Gölcük Naval Shipyard () is a

naval shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes more involved ...

of the

Turkish Naval Forces The Turkish Naval Forces (), or Turkish Navy (), is the naval warfare service branch of the TAF. The modern naval traditions and customs of the Turkish Navy can be traced back to 10 July 1920, when it was established as the ''Directorate o ...

within the Gölcük Naval Base on the southern shore of the

Gulf of İzmit Gulf of İzmit (), also referred to as İzmit Bay, is a bay at the easternmost edge of the Sea of Marmara, in Kocaeli Province, Turkey. The gulf takes its name from the city of İzmit. Other cities and towns around the bay are Gebze, Körfez, ...

, in the eastern part of the

Sea of Marmara The Sea of Marmara, also known as the Sea of Marmora or the Marmara Sea, is a small inland sea entirely within the borders of Turkey. It links the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea via the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits, separating Turkey's E ...

, in Gölcük, Kocaeli. Established in 1926, the shipyard serves for the construction and maintenance of military vessels. A total of 3,221 personnel are employed at the shipyard, which stretches over an area of , with covered structures of .

History

To repair the war damages of the Turkish

battlecruiser The battlecruiser (also written as battle cruiser or battle-cruiser) was a type of capital ship of the first half of the 20th century. These were similar in displacement, armament and cost to battleships, but differed in form and balance of att ...

TCG ''Yavuz'' after

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, a

floating drydock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...

, large enough to hold the big vessel, was needed. The site chosen was Gölcük on the southern shore of the

. With the construction of the floating drydock and the housing

barracks Barracks are buildings used to accommodate military personnel and quasi-military personnel such as police. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word 'soldier's tent', but today barracks ar ...

by the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

shipbuilding company

Flender Werke Flender Werke was a German shipbuilding company, located in Lübeck. It was founded in 1917 as a branch of Brückenbau Flender AG of Benrath on the Rhine. In 1926, it became a fully independent business and was renamed Lübecker Flenderwerke AG. I ...

, Gölcük Naval Shipyard was established in 1926. The maintenance facilities were extended in 1942 with various other buildings, such as a machine plant and foundry, stretching over a big

swampland A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

, a small lake and hazelnut

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit tree, fruit- or nut (fruit), nut-producing trees that are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also so ...

fields in Gölcük. The original Convention on the

Turkish Straits The Turkish Straits () are two internationally significant waterways in northwestern Turkey. The Straits create a series of international passages that connect the Aegean and Mediterranean seas to the Black Sea. They consist of the Dardanelles ...

in 1923, part of the

Treaty of Lausanne The Treaty of Lausanne (, ) is a peace treaty negotiated during the Lausanne Conference of 1922–1923 and signed in the Palais de Rumine in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 24 July 1923. The treaty officially resolved the conflict that had initially ...

signed in 1923, banned military facilities along the coastline of the Turkish Straits. For this reason, the Turkish Navy's infrastructure, like shipyards and naval facilities at the

Golden Horn The Golden Horn ( or ) is a major urban waterway and the primary inlet of the Bosphorus in Istanbul, Turkey. As a natural estuary that connects with the Bosphorus Strait at the point where the strait meets the Sea of Marmara, the waters of the ...

and

İstinye İstinye is a neighbourhood in the municipality and district of Sarıyer, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its population was 15,721 in 2022. It is on the European side of the city between the neighbourhoods of Emirgan and Yeniköy, on the northweste ...

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, were systematically relocated to Gölcük. Later, in 1936, the

Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Straits The (Montreux) Convention regarding the Regime of the Straits, often known simply as the Montreux Convention, is an international agreement governing the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits in Turkey. Signed on 20 July 1936 at the Montreux Palace ...

allowed Turkey to rebuild naval facilities along the Turkish Straits. The principal development and enlargement of the shipyard started in 1947, especially after Turkey's

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

membership in 1952, within the framework of NATO planning and subsidies. Gölcük Naval Shipyard is today capable of building naval vessels like

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the sloo ...

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...

landing ship An amphibious warfare ship (or amphib) is an amphibious vehicle warship employed to land and support ground forces, such as marines, on enemy territory during an amphibious assault. Specialized shipping can be divided into two types, most crud ...

s and commercial vessels up to 30,000 DWT. It is the second-largest shipbuilding facility in Turkey after the Pendik Naval Shipyard in

Tuzla, Istanbul Tuzla is a municipality and district of Istanbul Province, Turkey. It has a population of 288,878 (2022) and a land area of 138 km2 . It is on the Asian side of the city next to the municipality of Pendik. Tuzla is on a headland on the coa ...

