Editing Turkish Naval Forces (section)

===Turkish War of Independence===

====Directorate of Naval Affairs====
A large number of the naval officers and students of the Naval Academy went to [[Anatolia]] for participating in the [[Turkish War of Independence]]. On 10 July 1920, the ''Directorate of Naval Affairs'' (''Umur-u Bahriye Müdürlüğü'') was founded in Ankara under the Ministry of National Defense and was given the duty of organizing and maintaining strategic logistical shipping through the [[Black Sea]] in order to provide the Turkish liberation forces in Anatolia with weapons and other supplies.<ref name=historyTN/> All existing naval institutions in the parts of Anatolia that were administered by the Ankara government were assigned to this Directorate.<ref name=historyTN/> The Directorate of Naval Affairs was extremely successful in organizing local surface units and volunteers and in forming an intelligence network to discover the movements of the enemy ships.<ref name=historyTN/> As a result, logistic transportation was carried out effectively.<ref name=historyTN/> The [[Grand National Assembly of Turkey|Turkish Grand National Assembly]] in Ankara made an agreement with the [[Soviet Union]] to procure supplies for the Turkish liberation forces.<ref name=historyTN/> ''Aydın Reis'' left from [[Samsun]] (on 16 September 1920) and ''Preveze'' left from [[Trabzon]] (on 30 September 1920) for [[Novorossiysk]] in order to transport weapons, other supplies and financial aid to the Turkish liberation forces.<ref name="Steam Navy57"/><ref name=historyTN/> The ''Trabzon Shipping Detachment'', which was founded on 21 September 1920, was renamed as the ''Trabzon Naval Shipping Command'' with the directive issued by the Ministry of National Defense on 26 October 1920.<ref name=historyTN/> On 1 January 1921, the [[Samsun]] Naval Command was formed.<ref name="Cevat"/> In the subsequent stages of the Turkish War of Independence, due to the growing need for maritime shipping and the increase in the quantity and quality of the units and small ships, the organizational structure of the Directorate of Naval Affairs was gradually extended.<ref name=historyTN/>

In the same period, a number of Turkish civilian seamen formed a group under the name of the ''Naval Aid Organization'' (''Muavenet-i Bahriye'').<ref name="Cevat">Cevat Ülkekul, [https://web.archive.org/web/20071025035857/http://www.shodb.gov.tr/pirireis/oturumlar/kurtulus_savasi_turk_denizci.htm "Kurtuluş Savaşı'nda Türk Denizcileri ve Cumhuriyet Bahriyesinin Kuruluşu"] (''"Turkish Seamen during the War of Independence and Establishment of the Republican Navy"''), ''Uluslararası Piri Reis Sempozyumu'', 27–29 Eylül 2004 (Bildiri), Office of Navigation of Hydrography and Oceanography. {{in lang|tr}}</ref> This group secretly obtained cannons, light weapons, ammunition, landmines and ordnance from the former Ottoman military warehouses in Istanbul that were under the control of the occupying Allies and sent them to the Turkish liberation forces in Anatolia with civil water transportation crafts.<ref name="Cevat"/>

====Presidency of the Naval Department====
On 1 March 1921, the Directorate of Naval Affairs was transformed into the Presidency of the Naval Department (''Bahriye Dairesi Reisliği'') and had control over the Naval Commands in Samsun, [[Amasra]] and [[İzmit]] (formed on 28 June 1921); the Naval Transport Detachment in Trabzon; the Naval Transport Command in [[Karadeniz Ereğli|Ereğli]]; the Naval Detachment in [[Lake Eğirdir]]; and the Naval Liaison Group in [[Fethiye]] (formed on 16 March 1921.)<ref name=historyTN/> During the War of Independence, Turkish naval forces transported 220,000 tons of weapons, ammunition and equipment to the land forces in Anatolia.<ref name="Cevat"/>