The Art of Naval Warfare

In the archives of the Ankara State Art and Sculpture Museum (Inventory: R-1994), there lies a striking oil painting by Diyarbakırlı Tahsin (1874–1937), one of the greatest masters of Turkish marine art. The canvas, dominated by dramatic shades of navy blue, black, and grey, depicts a colossal warship plowing through stormy waves. Thick smoke billows from its twin funnels, and a brilliant white light pierces through the dark sky above. At the stern, the Turkish flag proudly waves.

This is not just any ship. This is the Yavuz a vessel that did not merely sail through water, but forcefully steered the course of global history.

An Engineering Marvel

Originally built at the Blohm & Voss shipyards in Hamburg for the German Imperial Navy, this Moltke-class battlecruiser was christened SMS Goeben. Upon its launch, it was recognized as one of the most powerful and fastest warships of its era.

• Dimensions & Weight: The battlecruiser measured 186.6 meters in length and had a fully loaded displacement of 25,300 tons.

• Propulsion: Powered by Parsons steam turbines generating 52,000 shp, it could reach a highly impressive maximum speed of 28.4 knots.

• Devastating Firepower: Its main battery consisted of ten 28 cm guns with a firing range of 23,700 meters. It was also heavily armed with secondary batteries, including twelve 15 cm guns and twelve 8.8 cm guns. A brilliant tactical design allowed one of its wing turrets to fire across the deck to the opposite side, maximizing its broadside capabilities against a single target.

The Catalyst of World War I

In August 1914, under the command of Admiral Souchon, the Goeben and the light cruiser Breslau engaged in a legendary naval pursuit. Evading the vastly superior British Mediterranean Fleet, the two ships successfully navigated into the Dardanelles on August 10. To circumvent neutrality laws, the vessels were officially transferred to the Ottoman Navy on August 16, and the Goeben was renamed Yavuz Sultan Selim.

On October 29, 1914, the Yavuz bombarded the Russian port of Sevastopol. This decisive naval operation was the direct catalyst that brought the Ottoman Empire into World War I.

Dominating the Black Sea

Throughout the war, the Yavuz operated as the primary guardian of the straits and a relentless tactical force in the Black Sea.

• The Battle of Cape Sarych (November 18, 1914): In a fierce, foggy engagement with the Russian Black Sea Fleet, the Yavuz struck the Russian flagship Yevstafi directly in its middle funnel. This critical hit destroyed the enemy's radio antenna, severely disrupting their centralized fire control system. The Yavuz successfully struck the Yevstafi four more times during the clash.

• Surviving the Minefield (December 1914): While returning to the Bosphorus, the battlecruiser struck two naval mines, taking on 600 tons of water. Remarkably, the ship's advanced watertight torpedo bulkheads prevented it from sinking, and the massive hull breaches were later patched using temporary concrete cofferdams.

A Republic Era Icon and Final Farewell

Surviving the Great War, the Yavuz was meticulously modernized and remained the undisputed flagship of the new Turkish Republic's navy. In November 1938, the ship was granted its most honorable and solemn mission: transporting the remains of the Republic's founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, from Istanbul to İzmit.

The battlecruiser remained in active service until it was decommissioned in 1950. After the German government declined an offer to purchase the ship back, the Yavuz was dismantled between 1973 and 1976. At the time of its scrapping, it held the extraordinary distinction of being the longest-serving dreadnought and battlecruiser in all of naval history.

Today, while sections of its heavy guns and massive propellers rest in naval museums, the Yavuz lives on immortalized in the bold, dramatic strokes of Diyarbakırlı Tahsin's canvas.