Taif was one of four wooden-hulled Mecidiye-class paddle frigates built for the Ottoman Navy in the 1840s; they were the first Ottoman-built warships powered by steam.

She was present at the Battle of Sinop, but her steam engine allowed her to escape before the Russian fleet destroyed the Ottoman squadron in the port.

[2] Taif was ordered in 1845 as part of a modest naval expansion program aimed at building the first steam-powered ships of the Ottoman Navy.

The squadron was tasked with patrolling the eastern Black Sea coast of the Ottoman Empire, including Circassia and Georgia.

Mustafa had seen the Russian fleet approach and quickly got steam worked up in Taif's boilers, allowing her to leave the harbor before the attack began.

[7][8][9] In 1857, the ship returned to the Imperial Arsenal for a refit that included reducing her armament to a battery of twelve 32-pdr guns on the main deck.

The ship remained in service for another ten years,[1] during which time she escorted Albert Edward, Prince of Wales on a visit to Constantinople in May and June 1862.