The frigate sailed to England in 1864, where she had steam engines and state of the art machinery installed, including electrical lighting.

On 18 February 1865, she left Portsmouth to return home with two other ships of the Ottoman Navy, Kosova and Hüdavendigâr, visiting some French and Spanish ports on the way.

After arriving in Istanbul, she anchored awhile in the Bosphorus in front of the Dolmabahçe Palace and later took part in the campaign against the Cretan Revolt in 1866.

In November 1878, the sloop Seiki (清輝) of the Japanese Imperial Navy arrived in Istanbul en route to a training mission in Europe, and the envoy was received by Sultan Abdul Hamid II and honored with various medals.

[5] The Grand Vizier Kâmil Pasha sent a note on 14 February 1889 to the head of the navy, Bozcaadalı Hasan Hüsnü Pasha, asking the name and possible departure date of a battleship, which was suitable to sail to the seas of Indo-China and Japan in order to put the theoretical knowledge of the Naval Academy graduates into practice.

[6] On 25 February 1889, Hasan Hüsnü Pasha informed the Grand Vizier that the frigate Ertuğrul was suitable for the assignment and could accomplish the preparations required within one week and set sail within one month.

The real reason of the journey and its importance was revealed then by the Grand Vizier as a goodwill visit to Japan for the presentation of gifts and the highest decoration of the Ottoman Empire, "Medal of High Honor", from the Sultan to the Japanese Emperor.

[5] Ertuğrul, with 607 (disputed figure) sailors — including 57 officers — on board, was instructed to set sail from Istanbul on 14 July 1889, with Captain Ali Osman Bey commanding.

On 26 July 1889, she entered the Suez Canal and ran ashore in Great Bitter Lake, destroyed the stern post and lost the rudder.

In Yokohama, Rear Admiral Ali Osman Pasha and the officers were received by Emperor Meiji of Japan on 13 June 1890.

At the time of departure, the weather conditions were good, but the next morning a reverse wind began to blow, getting stronger towards the evening.

Almost immobile without main sails and sufficient propulsion, and having only the wind and the waves behind, Ertuğrul drifted towards the dangerous rocks at the eastern coast of Kii Ōshima.

At the site of the incident, more than 500 sailors, of whom fifty were officers including the commander Rear Admiral Ali Osman Pasha, lost their lives.

All of the sixty-nine survivors were transported back to Istanbul aboard the Japanese corvettes Kongō and Hiei, leaving Shinagawa, Tokyo, in October 1890.

The Sultan met with the officers of the Japanese ships on 5 January 1891 and expressed his appreciation for the relief operation by decorating them with medals.

[7] In February 1891, a cemetery was established for the 150 bodies recovered from the sea, and a memorial next to it was built near the lighthouse in the town of Kushimoto, Wakayama.

[12] On 28 January 2008, the team of archaeologists, under the leadership of Tufan Turanlı (director of INA-Bodrum at the time), reached the ammunition store section of the wreck in a dive during the second phase of the underwater excavation project.