SMS Weissenburg

SMS was one of the first ocean-going battleships of the Imperial German Navy. She was the third pre-dreadnought of the , which also included her sister ships , , and . was laid down in 1890 in the AG Vulcan dockyard in Stettin, launched in 1891, and completed in 1894. The -class battleships were unique for their era in that they carried six large-caliber guns in three twin turrets, as opposed to four guns in two turrets, as was the standard in other navies.

served with I Division during the first decade of her service with the fleet. This period was generally limited to training exercises and goodwill visits to foreign ports. These training maneuvers were nevertheless very important to developing German naval tactical doctrine in the two decades before World War I, especially under the direction of Alfred von Tirpitz. , along with her three sisters, saw only one major overseas deployment during this period, to China in 1900–1901, during the Boxer Uprising. The ship underwent a major modernization in 1904–1905.

In 1910, was sold to the Ottoman Empire and renamed , after the famous 16th century Turkish admiral. The ship saw heavy service during the Balkan Wars, primarily providing artillery support to Ottoman ground forces. She also took part in two naval engagements with the Greek Navy—the Battle of Elli in December 1912, and the Battle of Lemnos the following month. Both battles were defeats for the Ottoman Navy. After the Ottoman Empire entered World War I, she supported the fortresses protecting the Dardanelles through mid-1915, and was decommissioned from August 1915 to the end of the war. She served as a training ship from 1924 to 1933, and a barracks ship until 1950, when she was broken up.

Design

was the third of four s, the first pre-dreadnought battleships of the (Imperial Navy). Prior to the ascension of Kaiser Wilhelm II to the German throne in June 1888, the German fleet had been largely oriented toward defense of the German coastline and Leo von Caprivi, chief of the (Imperial Naval Office), had ordered a number of coastal defense ships in the 1880s. In August 1888, the Kaiser, who had a strong interest in naval matters, replaced Caprivi with (''VAdm''—Vice Admiral) Alexander von Monts and instructed him to include four battleships in the 1889–1890 naval budget. Monts, who favored a fleet of battleships over the coastal defense strategy emphasized by his predecessor, cancelled the last four coastal defense ships authorized under Caprivi and instead ordered four battleships. Though they were the first modern battleships built in Germany, presaging the Tirpitz-era High Seas Fleet, the authorization for the ships came as part of a construction program that reflected the strategic and tactical confusion of the 1880s caused by the (Young School).

, named for the Battle of Weissenburg of 1870, was long overall, had a beam of which was increased to with the addition of torpedo nets, and had a draft of forward and aft. She displaced as designed and up to at full combat load. She was equipped with two sets of 3-cylinder vertical triple expansion steam engines that each drove a screw propeller. Steam was provided by twelve transverse cylindrical Scotch marine boilers. The ship's propulsion system was rated at and a top speed of . She had a maximum range of at a cruising speed of . Her crew numbered 38 officers and 530 enlisted men.

The ship was unusual for its time in that it possessed a broadside of six heavy guns in three twin gun turrets, rather than the four-gun main battery typical of contemporary battleships. The forward and after turrets carried 28 cm (11 in) K L/40 guns, while the amidships turret mounted a pair of 28 cm guns with shorter L/35 barrels. Her secondary armament consisted of eight SK L/35 quick-firing guns mounted in casemates and eight 8.8 cm (3.45 in) SK L/30 quick-firing guns, also casemate mounted. s armament system was rounded out with six torpedo tubes, all in above-water swivel mounts. Although the main battery was heavier than other capital ships of the period, the secondary armament was considered weak in comparison to other battleships.

was protected with nickel-steel Krupp armor, a new type of stronger steel. Her main belt armor was thick in the central citadel that protected the ammunition magazines and machinery spaces. The deck was thick. The main battery barbettes were protected with thick armor.

