HMS Erin was a dreadnought battleship of the Royal Navy, originally ordered by the Ottoman government from the British Vickers Company. The ship was to have been named Reşadiye when she entered service with the Ottoman Navy. The was designed to be at least the equal of any other ship afloat or under construction. When the First World War began in August 1914, Reşadiye was nearly complete and was seized at the orders of Winston Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty, to keep her in British hands and prevent her from being used by Germany or German allies. There is no evidence that the seizure played any part in the Ottoman government declaring war on Britain and the Triple Entente. Aside from a minor role in the Battle of Jutland in May 1916 and the inconclusive Action of 19 August the same year, Erins service during the war generally consisted of routine patrols and training in the North Sea. The ship was deemed obsolete after the war; she was reduced to reserve and used as a training ship. Erin served as the flagship of the reserve fleet at the Nore for most of 1920. She was sold for scrap in 1922 and broken up the following year. Design and description The design of the Reşadiye class was based on the , but employed the secondary armament of the later . Erin had an overall length of , a beam of and a draught of . She displaced at normal load and at deep load. In 1914 her crew numbered 976 officers and ratings and 1,064 a year later. Erin was powered by a pair of Parsons direct-drive steam turbine sets, each driving two shafts using steam from 15 Babcock & Wilcox boilers. The turbines, rated at , were intended to give the ship a maximum speed of . The ship carried enough coal and fuel oil for a maximum range of at a cruising speed of . This radius of action was somewhat less than that of contemporary British battleships, but was adequate for operations in the North Sea. Armament and armour The ship was armed with a main battery of ten BL Mk VI guns mounted in five twin-gun turrets, designated 'A', 'B', 'Q', 'X' and 'Y' from front to rear. They were arranged in two superfiring pairs, one forward and one aft of the superstructure; the fifth