Ottoman ironclad Feth-i Bülend

Painting depicting Feth-i Bülend's (left) battle with Vesta (center)

Feth-i Bülend saw extensive service in the Black Sea during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, based primarily at Batumi. She took part in the bombardment of Russian positions and capture of the Black Sea port of Sokhumi on 14–16 May 1877. On 23 July, she engaged the Russian armed steamer Vesta in an inconclusive action. Poor visibility from smoke and escaping steam forced the ships to disengage, both with slight damage and few casualties. On the 31st, Feth-i Bülend, her sister ship Mukaddeme-i Hayir, the steam frigate Mubir-i Sürur, and several other ships departed Sochum for Trabzon to bring ground troops to Varna to defend against an expected Russian attack across the Danube.[5]

The Ottoman fleet then returned to Batumi, where it remained largely inactive. During a patrol on 25 August, Feth-i Bülend encountered the Russian yacht Livadia, but the Russian vessel fled before Feth-i Bülend could close to effective range.[5] Following the Ottoman defeat in 1878, the ship was laid up in Constantinople.[3] The fleet remained inactive at the Golden Horn for twenty years, though Feth-i Bülend was refitted at the Imperial Arsenal in 1890. During this refit, several small guns were installed, including a pair of 87 mm (3.4 in) Krupp guns, two 63 mm (2.5 in) guns, two 37 mm (1.5 in) guns, and one 25.4 mm (1 in) Nordenfelt gun.[3] At the start of the Greco-Turkish War in February 1897, the Ottomans inspected the fleet and found that almost all of the vessels, including Feth-i Bülend, to be completely unfit for combat against the Greek Navy.[6]

Following the end of the war, the government decided to begin a naval reconstruction program. The first stage was to rebuild the older armored warships, including Feth-i Bülend. The Ottomans contacted several foreign shipyards; initially, Krupp's Germaniawerft received the contract to rebuild Feth-i Bülend on 11 August 1900, but by December 1902, the Ottomans had reached an agreement with Armstrong-Ansaldo in Genoa to rebuild the vessel.[7] The work was conducted between 1903 and 1907. The ship was reboilered with a pair of water-tube boilers manufactured by the Imperial Arsenal, which improved speed slightly to 9 kn (17 km/h; 10 mph). Her armament was completely replaced with new, quick-firing guns manufactured by Krupp. Four 15 cm SK L/40 guns were mounted in the casemate, and six 75 mm (3 in) guns and six 57 mm (2.2 in) guns were installed on the upper deck.[3]

At the outbreak of the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–1912, Feth-i Bülend was assigned to the Reserve Division, and she saw no action during the conflict.[8] Instead, she was disarmed and most of her weapons—including all four 15 cm guns, and four each of the 75 mm and 57 mm guns—were used to bolster the defenses of Salonica's harbor. The guns were manned by 90 of the ship's crew. The ship itself was converted to a barracks ship. At the time of the outbreak of the First Balkan War on 18 October 1912, the ship's commander was Captain (Binbaşi) Aziz Mahmut Bey, who also functioned as the naval garrison commander.[9] On the night of 31 October, the Greek torpedo boat No. 11 passed by the shore batteries and searchlights and through the mine barrages at 22:20. She launched three torpedoes at 23:30 against Feth-i Bülend. One torpedo missed, hitting the quay, but the two others hit the ship, causing her to capsize and sink. Seven of its crew, including the ship's imam, were killed in the sinking, while the Greek vessel exited the harbor by the same route without further incident.[10]