Tinaztepe class destroyer (1931)

Tinaztepe, Zafer 1931-1954

The Tinaztepe class destroyers were built for the Turkish Navy by C.T. Riva Trigoso in 1930-32. They were the secind pair of four destroyers ordered on the same design, part of a massive re-armament program. Tinaztepe and Zafer were smaller than their half-sisters the Kocatepe class, while still based on the same Folgore class. The main difference was that instead of single mountings in superfiring positions, they reverted to the traditional twin mounts for and aft of Italian destroyers. However they still had two funnels instead of a single one. They also answered the Greek Ydra class destroyer as part of an arms race with ships built in Italy, and submarines built anywhere.

Development

The end of the war with Greece in 1920 and revolution beinging down the Ottoman Empire in 1922 and foundation of the Republic of Turkey under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938), decision was made to completely revise the army and navy. However the Turkish Navy was restricted by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, however this was soon challenged at the League of Nations due to new tensions in the Balkans and renewed tensions with Greece, trigerring a Turkish rearmament. There was also a significant defiance against former entente power.

Turkey started a rapprochement with Italy, and later with Germany. By 1926, Mussolini attempted to build an alliance with Greece and Turkey to counterweight French influence in the Balkans and that was a goal still pursued 1931. Arms purchases always has been a part of these diplomatic games, and so Italy proposed both countries new destroyers and submarines. This was helped by a competitive cost compared to France or Britain. These attempts however failed, relations became tense again until 1939 between Turkey and Greece and in fact, purchasing new hardware only aggravated the situation instead of balancing it. Turkey in 1929 ordered two pairs on a basic same design from Ansaldo and CT. Riva Trigoso, based on the brand new Folgore class. They were supposed to escort TCG Yavuz, recently overhauled at Gölcük Naval Shipyard. To seal the deal when selling its ships, Italy offered up to 70% subsidies to Turkey if Italian shipyards. France meanwhile started a rapprochement with Greece, which was concretized by the purchase of submarines in French Yards.

But this order came out just after Minister of the Navy, İhsan Eryavuz was convicted of embezzlement, leading to the abolition of his Ministry on 27 December 1927. Modern destroyers were pushed forward by the newly established Ministry of National Defense and the newly created (16 January 1928) Undersecretariat of the Sea (Deniz Müsteşarlığı). On 2 November 1930, the Naval War College (Deniz Harp Akademisi) at Yıldız Palace created a favourable frame for new ships and submarines. The final stage was a displomatic coup by the Turkish diplomatic corps, the signing of the Montreux Convention in 1936 with former entente powers. This recoignized Turkey’s sovereignty over the Dardanelles straits and thus now the fleet could sent a squadron of destroyers and submarines across and to the Ionian sea.

Design of the class

The last Turkish destroyers were the 1910 Muavenet-i Milliye class delivered by Germany along with battleships. They were the ex-S165 to 168, typical toothbrush style of 665/765 tonnes powered by 17,500 hp, capable for 32 knots and modernized in the 1920s with new 88 mm guns, but having just three torpedo tubes. So on 1928 they were reclassed as torpedo-boats. The 1929 programme, mirrored by a similar program by Greece planned four destroyers. Some authors classes them altogether as the “Tepe” but they came from sparate shipyards for capacity reasons, and if they all derived from the same basic design, the brand new Folgore class (planned, ordered but not yet built), it was chosen at C.T. Riva Trigoso to propose a design with twin mounts instead for stability and speed reasons, and this was accepted. This was in contrast to the Kocatepe and rival Greek Hydra class which all had superfiring artillery.

In any case, both pairs were intended to escort the battlecruiser Yavuz and the Turkish commission sent to Riva Trigoso shipyard wanted was convinced to keep the traditional Italian design for the reason described above. However they were still caracterized by two funnels, generating a silhouette that was still unique and different from contemporary Italian destroyers. The names chosen, Tinaztepe for a mount, and Zafer for “victory” were laid down in (January) 1930, the date remains unknown. But they were launched after their sisters of the Kocatepe class in July and September 1931 and completed both in June 1932, so much later. Note that in other sources they are called the Zafer class.