Service history

In German service

Construction – 1897

was the third of four ships of the class. Ordered as battleship "C", she was laid down at the AG Vulcan shipyard in Stettin in May 1890 under construction number 199. The third ship of the class to be launched, slid down the slipway on 30 June 1891. She was informally commissioned for sea trials on 28 August 1894, which lasted until 24 September. The ship formally entered service on 10 October, under the command of then- (Captain at Sea) with (Corvette Captain Eduard von Capelle as the executive officer. then underwent further trials, which ended on 12 January 1895, after which she was assigned to I Division of the Maneuver Squadron, where she was initially occupied with individual training. Toward the end of May, more fleet maneuvers were carried out in the North Sea, concluding with a visit by the fleet to Kirkwall in Orkney. The squadron returned to Kiel in early June, where preparations were underway for the opening of the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal. Tactical exercises were carried out in Kiel Bay in the presence of foreign delegations to the opening ceremony.

On 1 July, the German fleet began a major cruise into the Atlantic; on the return voyage in early August, the fleet stopped at the Isle of Wight for the Cowes Regatta. The fleet returned to Wilhelmshaven on 10 August and began preparations for the autumn maneuvers that would begin later that month. The first exercises began in the Helgoland Bight on 25 August. The fleet then steamed through the Skagerrak to the Baltic; heavy storms caused significant damage to many of the ships and the torpedo boat capsized and sank in the storms—only three men were saved. The fleet stayed briefly in Kiel before resuming maneuvers, including live-fire exercises, in the Kattegat and the Great Belt. The main maneuvers began on 7 September with a mock attack from Kiel toward the eastern Baltic. Subsequent maneuvers took place off the coast of Pomerania and in Danzig Bay. A fleet review for Kaiser Wilhelm II off Jarosławiec, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, Jershöft concluded the maneuvers on 14 September. The year 1896 followed much the same pattern as the previous year. Individual ship training was conducted through April, followed by squadron training in the North Sea in late April and early May. This included a visit to the Dutch ports of Vlissingen and Nieuwediep (town), Nieuwediep. Additional maneuvers, which lasted from the end of May to the end of July, took the squadron further north in the North Sea, frequently into Norwegian waters. The ships visited Bergen from 11 to 18 May. During the maneuvers, Wilhelm II and the Chinese viceroy Li Hongzhang observed a fleet review off Kiel. On 9 August, the training fleet assembled in Wilhelmshaven for the annual autumn fleet training.

and the rest of the fleet operated under the normal routine of individual and unit training in the first half of 1897. The typical routine was interrupted in early August when Wilhelm II and Augusta went to visit the Russian imperial court at Kronstadt; both divisions of I Squadron were sent to accompany the Kaiser. They returned to Neufahrwasser in Danzig on 15 August, where the rest of the fleet joined them for the annual autumn maneuvers. These exercises reflected the tactical thinking of the new State Secretary of the (RMA—Imperial Navy Office), (''KAdm''—Rear Admiral) Alfred von Tirpitz, and the new commander of I Squadron, ''VAdm'' August von Thomsen. These new tactics stressed accurate gunnery, especially at longer ranges, though the necessities of the line-ahead formation led to tactical rigidity. Thomsen's emphasis on shooting created the basis for the excellent German gunnery during World War I. During the firing exercises, won the Kaiser's (Shooting Prize) for excellent accuracy in I Squadron. On the night of 21–22 August, the torpedo boat accidentally rammed and sank one of s barges, killing two men. The maneuvers were completed by 22 September in Wilhelmshaven. In early December, I Division conducted maneuvers in the Kattegat and the Skagerrak, though they were cut short due to crew shortages.

1898–1900

From 20 to 28 February, briefly served as the divisional flagship. The fleet followed the normal routine of individual and fleet training in 1898 without incident, and a voyage to the British Isles was also included. The fleet stopped in Cobh, Queenstown, Greenock, and Kirkwall. The fleet assembled in Kiel on 14 August for the annual autumn exercises. The maneuvers included a mock blockade of the coast of Mecklenburg and a pitched battle with an "Eastern Fleet" in the Danzig Bay. A severe storm, striking the fleet as it steamed back to Kiel, caused significant damage to many ships and sank the torpedo boat . The fleet then transited the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal and continued maneuvers in the North Sea. Training finished on 17 September in Wilhelmshaven. again won the Kaiser's (Shooting Prize) during the maneuvers. In December, I Division conducted artillery and torpedo training in Eckernförde Bay, followed by divisional training in the Kattegat and Skagerrak. During these maneuvers, the division visited Kungsbacka, Sweden, from 9 to 13 December. After returning to Kiel, the ships of I Division went into dock for their winter repairs.

