A FLEET FOR SALE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 172, 13 August 1909, Page 4

A FLEET FOR SALE.

The wave of reform which has swept over Constantinople has,' nowhere produced greater bustle and commotion than in the naval department. Heroic ellorts are being made to evolve some sort of fleet from the collection of venerable derelicts which compose the present Turkish navy. It was resolved to class us effective .all those warships which, have undergone renovation in comparatively recent years—namely, within the last decade. Practically all the others are condemned to the scrap-heap, and the local newspapers publish announcements that over sixty battleships, cruisers, monitors, gunboats, and torpedo vessels are to be sold by auction. Some of these discarded veterans are interesting specimens of the earliest types of ironclad. Practically all date their birth from towards the' middle of last century. Among other oddities to be disposed of is one of the oldest submarines extant. It has been peacefully reposing under a shed in the Golden llorn for the last quarter of a century, literally dropping to pieces from rust and neglect. It never saw active service, and only made one trial trip after its purchase by the Turkish Government. Darring some torpedo craft and two comparatively modem cruisers', the vessels retained on the active list arc very few degrees superior to those which are t» be sold. The ilng<hip, the battleship ■Hessoudieh, was sister ship to the old • iipcrb,- which was withdrawn as' obsolete from the British navy about the eighties. The only other hat tle-hip is the Assan Tewlik. an obsolete coast delenee vessel, which underwent so-called renovation iu (Vrnian handi in moil.