Gölcük Naval Base
Encyclopedia
Gölcük Naval Base is the main base of the Turkish Navy
on the east coast of the Sea of Marmara
in Gölcük, Kocaeli
. It is the principal base for logistic support with various facilities stretched over 1800 acres (7.3 km²) of land.
In addition to the workplaces, the base houses apartment-like barracks
, social facilities, a military hospital, a military museum and an archive for naval history.
The shipyard
at the base is capable of constructing frigate
s, submarine
s, fast attack boats and auxiliary vessels with high technology in recognized standards.
TCG Yavuz
for repair work of her war damage. Later, along with the German
shipbuilding company Flender Werke
that constructed the floating drydock, various repair shops, plants for the production of naval mine
, torpedo
and battery
and housing barracks were built in Gölcük. In this manner, the need of drydocking of the TCG Yavuz paved the road Gölcük's to the naval base.
These facilities were extended with various other buildings stretching over a big swampland
, a small lake and hazelnut orchard
fields in Gölcük. The Convention on the Turkish straits, part of the Treaty of Lausanne
signed in 1923, banned military facilities in the Turkish Straits
. So, Turkish Navy's infrastructure, like shipyards and naval facilities, at the Golden Horn
and İstinye
in Istanbul
were systematically relocated to Gölcük. Main warships of the Turkish Navy, like battlecruiser
s, destroyer
s and torpedo boat
s, were then stationed in Gölcük.
Finally, in 1933 the parliament enacted Gölcük as the main naval base of the Turkish Navy.
on August 17, 1999. The Command was temporarily housed in the Preveze War Games Center at the same base until July 2000, when the new headquarters building was completed.
The earthquake cost the lives of 441 base personnel in total including 28 navy officer
s of various ranks, 136 warrant officer
s, one naval cadet, 39 civil officials, 9 corporal
s, 82 seamen and 126 workers. Rear admiral
Orhan Aydın, commander of the Turkish Naval Academy
in Tuzla
, Istanbul
, was among the victims of the earthquake.
Turkish Navy
The Turkish Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the Turkish Armed Forces.- Ottoman fleet after Mudros :Following the demise of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of World War I, on November 3, 1918, the fleet commander of the Ottoman Navy, Liva Amiral Arif Pasha, ordered all flags to be...
on the east coast of the Sea of Marmara
Sea of Marmara
The Sea of Marmara , also known as the Sea of Marmora or the Marmara Sea, and in the context of classical antiquity as the Propontis , is the inland sea that connects the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea, thus separating Turkey's Asian and European parts. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Black...
in Gölcük, Kocaeli
Kocaeli Province
Kocaeli Province is a province of Turkey. Its capital is İzmit, which is sometimes referred to as Kocaeli itself. The largest town in the province is now Gebze. The traffic code is 41. The province is located at the easternmost end of the Marmara Sea, especially on the Gulf of İzmit. Because of...
. It is the principal base for logistic support with various facilities stretched over 1800 acres (7.3 km²) of land.
In addition to the workplaces, the base houses apartment-like barracks
Barracks
Barracks are specialised buildings for permanent military accommodation; the word may apply to separate housing blocks or to complete complexes. Their main object is to separate soldiers from the civilian population and reinforce discipline, training and esprit de corps. They were sometimes called...
, social facilities, a military hospital, a military museum and an archive for naval history.
The shipyard
Gölcük Naval Shipyard
Gölcük Naval Shipyard is a naval shipyard of the Turkish Navy within the Gölcük Naval Base on the east coast of the Sea of Marmara in Gölcük, Kocaeli. Established in 1926, the shipyard serves for the building and the maintenance of military vessels...
at the base is capable of constructing frigate
Frigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
s, submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
s, fast attack boats and auxiliary vessels with high technology in recognized standards.
History
In the late 1920s, the area in Gölcük was chosen to build a floating drydock large enough to hold the Turkish battlecruiserBattlecruiser
Battlecruisers were large capital ships built in the first half of the 20th century. They were developed in the first decade of the century as the successor to the armoured cruiser, but their evolution was more closely linked to that of the dreadnought battleship...
TCG Yavuz
SMS Goeben
SMS Goeben was the second of two Moltke-class battlecruisers of the Imperial German Navy, launched in 1911 and named after the German Franco-Prussian War veteran General August Karl von Goeben...
for repair work of her war damage. Later, along with the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
shipbuilding company Flender Werke
Flender Werke
Flender Werke was a German shipbuilding company, located in Lübeck. It was founded in 1917 and was at a time one of the largest shipyards in Germany.During World War II, Flender Werke built 2 Type II and 40 Type VII U-boats for the Kriegsmarine....
that constructed the floating drydock, various repair shops, plants for the production of naval mine
Naval mine
A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, an enemy vessel...
, torpedo
Torpedo
The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...
and battery
Battery (electricity)
An electrical battery is one or more electrochemical cells that convert stored chemical energy into electrical energy. Since the invention of the first battery in 1800 by Alessandro Volta and especially since the technically improved Daniell cell in 1836, batteries have become a common power...
and housing barracks were built in Gölcük. In this manner, the need of drydocking of the TCG Yavuz paved the road Gölcük's to the naval base.
