Oruç Reis-class submarine


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. P615 had been sunk in 1943. The three Turkish boats were scrapped in 1957.
P614 and P615 appear in the film We Dive at Dawn as HMS Sea Tiger.

Ships

All were built by Vickers in Barrow-in-Furness.
Turkish nameNamesakeRoyal Navy numberLaid DownLaunchedCommissionedFate
Burak ReisBurak Reis24 May 193919 October 194010 March 1942
17 January 1946
Returned to Turkey 1945, Scrapped 1957
Murat ReisMurat Reis24 May 193920 July 19407 January 1942
16 May 1942
Returned to Turkey May 1942, Scrapped 1957
Oruç ReisOruç Reis24 May 193919 July 19401 December 1941
9 May 1942
Returned to Turkey May 1942, Scrapped 1957
Uluç Ali ReisUluç Ali Reis30 October 19391 November 19403 April 1942Sunk by U-boat 18 April 1943 near Sierra Leone