On 5 April 1899, the ship participated in the celebrations commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Eckernförde during the First Schleswig War. In May, I and II Divisions, along with the Reserve Division from the Baltic, went on a major cruise into the Atlantic. On the voyage out, I Division stopped in Dover and II Division went into Falmouth, Cornwall, Falmouth to restock their coal supplies. I Division then joined II Division at Falmouth on 8 May, and the two units then departed for the Bay of Biscay, arriving at Lisbon on 12 May. There, they met the British Channel Fleet of eight battleships and four armored cruisers. The German fleet then departed for Germany, stopping again in Dover on 24 May. There they participated in the Fleet review (Commonwealth realms), naval review celebrating Queen Victoria's 80th birthday. The fleet returned to Kiel on 31 May.

In July, the fleet conducted squadron maneuvers in the North Sea, which included coast defense exercises with soldiers from the X Corps (German Empire), X Corps. On 16 August, the fleet assembled in Danzig once again for the annual autumn maneuvers. The exercises started in the Baltic and on 30 August the fleet passed through the Kattegat and Skagerrak and steamed into the North Sea for further maneuvers in the German Bight, which lasted until 7 September. The third phase of the maneuvers took place in the Kattegat and the Great Belt from 8 to 26 September, when the maneuvers concluded and the fleet went into port for annual maintenance. The year 1900 began with the usual routine of individual and divisional exercises. In the second half of March, the squadrons met in Kiel, followed by torpedo and gunnery practice in April and a voyage to the eastern Baltic. From 7 to 26 May, the fleet went on a major training cruise to the northern North Sea, which included stops in Shetland from 12 to 15 May and in Bergen from 18 to 22 May. On 8 July, and the other ships of I Division were reassigned to II Division.

Boxer Uprising

During the Boxer Uprising in 1900, Chinese nationalists laid siege to the foreign embassies in Peking and murdered Baron Clemens von Ketteler, the German minister. The widespread violence against Westerners in China led to an alliance between Germany and seven other Great Powers: the United Kingdom, Italy, Russia, Austria-Hungary, the United States, France, and Japan. Those Western soldiers in China at the time were too few in number to defeat the Boxers; in Peking there was a force of slightly more than 400 officers and infantry from the armies of the eight European powers. At the time, the primary German military force in China was the German East Asia Squadron, East Asia Squadron, which consisted of the protected cruisers , , and , the small cruisers and , and the gunboats and . There was also a German 500-man detachment in Taku; combined with the other nations' units, the force numbered some 2,100 men. Led by the British Admiral Edward Hobart Seymour, Edward Seymour, these men attempted to reach Peking but were forced to stop in Tianjin, Tientsin due to heavy resistance. As a result, the Kaiser determined an expeditionary force would be sent to China to reinforce the East Asia Squadron. The expedition included and her three sisters, six cruisers, ten freighters, three torpedo boats, and six regiments of marines, under the command of (General Field Marshal) Alfred von Waldersee.

On 7 July, ''KAdm'' Richard von Geißler, the expeditionary force commander, reported that his ships were ready for the operation, and they left two days later. The four battleships and the aviso transited the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal and stopped in Wilhelmshaven to rendezvous with the rest of the expeditionary force. On 11 July, the force steamed out of the Jade Bight, bound for China. They stopped for coal at Gibraltar on 17–18 July and passed through the Suez Canal on 26–27 July. More coal was taken on at Perim in the Red Sea, and on 2 August the fleet entered the Indian Ocean. On 10 August, the ships reached Colombo, Ceylon, and on 14 August they passed through the Strait of Malacca. They arrived in Singapore on 18 August and departed five days later, reaching Hong Kong on 28 August. Two days later, the expeditionary force stopped in the outer roadstead at Wusong, downriver from Shanghai. By the time the German fleet had arrived, the siege of Peking had already been lifted by forces from other members of the Eight-Nation Alliance that had formed to deal with the Boxers.

