Mehmed II (March 30; 1432 - May 3; 1481) or; in modern Turkish; Fatih Sultan Mehmet; known as Mahomet or Mohammed II in early modern Europe) was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1444 to September 1446; and later from February 1451 to 1481.

In 1453; at the age of just 21; Mehmed led an Ottoman army in the siege of Constantinople with between 80;000 to 200;000 troops and a navy of 320 vessels; though the bulk of them were transport and store ships. The city was surrounded by sea and land; the fleet at the entrance of the Bosphorus was stretched from shore to shore in the form of a crescent; to intercept or repel any assistance from the sea for the besieged Byzantines.

In early April; the Siege of Constantinople began. After several fruitless assaults; the city's walls held off the Turks with great difficulty; even with the use of the new Orban's bombard; a cannon similar to the Dardanelles Gun. The harbor of the Golden Horn was blocked by a boom chain and defended by 28 warships.

On April 22; Mehmed transported his lighter warships overland; around the Genoese colony of Galata and into the Golden Horn's northern shore; 80 galleys were transported from the Bosphorus after paving a little over one-mile route with wood. Thus the Byzantines stretched their troops over a longer portion of the walls. A little over a month later; Constantinople fell on May 29 following a 57-day siege. It was the end of the Byzantine Empire.