Kocatepe class destroyer (1931)

Kocatepe, Adatepe 1931-1954

The Kocatepe class destroyers were built for the Turkish Navy by Ansaldo of Genoa, in 1931. They were the first part of a massive re-armament program of the Turkish Navy started after the establishment of the Republic of Turkey under Kemal Ataturk. They were based on the contemporary Folgore class but with guns mounted in single mountings and superfiring positions, so the hulls were lengthened and ended with two funnels instead of a single one. They answered the Greek Ydra class destroyer as part of a new arms race with ships built in Italy and submarines built in Germany (for Turkey), Italy and France for Greece. Next was the Tinaztepe class from C.T. Riva Trigoso.

kocatepe

Development

After the end of the war with Greece in 1920 and the revolution, then the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1922 (already acted by the victorious entente powers in 1919 at Sèvres) and foundation of the Republic of Turkey under the lead of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938), there was a later revival of naval power. At first the Turkish forces were restricted by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, demilitarizing Turkey. The League of Nations were supposed to keep the peace locally but new tensions in the Balkans and against greece trigerred a Turkish rearmament, plus some defiance towards the former entente power.

This conducted Turkey to start a rapprochement back with Germany (and soon start a submarine program), and also with Italy, frustrated by the Versailles treaty and under Mussolini’s rule. By 1925 onwards, Fascism and Kemalism were both driven by nationalism, and the Mussolini regime had some strong influence on a rapprochement compounded by Italy’s attempt to build an alliance with Greece and Turkey to counterweight French influence in the Balkans from 1926, until 1931. These attempts however failed and relations became tense again until 1939. Still Turkey trusted Italy to built new destroyers, two pairs on the basic same design, ordered in 1929 from Ansaldo and CT. Riva Trigoso. They were supposed to escort a modernized battlecruiser, TCG Yavuz, overhauled by France, but at Gölcük Naval Shipyard as the treaty of Lausanne forbade any warship to transit the Dardanelles.

Minister of the Navy, İhsan Eryavuz, was convicted of embezzlement after a later enquiry leading to the abolition of the Ministry of the Navy on 27 December 1927. This was in this difficult context the first modern Turkish destroyers were born. The idea was pushed forward by the newly established Ministry of National Defense and in particular after the creation on 16 January 1928 of the Undersecretariat of the Sea (Deniz Müsteşarlığı). Another effort was on 2 November 1930, with the establishement of the Naval War College (Deniz Harp Akademisi) at Yıldız Palace.

With these solid foundations, the Turkeish Navy was ready to received new ships. Much later with the signing of the Montreux Convention in 1936, Turkey’s sovereignty over the straits was internationally recognized, adn thus the right to send a squadron of destroyers and submarines. Italy offered up to 70% subsidies to Turkey in the 1920s for using Italian shipyards whereas poor relations with France notably based on the repayment of debts of the Ottoman Empire already led to a rapprochement of France and Greece.

Design of the class

So far the most recent experience of Turkey with destroyers went back to pre-WWI, with the four 1910 Muavenet-i Milliye delivered by Germany along with battleships. These ex-S165 to 168 were early “destroyers” displacing 665/765 tonnes and with 17,500 hp, capable of 32 knots; By the 1920s their 75 mm had been replaced by 88 mm guns, but they only had three torpedo tubes and were now torpedo-boats for 1928 standards. Which brought us to the 1929 programme, under which a first serie of destroyers was ordered. Greece launched a similar program the same year. The class is sometimes name from either of the “Tepe” in class due to varied ways to pickup the class leader, either at launch (there Kocatepe) or at completion (both were equal).

Both countries wanted four destroyers to constitute two escort forces for larger vessels, Yavuz in Turkish case, Averoff in Greek case. They were the result of design studies from experts of Ansaldo on the basis of the Italian destroyer Folgore, but the Turkish commission sent to the shipyard wanted a more conventional artillery scheme, like French and Brtish ships (which was in turn asked for by Greece as well). The placement of the guns in sueprfiring positions demanded a length increase, but the breadth was moderated to keep a high hull ratio for better speed. Stability was worked on to a critical level and they were also caracterized by two funnels, generating a silhouette that was pretty unique and very different from the Italian destroyers they came from. Construction at Ansaldo Yard in genoa was swift, as they were laid down in January 1930 officially, launched in February and March 1931 and completed both in October the same year.

Hull and general design

The Kokatepe had a twin-funnel silhouette and differed from their Italian prototypes in their gun placement—a linear, elevated arrangement, similar to that of British and French destroyers. This necessitated a lengthened hull, while reducing its width to ensure the ships’ high speed. The narrower hull coupled with the high-mounted guns made the Turkish ships’ stability even more mediocre than that of the Folgore-class destroyers. It seems however the ships were better balanced and lighter than the Greek Ydra class built at Odero, Sestri Ponente shipyard. They also had a single funnel instead of two on the Turkish Ships.

Powerplant

The propulsion system was just a copy-paste of the Folgore class and consisted of two Parsons geared units fed in turn by three Thornycroft steam boilers. During trials, they reached a speed of 41 knots from 52,000 horsepower. However a more practical service speed was established at 36 knots. They carried 360 tonnes of oil for an endurance of 3,500 nautical miles at 15 kts.

Armament

The Kocatepe class had four Italian OTO 120mm/50 guns, three Vickers-Terni 40mm/40 pom-pom. The latter were mounted on the forecastle, one on a platform between the torpedo tubes. The 533mm torpedo tubes were new to the Turkish Navy as the last 1910 ex-German destroyers mounted 46 mm (18 inches) tubes. From 1942, they were modernized with two 20mm/70 Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns.