Since the situation had calmed, the four battleships were sent to either Hong Kong or Nagasaki, Japan, in late 1900 and early 1901 for overhauls; went to Hong Kong, with the work lasting from 6 December 1900 to 3 January 1901. From 8 February to 23 March, she stopped in German Qingdao, Tsingtau, where she also conducted gunnery training. On 26 May, the German high command recalled the expeditionary force to Germany. The fleet took on supplies in Shanghai and departed Chinese waters on 1 June. The ships stopped in Singapore from 10 to 15 June and took on coal before proceeding to Colombo, where they stayed from 22 to 26 June. Steaming against the monsoons forced the fleet to stop in Mahé, Seychelles, to take on more coal. The ships then stopped for a day each to take on coal in Colony of Aden, Aden and Port Said. On 1 August they reached Cadiz, and then met with I Division and steamed back to Germany together. They separated after reaching Helgoland, and on 11 August, after reaching the Jade roadstead, the ships of the expeditionary force were visited by Admiral von Koester, who was now the Generalinspekteur der Marine, Inspector General of the Navy. The following day the expeditionary fleet was dissolved. In the end, the operation cost the German government more than 100 million marks.

1901–1910

Following her return from China, was taken into the drydocks at the (Imperial Dockyard) in Wilhelmshaven for an overhaul. In late 1901, the fleet went on a cruise to Norway. The pattern of training for 1902 remained unchanged from previous years; I Squadron went on a major training cruise that started on 25 April. The squadron initially steamed to Norwegian waters, then rounded the northern tip of Scotland, and stopped in Irish waters. The ships returned to Kiel on 28 May. Before the start of the annual fleet maneuvers in August, was involved in an accident that damaged her naval ram, ram bow; to ready the ship for the exercises, wooden reinforcement beams were installed in the bow. After the maneuvers, she was ship decommissioning, decommissioned on 29 September, with the new battleship taking her place in the division.

The four -class battleships were taken out of service for a major reconstruction. During the modernization, a second conning tower was added in the aft superstructure, along with a wikt:gangway, gangway. and the other ships had their boilers replaced with newer models, and also had their superstructure amidships reduced. The work included increasing the ship's coal storage capacity and adding a pair of 10.5 cm guns. The plans had initially called for the center 28 cm turret to be replaced with an armored battery of medium-caliber guns, but this proved to be prohibitively expensive. On 27 September 1904, was recommissioned, and replaced the old coastal defense ship in II Squadron. The two squadrons of the fleet ended the year with the usual training cruise into the Baltic, which took place uneventfully. The first half of 1905 similarly passed without incident for . On 12 July, the fleet began its annual summer cruise to northern waters; the ships stopped in Gothenburg from 20 to 24 July and Stockholm from 2 to 7 August. The trip ended two days later, and was followed by the autumn fleet maneuvers later that month. In December, the fleet took its usual training cruise in the Baltic.

The fleet conducted its normal routine of individual and unit training in 1906, interrupted only by a cruise to Norway from mid-July to early August. The annual autumn maneuvers occurred as usual. After the conclusion of the maneuvers, had her crew reduced on 28 September and she was transferred to the Reserve Formation of the North Sea. She participated in the 1907 fleet maneuvers, but was decommissioned on 27 September, though she was still formally assigned to the Reserve Formation. She was reactivated on 2 August 1910 to participate in the annual maneuvers with III Squadron, though the sale of and to the Ottoman Empire was announced just a few days later. On 6 August, she left the squadron and departed Wilhelmshaven on the 14th in company with . They arrived in the Ottoman Empire on 1 September.

