Politicians and journalists close to the Turkish government were furious after the US Navy, through its official Twitter account, changed its main image to another of its warships as it passed under a bridge in Istanbul.
A picture of US destroyer Donald Cook who crossed the Bosphorus Strait and was en route to security operations in the Black Sea in January.
But this very simple interpretation of the image, according to the English-language newspaper Ahoun, was not convincing to many users of prominent social networking sites in Turkey who felt there was a hidden motive behind the picture.
"The picture was deliberately chosen and called for the coup attempt on July 15, 2016," the daily quoted the secretary-general of the National Leftist Party, Otko Rehan, as saying.
Turkey accuses US-based cleric Fathullah Gulen, who has been in the United States since 1999, of masterminding the coup attempt. Gulen denies this.
"This is a message to Turkey, Russia, the Black Sea and Eurasia," Rehan said.
"Since we do not think this picture was chosen randomly, it clearly shows hostility."
Many pro-government journalists were far from this vision.
Joseph Kaplan, a writer for the pro-government daily Yeni Shafak, said the picture was a second scandal in a week after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo published a picture of a map with several inaccuracies, including inaccurate borders dividing Turkey in half.
