1817 TILL 1876 OTTOMAN DANUBE GUNBOAT FLOTILLAS

Ottoman Danube Gunboat Flotilla (1810)

The Ottomans operated river gunboats on the Danube, as part of their ‘Danube gunboat flotillas’, that featured in the Russo-Turkish War of 1810. At the battle of Batin (September, 1810), the Russian army made a demonstration against the heavily defended Turkish-left with the assistance of Russian gunboats on the Danube. These gunboats caught a small Turkish flotilla, anchored close to the Turkish position on the Danube, by surprise and sank two and captured five of the vessels [1].

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[1] North, J. 2000 Attack along the Danube: The Russo-Turkish War of 1810. Napoleon Series webpage.

Ottoman Danube Gunboat Flotilla (1817)

In 1817, some 700 Cossack were recruited to serve on Imperial Navy Ships as LEVENTI: ship-soldiers, on the reformed Ottoman Danube Flotilla (a river fleet of gun boats) [1].

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[1] Levy, Avigdor. 1982 Formalization of Cossack Service Under Ottoman Rule. Gunther E. Rothenberg et al. (Ed). East Central European Society and War. New York: Columbia University Press.

Ottoman Danube Gunboat Flotilla (1853)

In 1853, during the Ottoman army's attempt to cross the Danube, at Oltenica village their attacks at Chetati, Zhurzhi and Kelerasha were beaten off; and the Russian gun batteries destroyed the Ottoman Danube Fleet, of six gunboats and one ship [1].

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[1] Sergei R. Grinevetsky, Igor S. Zonn, Sergei S. Zhiltsov, Aleksey N. Kosarev, Andrey G. Kostianoy. 2014 The Black Sea Encyclopedia. Springer.

Ottoman Danube Gunboat Flotilla (1876)

Right - The Turkish Hizber class river monitor (1876) [1] [2].

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[1] Ivan Gogin, 2014 Ottoman/Turkish Navy (Ottoman Empire/Turkey): Other Fighting Ships.

[2] Quintin Barry. 2012 War in the East: A Military History of the Russo-Turkish War 1877-78. Helion and Company.

NILE RIVER GUNBOAT FLOTILLAS

Ottoman Nile Gunboat Flotilla (1798)

Known as the ‘Battle of Chebreisse’ (1798) this was a battle on the Nile between an Ottoman gunboat flotilla from Cairo, and the French river boat fleet of gunboats [1].

Right - An illustration of an Ottoman Nile river boat, called a 'Jarim' ('Cerim' in Ottoman-Turkish). These were basic transport "ships used to transport heavy items like wood along the Nile." [2]

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[1] Bourrienne [Louis Antoine Fauvelet de]. 1831 Private Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte: During the Periods of the Directory, the Consulate, and the Empire, Volume 1. Carey & Lea.

[2] Alan Mikhail, 2011 Nature and Empire in Ottoman Egypt: An Environmental History. Cambridge University Press.