Cruiser Hamidiye Medal

Mavi Boncuk
Cruiser Hamidiye Medal (Hamidiye Kruvazoru Humayunu Madalyasi) 1913

This medal was the only commemorative military medal issued for the Balkan War of 1912-1913. The cruiser Hamidiye and its Captain, Rauf Bey, achieved considerable success in the naval battles of this war, sinking several Greek ships and defending the Aegean and Adriatic waters of Turkey.[1] Although the outcome of the war as a whole was a failure for the Ottoman Empire, the exploits of this one ship achieved enough fame to merit this medal.

The medal was struck only in bronze, 31.5 mm in diameter, and was awarded to the 394 crewmen of the Hamidiye. The obverse bore the tughra of Mehmed Reshad, surrounded by a swirling ornamental design reminiscent of waves. On the reverse is an image of the battle cruiser, below which is an ornamental scroll with a blank space where the name of the recipient was engraved. This award was to be passed to the heirs of the recipient upon his death. The ribbon was red with wide green borders.

[1]The Hamidiye fought in the Balkan Wars under the command of Captain Rauf Orbay, and was the only Ottoman ship to distinguish itself in the conflict. In November 1912, while shelling Bulgarian positions during the First Balkan War, the Hamidiye was damaged by the Bulgarian torpedo boat Drazki, though Orbay claimed to have sunk two other torpedo boats.The torpedo tore a 10 ft (3.0 m) hole in her bow on the starboard side, and killed eight men. Though the bow was mostly submerged, it was able to withdraw back to home port for repairs. On 14 January 1913, the Hamidiye slipped through the Greek naval blockade of the Dardanelles under cover of night, and proceeded to raid Greek shipping in the Aegean. The next day, at Syros, it sunk the Greek armed merchantman Makedonia and shelled the town of Ermoupoli. From there it set sail to Beirut and Port Said. The raids of the Hamidiye and its ability to roam around the Mediterranean and sow confusion, disrupt shipping and destroy various ships and facilities while avoiding its pursuers became a major morale booster for the Ottomans. The main aim of its sally however, to draw away the Greek cruiser Averof so as to enable the Ottoman fleet to tackle the rest of the Greek navy in support of the Ottoman land forces, failed.

Orbay then led his ship to shell Greek and Serbian positions on the coast of Albania. At San Giovanni di Medua (Turkish: Şingin) on 12 March 1913, it sunk six Greek merchant ships and heavily damaged an Austrian ship, as well as shelling the Serbian military encampment there. Evading the Greek destroyers sent to find it, Hamidiye set sail for Egypt. Another sortie south of Crete led to the capture of another Greek merchantman, but reports of Greek warships near Rhodes forced the Hamidiye, whose boilers were damaged and reduced her speed, to seek refuge in the Red Sea, where it sat out the end of the war.