to benefit from his expert knowledge on the Ottoman institutional history and palaeography and devoting his precious time to supervising and editing the drafts. I would like to thank my examiners, Prof. Eugene ROGAN from the University of Oxford and Dr. Steve MOREWOOD from the University of Birmingham, for their critical assessments and insightful suggestions which I have benefitted greatly to improve the quality of my dissertation. During my archival research—which I carried out in the Prime Ministerial Ottoman Archive and the Naval Museum Commandership Archive in Istanbul—I am truly grateful to Prof. İdris BOSTAN from the Istanbul University who generously shared his ideas in approaching the specific classifications. I would like to offer my special thanks to Istanbul Naval Museum Commander Captain Fatih ERBAŞ for his full support in providing me permission to access the relevant documents. I am grateful to the Museum’s historians, Kemal KOÇ and Nurcan BAL, for their help during my archival research. I would also like to thank my previous lecturers during my master’s study, Asst. Prof. Günver GÜNEŞ, Asst. Prof. Mehmet BAŞARAN, and Asst. Prof. Bülent ÇELİK from Adnan Menderes University, for always being ready to help me in accessing some primary and secondary sources. I shall offer my thanks to the staff at the Prime Ministerial Ottoman Archive, the National Archives of Britain, Greenwich National Maritime Museum Library, the British Library, Library of the Centre for Islamic Studies, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Atatürk Library, and the Library of the University of Birmingham. I would like to express my sincere thanks to my parents, Neriman and Cumhur DAL, and my sisters Neslihan and Gizem Nur DAL, for always being with me during this long and difficult process. I undoubltedly could not have accomplished my study without their continuous support and encouragement. I am also thankful to Mary BYRNE, Lisa, David, John and Niall MORAN, Ali MIYNAT, Seyit ÖZKULU, Ayşegül ÇOLAK, Hasan ÇOLAK, Mücahide Nihal GÜNEŞ, SİREN ÇELİK, Halina MURASIEWICZ, Roya SOUFI, Razieh ZANDIEH and Adriana PETRISAKOVA, for their invaluable friendship and support during my stay in Birmingham. ABBREVIATIONS ADM : Admiralty A.MKT.MHM : Sadaret Mektubi Kalemi Mühimme Defterleri (Registers of Chief Secretariat of the Office of Grand Vizier) A.MKT.NZD : Sadaret Mektubi Kalemi Nezaret-Devair Giden Defterleri (Registers of Correspondence between the Office of Grand Vizier and Other Departments) AYN.d : Bab-ı Ali Evrak Odası Ayniyat Defterleri Bahriye (Registers of Correspondence between the Ministry of Marine and the Office of Grand Vizier) BOA : Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşivi (Prime Ministerial Ottoman Archive) DMA : İstanbul Deniz Müzesi Komutanlığı Arşivi (Istanbul Naval Museum Commandership Archive) Ed : Edited by FO : Foreign Office HRT.h : Haritalar (Maps) ISL : Islahat (Registers of Naval Reforms) İ.DH : İrade – Dahiliye (Decrees for the Interior Ministry) İ.HR : İrade – Hariciye (Decrees for the Foreign Ministry) İ.MMS : İrade – Meclis-i Mahsus (Decrees for the Special Council) MF.MKT : Maarif Nezareti Mektubi Kalemi (Registers of the Chief Secretariat of the Ministry of Education) MHS : Muhasebe (Registers of Finance Office of the Navy) MKT : Mektubi (Registers of the Chief Secretariat of the Navy) MKP : Mektepler (Registers of Naval Schools) MPI : Maps and Plans Pr : Prepared by PRO : Public Record Office ŞUB : Şura-yı Bahriye (Registers of the Naval Council) TDVİA : Türk Diyanet Vakfı İslam Ansiklopedisi (Turkish Religious Foundation, Encyclopaedia of Islam) TNA : The National Archives of Great Britain Tr : Translated by TRS : Tersane (Registers of the Arsenals) USA : United States of America Vol : Volume WP : Working Paper TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1 Literature Review...................................................................................................... 4 CHAPTER 1. THE EVOLUTION OF THE OTTOMAN NAVAL MODERNIZATION UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS (1808-1861) ......... 14 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 14 The Evolution of the Ottoman Naval Modernization under the Influence of Political Developments (1808-1861) ..................................................................................... 16 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 30 CHAPTER 2. THE EARLY INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENTS OF OTTOMAN NAVAL INTELLIGENCE (1839-1867) ..................................................................... 33 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 33 Naval Administration and Decision-Making during the Tanzimat Reform Era ........ 35 Enthronement of Sultan Abdülaziz and the First Phase of the Naval Administration (1861-1867) ............................................................................................................ 47 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 56 CHAPTER 3. THE MINISTRY OF MARINE AND DEVELOPMENTS IN ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURING (1867-1876) .................................................. 58 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 58 The Abolishment of the Office of Kapudan Pasha and the Foundation of the Ministry of Marine ................................................................................................................ 59 Structuring the Ministry of Marine: The Division of Workload and the Reorganization of Auxiliary Units ........................................................................... 64 The Naval Board ................................................................................................. 65 The Board of Economy ....................................................................................... 73 The Board of Admiralty and the Office of Naval Personnel ................................. 75 The Role of the British Mission in the Modernization of Ottoman Naval Administration ........................................................................................................ 80 Adolphus Slade ................................................................................................... 81 Augustus Charles Hobart Hampden ..................................................................... 83 Henry Felix Woods ............................................................................................. 97 The Foundation of the Naval Reforms Commission under the Presidency of Hobart Pasha and the New Naval Code of 1870 ................................................................ 101 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 109 CHAPTER 4. NAVAL PERSONNEL: THE RECRUITMENT OF MARINES AND DIVISION OF WORKFORCE ................................................................................