In Ottoman service

In late 1909, the German military attache to the Ottoman Empire had begun a conversation with the Ottoman Navy about the possibility of selling German warships to the Ottomans to counter Greek naval expansion. After lengthy negotiations, including Ottoman attempts to buy one or more of the new battlecruisers , , and , the Germans offered to sell the four ships of the class at a cost of 10 million marks. The Ottomans chose to buy and , since they were the more advanced ships of the class. The two battleships were renamed after the famous 16th-century Ottoman admirals, Turgut Reis and Hayreddin Barbarossa, respectively. They were transferred on 1 September 1910, and on 12 September the German formally struck them from the naval register, backdated to 31 July. The Ottoman Navy, however, had great difficulty equipping and ; the navy had to pull trained enlisted men from the rest of the fleet just to put together crews for them. Both vessels suffered from condenser troubles after they entered Ottoman service, which reduced their speed to .

Italo–Turkish War

A year later, on 29 September 1911, Italy declared war on the Ottoman Empire to seize Libya. , along with and the obsolete Central battery ship, central battery ironclad had been on a summer training cruise since July, and so were prepared for the conflict. The day before Italy declared war, the ships had left Beirut, bound for the Dardanelles. Unaware that a war had begun, they steamed slowly and conducted training maneuvers while en route, passing southwest of Cyprus. While off the island of Kos on 1 October, the ships received word of the Italian attack, prompting them to steam at full speed for the safety of the Dardanelles, arriving later that night. The following day, the ships proceeded to Constantinople for a refit after the training cruise. and sortied briefly on 4 October, but quickly returned to port without encountering any Italian vessels. During this period, the Italian fleet laid naval mines at the entrance to the Dardanelles in an attempt to prevent the Ottoman fleet from entering the Mediterranean. Maintenance work was completed by 12 October, at which point the fleet returned to Nagara inside the Dardanelles.

Since the fleet could not be used to challenge the significantly more powerful Italian (Royal Navy), and were primarily kept at Nagara to support the coastal fortifications defending the Dardanelles in the event that the Italian fleet attempted to force the straits. On 19 April 1912, elements of the Italian fleet bombarded the Dardanelles fortresses, but the Ottoman fleet did not mount a counterattack. The negative course of the war led many naval officers to join a 1912 Ottoman coup d'état, coup against the Young Turk government; the officers commanding the fleet at Nagara threatened to bring the ships to Constantinople if their demands were not met. With tensions rising in the Balkans, the Ottoman government signed a peace treaty on 18 October, ending the war.

Balkan Wars

After watching Italy successfully seize Ottoman territory, the Balkan League declared war on the Ottoman Empire in October 1912 to seize the remaining European portion of the Empire, starting the First Balkan War. By this time, , as with most ships of the Ottoman fleet, was in a state of disrepair. Her Rangefinding telemeter, rangefinders and ammunition hoists had been removed, the pipes for her pumps were corroded, and the telephone lines no longer worked. On 7 October, the day before the Balkan League attacked, and were anchored off Haydarpaşa, along with the cruisers and and several torpedo boats. Ten days later, the ships departed for İğneada and the two battleships bombarded Bulgarian artillery positions near Varna, Bulgaria, Varna two days thereafter. The ships were still suffering from boiler trouble. Both battleships took part in gunnery training in the Sea of Marmara on 3 November, but stopped after firing only a few salvos each, as their main battery mountings were not fully functional.

On 7 November, shelled Bulgarian troops around Tekirdağ. On 17 November, she supported the Ottoman III Corps by bombarding the attacking Bulgarian forces. The ship was aided by artillery observers ashore. The battleship's gunnery was largely ineffective, though it provided a morale boost for the besieged Ottoman army dug in at Çatalca. By 17:00, the Bulgarian infantry had largely been forced back to their starting positions, in part due to the psychological effect of the battleships' bombardment. On 22 November, sortied from the Bosporus to cover the withdrawal of , which had been torpedoed by a Bulgarian torpedo boat earlier that morning.

