Purchased German Submarines Before World War II According to Archives

Abstract

Before World War II, efforts were made to prepare a strong navy to prepare the Turkish Navy for war and to defend the country in a possible war. In the mentioned period, submarines had an undisputed superiority over ships. For surface ships, it was very difficult to detect submarines and to destroy them with the weapons of that period. Aware of this fact, the Turkish Navy personnel wanted to put emphasis on submarines and add new ones to the submarines in order to reinforce their navy. For this purpose, "Ay Class" submarines; Saldıray, Batıray, Atılay and Yıldıray named by President Atatürk himself, were ordered to Germany's Germania Werft I. V. S., one of the world's best submarine manufacturers. In this study, explanations about the decision to buy submarines, the ordering and manufacturing processes and costs, were explained by using the archive documents of the Turkish Naval Forces. The information was processed with a scientific and objective point of view. Since the content of the study was not suitable for analysis, synthesis or critical point of view, a more didactic method of presentation was used for the study.