Milestones

Following the completion of the repair works of TCG ''Yavuz'', the shipyard started the construction of the first ship entirely built in Gölcük. On July 26, 1934, an oil tanker was laid down. The long vessel was constructed in 16 months, named MT ''Gölcük'' after the shipyard, and launched on November 1, 1935, being also the first ship to be built in the Republican era. MT ''Gölcük'' served until 1983. In 1980, an ''Ay'' class submarine with a displacement of 1,000 tons was constructed at the Gölcük Naval Shipyard, marking an important turning point in the Turkish shipbuilding history. Also, the construction of a modern frigate, the TCG ''Fatih'' (F-242) in 1988, increased the international prestige of the shipyard. As of January 4, 2008, a total of 454 vessels were built at Gölcük Naval Shipyard.

Notable ships built

Floating dock Floating may refer to: * a type of dental work performed on horse teeth * use of an isolation tank * the guitar-playing technique where chords are sustained rather than scratched * ''Floating'' (play), by Hugh Hughes * Floating (psychological p ...

of 7,500 tons lifting capacity * ''Akar'' class

Logistics Support Vessel An auxiliary ship is a naval ship designed to support combatant ships and other naval operations. Auxiliary ships are not primary combatant vessels, though they may have some limited combat capacity, usually for purposes of self-defense. Auxil ...

(Supertanker) * ''Yavuz'' class frigates (MEKO 200 TN Track I) ** launched April 24, 1987, commissioned October 12, 1988 ** launched July 22, 1988, commissioned November 17, 1989 * ''Barbaros'' class frigates (MEKO 200 TN II-A) ** launched July 28, 1994, commissioned May 23, 1997 * ''Salih Reis'' class frigates (MEKO 200 TN II-B) ** launched July 28, 1998, commissioned June 8, 2000 * ''Ay'' class submarines (Type 209/1200)
** TCG ''Yıldıray'' (S 350) commissioned July 20, 1981 ** TCG ''Doğanay'' (S 351) commissioned November 16, 1984 ** TCG ''Dolunay'' (S 352) commissioned September 14, 1990 * Type 209 submarine, ''Preveze'' class submarines (Type 209/T1.1400) ** TCG ''Preveze'' (S 353) commissioned July 28, 1994 ** TCG ''Sakarya'' (S 354) commissioned December 21, 1995 ** TCG ''18 Mart'' (S 355) commissioned June 29, 1998 ** TCG ''Anafartalar'' (S 356) commissioned October 12, 1998 * ''Gür'' class submarines (Type 209/T2.1400) ** TCG ''Gür'' (S 357) commissioned July 24, 2003 ** TCG ''Çanakkale'' (S 358) commissioned December 13, 2004 ** TCG ''Burakreis'' (S 359) commissioned November 1, 2006 ** TCG ''Birinci İnönü'' (S 360) launched May 24, 2007, commissioned June 27, 2008 * ''Kılıç II-B'' class fast patrol boats ** TCG ''Atak'' (P 337) launched in 2006, commissioned July 24, 2008 * Turkish ''Type 80'' class coast guard boats ** TCSG-3 Coast Guard Boat ** TCSG-92 Coast Guard Fast Attack Boat * ''Kaan'' class coast guard boats ** MRTP-15, MRTP-29, MRTP-33

Projects

* Coast guard search and rescue ship * Enhanced fast patrol boats * Fast patrol boats *

Landing Craft, Tank The Landing Craft, Tank (LCT) (or tank landing craft, TLC) was an amphibious assault craft for landing tanks on beachheads. They were initially developed by the Royal Navy and later by the United States Navy during World War II in a series of ver ...

(LCT) *

Landing Ship, Tank A Landing Ship, Tank (LST) is a ship first developed during World War II (1939–1945) to support amphibious operations by carrying tanks, vehicles, cargo, and landing troops directly onto a low-slope beach with no dock (maritime), docks or pier ...

(LST) *

Landing Platform Dock An amphibious transport dock, also called a landing platform dock (LPD), is an amphibious warfare ship, a warship that embarks, transports, and lands elements of a landing force for expeditionary warfare missions. Several navies currently operat ...

(LPD) * A class Minehunters * New type patrol boat * Reis class (Type 214TN) AIP submarines * Rescue and towing ship * Milden National Submarine * Submarine rescue mother ship (MOSHIP)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Golcuk Naval Shipyard Turkish Navy shipyards Defence companies of Turkey Economy of Kocaeli Province Military in Kocaeli Buildings and structures in Kocaeli Province

History

Milestones

Notable ships built

Projects

See also

References