Asar-i Şevket-class ironclad

In the early 1860s, the Eyalet of Egypt, a province of the Ottoman Empire, ordered several ironclad warships for its fleet as part of a rearmament program to again challenge the power of the central government—the last having been the Second Egyptian–Ottoman War twenty years earlier. These included the two Asar-i Şevket-class vessels, ordered in 1866. After lengthy negotiations, the crisis was resolved when the Egyptian ironclads, including Asar-i Şevket and Necm-i Şevket, were transferred to the central government on 29 August 1868, among other concessions made by Egypt.^[1][2]

The design for the Asar-i Şevket was based on the preceding ironclad Asar-i Tevfik, albeit a much smaller version, though both designs shared the central battery arrangement coupled with a superimposed barbette mounting for additional heavy guns. Asar-i Tevfik was built at the same French shipyard, and was in turn based on contemporary French ironclad designs like the Colbert class.^[3]

The ships of the Asar-i Şevket class were 66.4 m (217 ft 10 in) long overall and 62 m (203 ft) long between perpendiculars. They had a beam of 12.9 m (42 ft 4 in) and a draft of 5 m (16 ft 5 in). The hull was constructed with iron, incorporated ram bow and a double bottom. They displaced 2,047 metric tons (2,015 long tons; 2,256 short tons) normally. They had a crew of 170 officers and enlisted men.^[3][4]

The ships were powered by a single horizontal compound steam engine which drove a single screw propeller. Steam was provided by four coal-fired box boilers that were trunked into a single funnel amidships. The engine was rated at 1,750 indicated horsepower (1,300 kW) and produced a top speed of 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph), though by 1877 both vessels was only capable of 8 kn (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) as a result of poor maintenance. Asar-i Şevket carried 300 t (300 long tons; 330 short tons) of coal. In 1890, both ships were taken to the Imperial Arsenal for refitting, where new boilers were installed. A supplementary brig rig was also fitted.^[3][4]

The Asar-i Şevket class was armed with a battery of one 229 mm (9 in) muzzle loading Armstrong gun and four 178 mm (7 in) Armstrong guns. The 178 mm guns were mounted in a central, armored battery, with the 229 mm gun on top in an open barbette mount. During the 1890 refit, both ships received a battery of light guns, including two 87 mm (3.4 in) Krupp guns, two 63.5 mm (2.50 in) Krupp guns, two 37 mm (1.5 in) Hotchkiss revolver cannon, and one 25.4 mm (1 in) Nordenfelt gun.^[3][4]

Armor protection for the class consisted of wrought iron plate. The ships' armored belt was 152 mm (6 in) thick and was reduced to 114 mm (4.5 in) below the waterline. The portion above the waterline was 1 m (4 ft 3 in) wide, and the portion below was 2 m (6 ft) wide. Above the main belt, a strake of armor 114 mm thick protected the central battery, and the same thickness was used for the barbette.^[3][4]