Victim marines of Dumlupınar submarine remembered

ÇANAKKALE

Officials and citizens commemorated 81 sailors who tragically died after their TGC Dumlupınar submarine sank in the Dardanelles Strait in 1953 in the northwestern province of Çanakkale.

Attendees on a Turkish Navy ship watched marines place a wreath on the spot where Dumlupınar sank after a collision with Swedish ship Naboland.

Mustafa Günal, the son of victim private Ahmet Günal, said he remembered seeing his father only twice before he died.

“I remember his winter and summer uniforms,” he said, adding that he was four when the tragedy happened.

The Defense Ministry prepared a video on the incident, releasing it with a statement on April 4.

Dumlupınar was a ship of the United States Navy and was transferred to the Turkish Naval Forces in 1950, where she was recommissioned as the second TCG Dumlupınar. She sank after the accident following a joint NATO training exercise. On April 7, three days after the accident, officials declared that the rising carbon dioxide levels inside the vehicle would have killed any surviving crew, and the rescue operation was abandoned. Several songs were written after the victims.