Tersâne-i Âmire

The Imperial Arsenal or Tersâne-i Âmire was the main base and naval shipyard of the Ottoman Empire from the 16th century to the end of the Empire. It was located on the Golden Horn in the Ottoman capital, Constantinople (modern Istanbul).

The Ottoman Turks used the word liman (from Greek limēn) to refer to harbours in general, but in the 15th century they also adopted and increasingly began to use the term tersane (often misinterpreted as tershane, incorporating the term hane, "house") from Italian darsena, "shipyard"—likewise the origin of the English "arsenal"—which in turn derived from the Arabic dār al-sināʿa.

In the course of their expansion, the Ottomans captured a number of ports and shipyards on both the Aegean and the Black Sea shores, such as those of Iznikmid (Nicomedia, modern İzmit), Gemlik (Cius), and Aydincik (Kyzikos). The main naval base and arsenal of the Ottoman navy during the early period, however, was at Gallipoli, which was definitively occupied by the Ottomans in 1377.

After the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, Sultan Mehmed II (reigned 1444–46, 1451–81) established an imperial shipyard across the Golden Horn from Constantinople proper, in the formerly Genoese suburb of Galata, probably on the same site as the Genoese vetus tersana ("old shipyard"). Work on the new arsenal was completed under the reign of Mehmed's successor Bayezid II (r. 1481–1512), but in winter 1513–14 Selim I (r. 1512–20) began a major expansion, for which 200,000 ducats were allocated by the treasury. In addition to shipyards, covered dry docks were built to facilitate maintenance of warships during winter. By 1515, with 160 docks constructed, the Galata arsenal had surpassed Gallipoli, and the main Ottoman naval base was moved there. In the 1526 map of Piri Reis, the arsenal is shown as a continuous line of docks lining the northern shore of the Golden Horn, from the gate of Azab Kapisi to the vicinity of Hasköy. The name "Tershane" was officially applied to the Galata shipyard at about the same time.

...
Wikipedia