120mm/50 Ansaldo M1926

These horizontal sliding breech block guns in 20-tonne common-cradle twin mountings with maximum elevation of 45°. They existed on twin mounts on the Navigatori, Freccia and Folgore-class as well.

Specs Ansaldo M1926:

Mount: 5.1 tons (5,552 kg), 252.0 in (6.400 m) Shell: Separate, 23 kg AP, HE 51.8 lbs. (23.15 kg). Propellant: 21.4 lbs. (9.7 kg) Muzzle Velocity: 3,117 fps (950 mps) Later reduced to 3,018 fps (920 mps) Range: 19,600 m Rate of fire: 6-7 rounds per minute The Navigatori were provided 182 rounds per gun so 1092 total. Standard outfit was 408 AP, 672 HE, 120 incendiary and 100 star shells, plus an unspecified number of ready rounds.

40mm/39 Vickers-Terni 1915/1917

The anti-aircraft armament initially comprised the same three Vickers-Terni 1915 40mm/39 machine guns as the Dardo, placed on raised platforms, three postions aft of the funnel. Two 20 mm/70 Oerlikon Mark II/IV AA guns were later installed, albeit the location is uncertain (in research).

Specs Vickers-Terni 1915:

Weight 550 lbs. (249 kg) including cooling water Overall lenght 96 in (2.438 m), bore 62 in (1.575 m), 200 rpm cyclical, 50-75 rpm practical Fired the HE or CP rounds of 2.95 lbs. (1.34 kg) at 2,000 fps (610 mps). Maximum Effective Range: 1,200 yards (1,100 m).

Torpedoes

These were 533 mm San Giorgio type triple mounts placed in the axis, behind the funnel structure, with a searchlight between them. There was an aiming system, as they were electrically controlled by a Fire Direction system with two stations: One for daytime launching and one for night launching on the bridge. The most likely torpedo model was the 53.3 cm (21″) Si 270/533.4 x 7.2 “M” manufactured in Naples (Silurificio Italiano). No reloads.

Specs:

Weight; 3,748 lbs. (1,700 kg)
Overall Length: 23 ft. 7 in. (7.200 m)
Warhead: 595 lbs. (270 kg)
Powered by Wet-heater.
Range/Speed settings:
-4,400 yards (4,000 m)/46 kts
-8,750 yards (8,000 m)/35 kts
-13,100 yards (12,000 m)/29 kts
Later versions went to 48/38/30 knots on the same ranges settings.

Misc.

They likely had no mines nor ASW grenades racks or launchers: No data on these.

Kocatepe, old rendition by the author.

⚙ specs.
Displacement	1270 tonnes standard, 1676 tonnes full load
Dimensions	100.2 x 9.37 x 2.9 (329 ft x 30.7 ft x 9 ft 6 in)
Propulsion	2 shaft Parsons geared steam turbines, 3 Thornycroft boilers: 35,000 hp (26,100 kW)
Speed	36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph)
Range	3,500 nmi (6,500 km; 4,000 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Armament	4x 120 mm, 3x 40 mm AA, 2x 20 mm AA, 2×3 533mm TTs
Crew	149

Career of the Kocatepe class

TCG Kocatepe (1931)

TCG Kocatepe was laid down at Ansaldo, Sestri Ponente in January 1930 (as presumed), launched on 7 February 1931 and completed on 18 October 1931. No solid data on her career. She kept training in the Mediterranean, typical of peacetime deterrence and crew drills. In World war two, TCG Kocatepe enforced the country’s armed neutrality. She performed merchant convoys protection and provided coastal routes patrol and took part in Black Sea operations, monitoring possible encroachement of its territorial waters of both axis convoys and Soviet. Turkey eventually declared war on Germany by February 1945 but by that stage, took no offensive stance, made no deployment. They trained with TCG Yavuz, the cruiser TCG Hamidiye and light cruiser TCG Peyk and submarines.

Postwar, she she remained active and in 1947 like her sister she became a training ship, pending MDAP deliveries of new destroyers, like the new TCG Kocatepe later, D-354, ex-USS Harwood. From 1952 Turkey accessed NATO and took part in its activities, joint exercises or ASW warfare training as well as fleet maneuvers. The accent by then was made on targeted Soviet submarines the Black Sea region. He utility in standard naval tasks was limited to supportive roles as she was used as TS and eventually decommissioned in 1953.

TCG Adatepe (1931)

TCG Adatepe was laid down at Ansaldo in January 1930, launched on 19 March 1931 and completed on 18 October 1931 (officially). Like her sister, TCG Adatepe took her place in a flotilla assigned to the main battle squadron centered around TCG Yavuz, TCG Hamidiye and TCG Peyk. She took part in parades in the gold horn, patrols in the Dardanelles and in the black sea, having combined exercizes and observing naval drills of the Bulgarian, Romanian and moreover of the Black sea fleet, or patrolling to the limits of its territorial waters. At some points the drills involved all four “Tepe” destroyers.

In 1939 with the war breaking out, TCG Adatepe was sent in neutrality patrols, with the same missions as her sister, watching over trade convoys and patrolling territorial waters. In 1947 like her sister she was used as training ship, and after having some exercises with NATO from 1952, she was decommissioned by February 1954, replaced by the Gearing FRAM I Adatepe class destroyers (1971).