Oruç Reis

History: The Oruç Reis-class submarines were ordered by the Turkish Navy from the British company Vickers in 1939. They were similar to the British S-class submarines, but slightly smaller. They had the S-class machinery but only four bow torpedo tubes. The four boats were requisitioned by the Royal Navy on the outbreak of World War II and fought in the British fleet as the P611 class. Two submarines were delivered to the Turks in 1942 in order to bolster Turkish strength against the threat from Nazi Germany and the remaining surviving submarine was delivered to the Turkish Navy after the end of the war in 1945. The three Turkish boats were scrapped in 1957.

Type: Submarine

Primary Country: Turkey is a nation straddling eastern Europe and western Asia with cultural connections to ancient Greek, Persian, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman empires. Cosmopolitan Istanbul, on the Bosphorus Strait, is home to the iconic Hagia Sophia, with its soaring dome and Christian mosaics, the massive 17th-century Blue Mosque and the circa-1460 Topkapı Palace, former home of sultans. Ankara is Turkey’s modern capital.