Ottoman frigate Taif

Taif was ordered in 1845 as part of a modest naval expansion program aimed at building the first steam-powered ships of the Ottoman Navy. Several steam yachts had been built in the 1830s, but these were primarily used by government officials and were not proper warships. She was laid down in 1846 at the Imperial Arsenal in Constantinople, and was launched later that year. She was completed in 1847 and following sea trials, was commissioned into the fleet that year. Since steam engines were still a novelty in the Ottoman fleet, the crew had no experience operating the machinery and so four skilled engineers were contracted to train the crew. In 1848, Taif and her sister ship Mecidiye had to be pressed into service as merchant steamers carrying passengers to Samsun, as the Ottoman state-owned passenger service was not large enough to handle the volume of passengers.^[3]

Taif saw action during the Crimean War. In September 1853, the Ottoman fleet organized three squadrons in the Black Sea as tensions with Russia rose. Taif was assigned to a squadron consisting of her three sister ships, under the command of Mustafa Pasha,^[4] with Taif serving as his flagship. The squadron was tasked with patrolling the eastern Black Sea coast of the Ottoman Empire, including Circassia and Georgia. On 19 November, after the start of the war, Pasha took his squadron to Sinop to meet another squadron under Osman Pasha; while en route on 9 November, Taif and the other frigates encountered the Russian frigate Flora off Pitsunda but were unable to defeat her in a seven-hour battle. They scored only two hits on the Russian vessel, inflicting no damage, while the Ottoman frigates were hit several times, with Taif requiring to be taken under tow to Sinop.^[5][6]

After arriving in Sinop, Mustafa attempted to convince Osman to withdraw from the exposed position, but the latter refused so Mustafa sent three of his ships back to Constantinople, remaining behind aboard Taif. Osman's squadron was subsequently annihilated at the Battle of Sinop on 30 November, but Taif survived the battle to retreat to the capital. Mustafa had seen the Russian fleet approach and quickly got steam worked up in Taif's boilers, allowing her to leave the harbor before the attack began. She was the only Ottoman warship to escape the disaster; while she steamed to escape the Russian fleet, she was pursued by the Russian frigate Kulevchi. The two frigates exchanged a heavy fire, but Kulevchi was unable to slow Taif down and she was able to escape. After breaking free, Taif encountered Russian reinforcements commanded by Vladimir Kornilov, but the latter's ships were too slow to catch Taif. The destruction of the fleet at Sinop drastically reduced the ability of the Ottoman Navy to take an active role in the war, and thereafter the Anglo-French fleets led the effort against the Russian Black Sea Fleet.^[7][8][9]

In 1857, the ship returned to the Imperial Arsenal for a refit that included reducing her armament to a battery of twelve 32-pdr guns on the main deck. The ship remained in service for another ten years,^[1] during which time she escorted Albert Edward, Prince of Wales on a visit to Constantinople in May and June 1862.^[10] In October 1864, Taif was used to carry some 2,000 Circassian soldiers from Trabzon to Izmit.^[11] The ship was decommissioned in 1867 and broken up for the following year at the Imperial Arsenal.^[1]

• Badem, Candan (2010). The Ottoman Crimean War: (1853–1856). Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-18205-9.
• "Circassians in the Turkish Service". Gleason's Literary Companion. 5 (46). Boston: F. Gleason. 1864. OCLC 1751264.
• Langensiepen, Bernd & Güleryüz, Ahmet (1995). The Ottoman Steam Navy 1828–1923. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 978-0-85177-610-1.
• "The Prince at Constantinople". The Illustrated London News. Vol. XLI, no. 1148. 7 June 1862. OCLC 985512101.
• Tredrea, John; Sozaev, Eduard (2010). Russian Warships in the Age of Sail 1696–1860: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Barnsley: Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-84832-058-1.