Starting in November 1804, the administration of the Ottoman state navy was completely reorganised by Selim III through the introduction of a series of wide-sweeping reforms that really began to tackle the institutionalised systemic failings that had bedevilled the Ottoman navy from the very onset of the age of fighting sail. In doing so, he also ruffled the feathers of an entrenched elite, those who had long benefited from a system that had allowed them to profit from the old ways of doing things. Both those within the civilian departments (purchasing, procurement and shipbuilding) and those who held rank at sea had developed various ways to ensure personal lucrative advantages from the managerial positions they held. It was before these reforms could bite, however, that Selim was removed from office, with those primarily responsible for his overthrow opposed to a generality of modernising reforms that were far from restricted to the navy.

It was the janissaries, the premier units of infantry recruited under the devşirme system, who took the lead in trying to bring an end to the reforms, their own concern being the creation of a new-style military force, the Nizam-I credit or New Army, which was trained in Western European military doctrine and practices. The janissaries were totally opposed to such foreign ideas, believing that they diminished soldiering by expecting them to fight as part of a machine rather than to show individual bravery. As within the navy, there was a further factor that fostered their opposition to the Nizam-I credit, that of this military force superseding them, resulting in the janissaries losing the various privileges that they had gained since their formation in the fourteenth century and which now made them a virtual law unto themselves. It was a rebellion led by the janissaries, but supported by other anti-reforming elements, including those within the navy, that forced Selim III to abdicate.