Hull and general design

The Tinaztepe had a twin-funnel silhouette but kept their main guns the Italian way instead of British or French destroyers (in fact most destroyers of the time) and their own half-sisters the Kocatepe class. Because of this their hull was kept shorter, the beam was however kept almost the same to ensure stability, but the hull lines and ration were still favourable to preserve high speed. For the detail, these pair of destroyers was 96 m (315 ft) versus 100.2 (329 ft), for a beam of 9.30 m (31 ft) versus 9.37 (32 ft) and a draught of 3.28 m (10.8 ft) versus 2.9 meters (9 ft 6 in), so buoyancy was better. Overall, on paper at least, they would be more stable, when the Kocatepe class ended with a stability even more mediocre than that of the Folgore-class.

Powerplant

The propulsion system was just a copy-paste of the Folgore class and their half-sisters, with two Parsons geared units fed in turn by three Thornycroft steam boilers. On trials, they reached like their sisters 41 knots from 52,000 horsepower but the Turkish commission asked to lower powered down to 20%. So practical service speed was 36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph). They carried 350 tonnes (360 tonnes Kocatepe) of fuel oil for a similar endurance of 3,500 nautical miles at 15 kts.

Armament

The Tinaztepe class had four Italian OTO 120mm/50 guns, three Vickers-Terni 40mm/40 pom-pom. However the main guns were in the same twin mounts used by the Folgore class, one on each end, with the aft mont at the same height of the forecastle one for easier ballistic calculations. The pom-pom AA guns remained at the same positions behind the aft funnel. The 533mm torpedo tubes were located aft amidships with a gunnery controil platform between them. They also had two light projectors on both masts fore and aft. From 1942, they were modernized with two 20mm/70 Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns and four depht charge throwers were mounted at the stern. They had no rack nor thrower originally, but the concern of Greek submarines was enough.

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. The twin cradle had a disadvantage, interference when firing, so this was artificially delayed between the two barrels.

Specs Ansaldo M1926:

Mount: 20 tons. Barrel lenght 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. Provision c150 rounds per gun, AP, HE, incendiary and star shells.

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, in two postions aft of the funnel. Two 20 mm/70 Oerlikon Mark II/IV AA guns were later installed, albeit location is uncertain.

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	1225 tonnes standard, 1635 tonnes full load
Dimensions	96 x 9.3 x 2.28 (315 ft x 31 ft x 10 ft 8 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 Tinaztepe class

TCG Tinaztepe (1931)

TCG Tinaztepe was laid down at CT Riva Trigoso in January 1930 (as note in some sources, date unknown), launched on 6 June 1931 and completed on 6 June 1932, almost 8 months after her half-sisters. No solid data on her career. She trained in the Mediterranean, typical of peacetime deterrence and crew drills. In World war two, TCG Tinaztepe 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. In 1942 she was modernized with the addition of a pair of 20 mm Oerlikon guns and four depht charge throwers at the stern, likely from the same allied package as the latter pressed the country to join them against the axis. 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 remained active. In 1947 like her sister she became a training ship, pending MDAP deliveries of new destroyers, like the new TCG Tinaztepe later, D 355 ex-USS Keppler (DD-765). 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. Her utility in standard naval tasks was limited to supportive roles, she remained a TS. Eventually she was decommissioned in February 1953 like her sisters.

TCG Zafer (1931)

TCG Zafer (“Victory”) was ordered in 1929 laid down at CT Riva Trogoso in 1930 (like her sister some sources states January, but might had been mid-year), she was launched later than her sister on 30 September 1931 and commissioned the same day as her sister on 6 June 1932. Her career, for which these is no data (so far), was similar of her sister as both operated together. All four “tepe” formed a class. However their better stability was appreciated overall. She operated in WW2 neutrality patrols as well, modernized like her sister in 1942 (see above) but seeing no combat even after Turkey declared war on Germany in February 1945. Like her sister she joined NATO formations and standards, but started to be used as TS until discarded like her sister in February 1953 and later sold for BU. Her replacement was TCG Zafer (D 356), ex-USS Hugh Purvis, an Allen M. Sumner-class destroyer acquired in 1972, stricken in 1993. In turn the name was incarnated by a Knox class frigate stricken in 2016. The name should be revived by a new Turkish-built Frigate.