=Battle of Elli

=

In December 1912, the Ottoman fleet was reorganized into an armored division, which included as flagship, two destroyer divisions, and a fourth division composed of warships intended for independent operations. Over the next two months, the armored division attempted to break the Greek naval blockade of the Dardanelles, which resulted in two major naval engagements. The first, the Battle of Elli took place on 16 December 1912. The Ottomans attempted to launch an attack on Imbros. The Ottoman fleet sortied from the Dardanelles at 09:30; the smaller craft remained at the mouth of the straits while the battleships sailed north, hugging the coast. The Greek flotilla, which included the armored cruiser and three s, sailing from the island of Lemnos, altered course to the northeast to block the advance of the Ottoman battleships.

The Ottoman ships opened fire on the Greeks at 09:50, from a range of about . Five minutes later, crossed over to the other side of the Ottoman fleet, placing the Ottomans in the unfavorable position of being under fire from both sides. At 09:50 and under heavy pressure from the Greek fleet, the Ottoman ships completed a points of the compass, 16-point turn, which reversed their course, and headed for the safety of the straits. The turn was poorly conducted, and the ships fell out of formation, blocking each other's fields of fire. Around this time, received several hits, though they inflicted only minor damage to the ship's superstructure and guns. By 10:17, both sides had ceased firing and the Ottoman fleet withdrew into the Dardanelles. The ships reached port by 13:00 and transferred their casualties to the hospital ship .

=Battle of Lemnos

=

The Battle of Lemnos resulted from an Ottoman plan to lure the faster away from the Dardanelles. The protected cruiser evaded the Greek blockade and broke out into the Aegean Sea; the assumption was that the Greeks would dispatch to hunt down . Despite the threat to Greek lines of communication posed by the cruiser, the Greek commander refused to detach from its position. By mid-January, the Ottomans had learned that remained with the Greek fleet, and so (Captain) Ramiz Numan Bey, the Ottoman fleet commander, decided to attack the Greeks regardless. , , and other units of the Ottoman fleet departed the Dardanelles at 08:20 on the morning of 18 January, and sailed toward the island of Lemnos at a speed of . led the line of battleships, with a flotilla of torpedo boats on either side of the formation. , with the three -class ironclads and five destroyers trailing behind, intercepted the Ottoman fleet approximately from Lemnos. At 10:55, spotted the Greeks, and the fleet turned south to engage them.

A long-range artillery duel that lasted for two hours began at around 11:55, when the Ottoman fleet opened fire at a range of . They concentrated their fire on , which returned fire at 12:00. At 12:50, the Greeks attempted to Crossing the T, cross the T of the Ottoman fleet, but the Ottoman line led by turned north to block the Greek maneuver. The Ottoman commander detached the old ironclad after she received a serious hit at 12:55. After suffered several hits that reduced her speed to , took the lead of the formation and Bey decided to break off the engagement. By 14:00, the Ottoman fleet reached the cover of the Dardanelles fortresses, forcing the Greeks to withdraw. Between and , the ships fired some 800 rounds, mostly of their main battery 28 cm guns but without success. During the battle, barbettes on both and her sister were disabled by gunfire, and both ships caught fire.

=Subsequent operations

=
On 8 February 1913, the Ottoman navy supported an amphibious assault at Şarköy. and , along with two small cruisers provided artillery support to the right flank of the invading force once it went ashore. The ships were positioned about a kilometer off shore; was the second ship in the line, behind her sister . The Bulgarian army resisted fiercely, which ultimately forced the Ottoman army to retreat, though the withdrawal was successful in large part due to the gunfire support from and the rest of the fleet. During the battle, fired 225 rounds from her 10.5 cm guns and 202 shells from her 8.8 cm guns.

