Show TURKISH ARMY RANKS nineteenth turkeys army and navy are both ranked nineteenth among the armies and navies of the world the boston globe remarks while her army is fairly well organized and has a war strength ot of which Is only behind that of 0 great britain her fleet Is practically nonexistent non existent in tact fact until 1910 the sultan had systematically dismantled the navy for or fear ear that it would turn against him as it had turned against his predecessor abdulaziz abd ul aziz the peace strength of 0 turkeys army Is men she Is able to draw upon reserves bringing her war strength up to the population of 0 turkey Is a little more than and ot of this number fully could be drawn in case ot of necessity before the new regime was inaugurated in 1910 military service had been obligatory on all mus sul mans christians being excluded but under obligations to pay a military exoneration tax of 0 for every males between the ages of fifteen and seventy five under the new regime however all ottomans are subject to military service although under certain conditions exemption Is purchasable active service in the turkish army lasts nine years of 0 this the soldiers are three or four years with the colors and the rest ot of the time they ore are reserves in cases of 0 necessity all males up to the age of seventy can be called upon to join the colors the navy has been on the decline ever since the catastrophe of 0 sinode in 1853 when a russian fleet practically annihilated the turkish wooden vessels the sultan abdulaziz abdul abd ul aziz with the aid ot of british officers succeeded in creating an imposing fleet of ironclads iron constructed in english and french yards but his successor abdul abd ul alamid IIa inid pursued a settled policy ot of reducing the fleet to impotency most ot of the ships that were wera added were built in american british or italian yards 1 in 1910 it was voted to spend in rehabilitating the navy the result Is that turkey now has two modern battleships of 0 the first class the reshad 1 hamins and the reshad V both with a ton displacement besides these she also has one battleship of 0 the cruiser type and three battleships of 0 the older type she has two first class cruisers two second class cruisers and one third thard class cruiser the rest of the fleet Is made up by two gunboats gun boats two monitors ten destroyers and eight torpedo boats the personnel of 0 the navy was formerly drawn from the army from 2000 to joining the navy each year but under the present regime during the reorganization and reconstruction of the navy the draft of men Is made direct british officers were engaged to train the men and to assist in the reorganization the naval force numbers officers and men about thirty thousand while the navy Is small its potency Is greatly increased by the strategic position of 0 turkeys naval base constantinople |