These facilities were extended with various other buildings stretching over a big swampland
Swampland
In physics, the term swampland is used in contrast to the term "landscape," to indicate physical theories or aspects of such theories which could be true if gravity wasn't an issue, but which are not compatible with string theory...
, a small lake and hazelnut orchard
Orchard
An orchard is an intentional planting of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit or nut-producing trees which are grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of large gardens, where they serve an aesthetic as well as a productive...
fields in Gölcük. The Convention on the Turkish straits, part of the Treaty of Lausanne
Treaty of Lausanne
The Treaty of Lausanne was a peace treaty signed in Lausanne, Switzerland on 24 July 1923, that settled the Anatolian and East Thracian parts of the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire. The treaty of Lausanne was ratified by the Greek government on 11 February 1924, by the Turkish government on 31...
signed in 1923, banned military facilities in the Turkish Straits
Turkish Straits
The term Turkish Straits refers to the two narrow straits in northwestern Turkey, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles, that connect the Sea of Marmara with the Black Sea on one side and the Aegean arm of the Mediterranean Sea on the other. They are conventionally considered the boundary between the...
. So, Turkish Navy's infrastructure, like shipyards and naval facilities, at the Golden Horn
Golden Horn
The Golden Horn is a historic inlet of the Bosphorus dividing the city of Istanbul and forming the natural harbor that has sheltered Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman and other ships for thousands of...
and İstinye
Istinye
İstinye is a neighbourhood in Istanbul, on the European side of the city. It is located between Emirgan and Yeniköy on the northwestern shore of the Bosporus, within the borough of Sarıyer. It is one of the finest seashore locations on the Bosporus where people walk around during the weekends....
in Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
were systematically relocated to Gölcük. Main warships of the Turkish Navy, like battlecruiser
Battlecruiser
Battlecruisers were large capital ships built in the first half of the 20th century. They were developed in the first decade of the century as the successor to the armoured cruiser, but their evolution was more closely linked to that of the dreadnought battleship...
s, destroyer
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...
s and torpedo boat
Torpedo boat
A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval vessel designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs rammed enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes, and later designs launched self-propelled Whitehead torpedoes. They were created to counter battleships and other large, slow and...
s, were then stationed in Gölcük.
Finally, in 1933 the parliament enacted Gölcük as the main naval base of the Turkish Navy.
1999 İzmit earthquake
The headquarters of the Battle Fleet Command in Gölcük, established in 1964, and many other buildings were heavily destroyed by the İzmit earthquake1999 Izmit earthquake
The 1999 İzmit earthquake was a 7.6 magnitude earthquake that struck northwestern Turkey on August 17, 1999, at about 3:02am local time. The event lasted for 37 seconds, killing around 17,000 people and leaving approximately half a million people homeless...
on August 17, 1999. The Command was temporarily housed in the Preveze War Games Center at the same base until July 2000, when the new headquarters building was completed.
The earthquake cost the lives of 441 base personnel in total including 28 navy officer
Officer (armed forces)
An officer is a member of an armed force or uniformed service who holds a position of authority. Commissioned officers derive authority directly from a sovereign power and, as such, hold a commission charging them with the duties and responsibilities of a specific office or position...
s of various ranks, 136 warrant officer
Warrant Officer
A warrant officer is an officer in a military organization who is designated an officer by a warrant, as distinguished from a commissioned officer who is designated an officer by a commission, or from non-commissioned officer who is designated an officer by virtue of seniority.The rank was first...
s, one naval cadet, 39 civil officials, 9 corporal
Corporal
Corporal is a rank in use in some form by most militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. It is usually equivalent to NATO Rank Code OR-4....
s, 82 seamen and 126 workers. Rear admiral
Rear Admiral
Rear admiral is a naval commissioned officer rank above that of a commodore and captain, and below that of a vice admiral. It is generally regarded as the lowest of the "admiral" ranks, which are also sometimes referred to as "flag officers" or "flag ranks"...
Orhan Aydın, commander of the Turkish Naval Academy
Turkish Naval Academy
The Turkish Naval Academy is a four year co-educational military academy located in the district of Tuzla in Istanbul. Its mission is to develop cadets mentally and physically for service as commissioned officers in the Turkish Navy...
in Tuzla
Tuzla (district)
Tuzla is a small town, a suburb of Istanbul, Turkey on the Asian side of the city beyond Kartal and Pendik. Tuzla is on a headland on the coast of the Marmara Sea, at the eastern limit of the city. The mayor is Şadi Yazıcı .-History:...
, Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, was among the victims of the earthquake.
Operations
- Battle Fleet Command (Harp Filosu Komutanlığı)
- Attack Boat Fleet Command (Hücumbot Filosu Komutanlığı)
- Submarine Fleet Command (Denizaltı Filosu Komutanlığı)
- Gölcük Shipyard Command (Gölcük Tersanesi Komutanlığı)
- Naval Supply Center Command (Deniz İkmal Merkezi Komutanlığı)
- Tactics Development, Doctrine and Analysis Center Command (Taktik Geliştirme Doktrin ve Analiz Merkezi Komutanlığı)
- Invertory Control Center Command (Envanter Kontrol Merkezi Komutanlığı)
- Logistic Support Vessels Commodore (Lojistik Destek Gemileri Komodorluğu)