In March 1913, the ship returned to the Black Sea to resume support of the Çatalca garrison, which was under renewed attacks by the Bulgarian army. On 26 March, the barrage of 28 and 10.5 cm shells fired by and assisted in the repelling of advance of the 2nd Brigade of the Bulgarian 1st Infantry Division. On 30 March, the left wing of the Ottoman line turned to pursue the retreating Bulgarians. Their advance was supported by both field artillery and the heavy guns of and the other warships positioned off the coast; the assault gained the Ottomans about by nightfall. In response, the Bulgarians brought the 1st Brigade to the front, which beat the Ottoman advance back to its starting position. On 11 April, and , supported by several smaller vessels, steamed to Çanakkale to provide distant cover for a light flotilla conducting a sweep for Greek warships. The two sides clashed in an inconclusive engagement, and the main Ottoman fleet did not sortie before the two sides disengaged.

World War I

In the summer of 1914, when World War I broke out in Europe, the Ottomans initially remained neutral. In early November, the Black Sea Raid of the German battlecruiser , which had been transferred to the Ottoman navy and renamed , resulted in declarations of war by Russia, France, and Great Britain. By this time, was :wikt:laid up, laid up off the Golden Horn, worn out from heavy service during the Balkan Wars. Admiral , the head of the German naval mission to the Ottoman Empire, sent her and to Nagara to support the Dardanelles forts. They remained on station from 14 to 19 December, before returning to Constantinople for repairs and gunnery training. On 18 February 1915, they departed for the Dardanelles and anchored in their firing positions. During this period, their engines were stopped to preserve fuel, but after the threat of British submarines increased, they kept steam up in their engines to preserve their ability to take evasive action; the steamer was moored in front of the battleships as a floating :wikt:barrage, barrage. By 11 March, the high command decided that only one ship should be kept on station at a time, alternating every five days, to allow the ships to replenish stores and ammunition.

On 18 March, was on station when the Allies of World War I, Allies attempted to force the straits. She did not engage the Allied ships, as her orders were to open fire only in the event that the defenses were breached. This was in part due to a severe shortage of shells. On 25 April, both and were present to bombard the Allied troops that had Gallipoli Campaign, landed at Gallipoli that day. At 07:30 that morning, the Australian submarine fired several torpedoes at but failed to score any hits. returned to Constantinople later that day as planned. While she was bombarding Allied positions on 5 June, one of s forward guns exploded; four men were killed and thirty-two were wounded. She returned to Constantinople for repairs, and the navy suspended bombardment operations— having suffered a similar accident on 25 April. On 12 August, was laid up at the Golden Horn after was torpedoed and sunk by a British submarine. At some point in 1915, some of s guns were removed and employed as coastal guns to shore up the defenses protecting the Dardanelles.

On 19 January 1918, and the light cruiser , which had also been transferred to Ottoman service under the name , sailed from the Dardanelles to attack several British Monitor (warship), monitors stationed outside. The ships quickly sank and before turning back to the safety of the Dardanelles. While en route, struck five mines and sank, while hit three mines and began to list to port. The ship's captain gave an incorrect order to the helmsman, which caused the ship to run aground. remained there for almost a week, until and several other vessels arrived on the scene on 22 January; the ships spent four days trying to free from the sand bank, including using the turbulence from their propellers to clear sand away from under the ship. By the morning of 26 January, came free from the sandbank and escorted her back into the Dardanelles.

was laid up again on 30 October 1918, and was refitted at the Gölcük Naval Shipyard from 1924 to 1925. After returning to service, she served as a stationary training ship based at Gölcük. At the time, she retained only two of her originally six 28 cm guns. Two main turrets were removed and installed as a part of the heavy coastal battery Turgut Reis, situated at the Asian coast of the Dardanelles Strait. Both turrets are preserved with their guns (two L/40 and two L/35). She was decommissioned in 1933 and was thereafter used as a barracks ship for dockyard workers, a role she filled until 1950, when she began to be broken up at Gölcük. By 1953, the ship had been broken down into two sections, and these were sold to be dismantled abroad. Demolition work was finally completed between 1956 and 1957.

Footnotes

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Weissenburg
Brandenburg-class battleships
Ships built in Stettin
1891 ships
Boxer Rebellion
Brandenburg-class battleships of the Ottoman Navy, Turgut Reis