The Rise of Torpedo against Ironclads during the Naval Operations of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878
Özet
Following the
invention of self-propelled torpedoes by the British engineer Robert Whitehead
in 1866, the efficiency of large armoured fleets against fast-moving steamers
reinforced with torpedoes came under question, particularly after the
Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878. As the neutralization of the Black Sea had been
confirmed by the Treaty of Paris in 1856, the Black Sea was demilitarized under
international law until 30 October 1870, when the Russian Government
unilaterally denounced the neutralization clauses of the Treaty on the pretext
of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. This resulted in the annulment of the
articles numbered XI, XIII and XIV by the arrival of the London Convention on
13 March 1871. According to this, Russia would be permitted to build navies and
fortify ports in the Black Sea. Using the advantage given by the Convention,
Russia composed her Black Sea fleet of fast merchant steamers reinforced with
self-propelled torpedoes, which performed a successful campaign against the far
superior Ottoman Navy during the Great Eastern Crisis. Despite being
doubtlessly inferior to her Turkish opponent, the Russian fleet managed to
paralyze the Ottoman warships, which were compelled to go on the defensive by
the fear of torpedo attacks. Accordingly, the main focus of this paper is to
examine the reasons of the inefficiency of Ottoman ironclads against the power
of torpedo by scrutinizing the archival documents. The consequences of the
experimented effectiveness of torpedo will also be analysed to understand the
changing naval strategies of world naval powers after the Russo-Turkish War.