The Ottoman Steam Navy¬ 1828 - 1928. hardcover book

This book is an absolute delight, opening up a vista into a long-gone world when Turkey hovered on the brink of embracing modernity but, in those pre-Ataturk days, never gathered the courage for the final plunge. The numerous high-quality photographs are as valuable for the picture they give of a vanished society as for the technical content. Grave moustachioed and befezzed officers and smart-looking seamen look at the camera across immaculately holystoned decks, obviously proud of their custodianship of the products of British, German and French shipyards and armaments workshops - images which are in many cases at sharp variance with the actuality of venality, corruption and inefficiency that governed their daily lives (The story in the text of Ottoman seamen stranded at a German shipyard, and practically destitute, as the funds do not become available to pay for the refurbishment of their ship, is especially pathetic). Those who love Turkey and the Turks will enjoy these photographs even if they have little interest in naval history - the views of ports, shipyards and the Golden Horn are quite splendid. The book is in fact in three main sections - an introductory text, a superb collection of photographs and a technical appendix that provides not just specifications and brief histories of every ship to serve in the Ottoman navy in the period covered, but also excellent general arrangement drawings and hull lines for many of them. This book is one that is to be treasured by anybody with an interest in naval matters of the ironclad and pre-World War 1 age