Turkish corvette arrives in Japan as part of honorary voyage

ANKARA

The Turkish corvette TCG Kınalıada has arrived in Japan as part of its expedition to the Far East, retracing the route of the ill-fated frigate Ertuğrul, which sank en route from Japan in 1890.

The voyage also marks the centennial milestone of diplomatic ties between Türkiye and Japan.

The arrival was announced by a Defense Ministry post on June 8.

Before its arrival in the Japanese city of Kushimoto, TCG Kınalıada conducted transit training with the frigate Roks Kang Gam Chan of the South Korean Naval Forces.
The TCG Kınalıada will have port calls in 24 destinations across 20 countries during its four-and-a-half-month odyssey, commencing from the western city of İzmir's Foça district on April 8 and concluding on Aug. 19. The journey will pay homage to the legacy of the Ertuğrul, which foundered in a storm after visiting Japan 134 years ago.

The itinerary of the TCG Kınalıada includes visits to key ports such as Djibouti, Somalia, Maldives, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, China and South Korea before reaching Japan, as well as stops in the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, India, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Pakistan and Jordan.

Commissioned in 2019, the TCG Kınalıada is the latest addition to Türkiye's naval arsenal under the national warship initiative, the MİLGEM project, boasting features including the domestically developed Atmaca missile system by Roketsan.

Tragically, the Ertuğrul's voyage ended in disaster, killing of 540 sailors with only 69 survivors. The Kushimoto town in Japan bears witness to this tragedy with a monument erected in memory of the fallen, a site that continues to host commemorative ceremonies to this day.