 Gonca in 2007 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Ottoman Empire | |
| Name | Selânik |
| Builder | Unknown |
| Commissioned | c. 1907 - 1909 |
| Fate | Converted to a transport ship. |
 Turkey | |
| Name | Gonca (1927) |
| Status | Active as of 2020 |
| General characteristics | |
| Length | 108.21 ft (32.98 m) |
| Beam | 6.00 m |
| Draft | 3.25 m |
| Propulsion | Triple expansion reciprocatingsteam engines, single propeller. |
| Speed | 8 knots |
| Complement | 6 crew and 6 passengers[1] |
| Armament | 1x37mmQuick-firing gun, 25mines (Ottoman Navy configuration) |
Gonca is aTurkish steamship built sometime between 1907 and 1909 and homeported inIstanbul. The ship currently serves as an excursion ship andsteam yacht for charter. It is unknown where the ship was built, but markings on the ship's engine suggest that at least that part of the ship and potentially other machinery was built in Britain.Gonca was constructed as the support shipSelânik for the French harbor management company in charge of developing modern infrastructure for the port ofSalonica on behalf of theOttoman authorities.[2] In the final years of Ottoman rule, theSociété Anonyme Ottomane de Construction et Exploitation du Port de Salonique was tasked with developing several modern commercial shipping piers as well as railroad connections and others support infrastructure for the port of Salonica.[3]
The ship was pressed into service as a minelayer by theOttoman navy in September 1911 during theItalo-Ottoman War and was not returned to her owners due to the fall of Salonica toGreece in theFirst Balkan War in 1912. In order to prevent the ship's capture by the Greeks, the Ottoman commander of the Salonica minelaying flotilla briefly transferred the ships to French registry, prompting an immediate diplomatic protest by the neutral French observers when the ships came under attack by the Greeks.Selânik and the other minelayers were then allowed safe passage out of the surrendering city by the Greeks before returning to the Ottoman flag upon passing through theDardanelles.[4]
During theFirst World War, the ship continued to serve as a minelayer atÇanakkale and is one of only two surviving ships to have served in this role (the other being the purpose-built minelayerNusrat in Tarsus).[5] With the end of the First World War the ship was laid up in Gonca Bay atGölcük Naval Base until 1927, when she was converted into a transport ship and given her current nameGonca.[6] After 1944 the ship was used by theTurkish Navy as a work ferry and served for many years carrying workers betweenIzmit andGölcük before being decommissioned in 1989. In 1993, the ship was saved from scrapping by theRahmi M. Koç Museum, which moved the ship toTuzla, Istanbul to begin work to restore her Ottoman-eraEdwardian fittings. Gonca was relaunched in 1997 and is currently owned by the Rahmi M. Koç Museum.[7]