S/S Iroquois – USS Solace – S/S Ankara : A ship that has a lot to tell

Years before world war 2. America had a large fleet of coastal passenger ships. They were mostly small or mid sized. The NewYork & Miami Steam Ship Corp. ordered two large ships to Newport News shipyards. The sisters were S/S Iroquois and S/S Shawnee. They were actually small liners compared to others. 124.7 m long and 19m wide. They were twin screwed turbine steamers capable of 19Knots. The interiors were quite luxurious. The two steamers started their carreer in coastal transport. Click here to see an advertisement given by Clyde Line. In July 13th 1936 Iroquois had an accident while she was running for the Eastern Steamship Company. She ran aground on Bald Porcupine Island. Captain Walter Hammond was prepearing to leave for NewYork early in the morning. Under thick fog, the vessel ran aground and then the tide left the ship beached high.

I couldn’t reach the details of  salvage history but she was afloat again. Luckily for us, local photographer Sewall Wesley Brown was there and he took some photos. Then she was pulled off by USS Owl (AM-2) . You can see some logs placed under her bow, probably to ease her way out when the tide comes back high.

In the beginning of the WW2, Iroquois was chartered between England and USA to carry American citizens back home because of the war coming close. In 1939, white house announced that they recieved a warning that said Iroquois was going to be sunk close to NewYork. Both the crew and passengers were  worried about the warning. The crew searched everywhere onboard for explosives. The passengers were taken to cargo holds to identify their luggage and then their luggage was also controlled. Destroyers and a coast guar cutter were sent to intercept and escort her to the port. While passengers and crew had the anxiety about explosives or submarines, they were caught by heavy weather which swinged the ship heavily for two days and many people injured and suffered sea sick. She made it safe to NewYork.

The following days,  on July 22th 1940 she was acquired by US Navy. She was converted to a hospital ship by Atlantic Basin Iron Works. She was renamed USS Solace (AH 5). The first Captain under this name was Benjamin Pearlman . She was the second ship named Solace in US Navy after AH-1 Solace. Nobody could know how importent role she was going to play in US Navy history.

She was in Pearl Harbor when Japanese forces attacked in 7th of December. Her crew sent launches immediately to the stricken ships nearby to collect the wounded. The launches took the troops from the oil covered waters in fire. Most common injury was ofcourse burn… The crew took the troops onboard Solace and medical crew were rushing to help. Those who passed away were taken to the stern of the ship. According to Cooter’s history blog, Solace handled 25.000 patients, and %70 of them were wounded, which possibly is a record for a hospital ship. Solace has total 7 medals for her services. She participated PearlHarbor, Gilbert Islands Operation, Marshall Islands Operation, Marianas Operation, Western Caroline Islands operation, Iwo Jima Operation and Okinawa Gunto Operation. After Pearl Harbor, Troops had USS Solace union. Sunay Akın mentioned that they produced a medal for the ship but i could’nt find anything except the navy patch for USS Solace. He also says after the soldiers unioned and USS Solace became a Pearl Harbor hero, the navy was not comfortable about it. They thought heroic ships should be the battle ships and this is a reason for decommisioning Solace. But he has no solid reference for these and i couldn’t find any either.

Then, yes. The story of the ship doesn’t end here. Turkish Maritime Lines didn’t have enough ships to handle increasing number of passengers and they were in search. Soon they heard about the ships in the US and they went to inspect. They bought total 6 ships from United States. The 5 others were passenger+cargo ships. And the one, was ofcourse USS Solace AH-5 . She was bought by Turkish Maritime Lines in 1948 and re-configured as a passenger liner.

She had 25 luxury suites, 89 1st class and 40 2nd class rooms. There were also 5 touristic rooms (thats what they wrote…) but i have no idea what kind of rooms they were. Maybe dorms, maybe something exotic =) ) . The officers gathered to give her a new name, and they decided to name her “S/S ANKARA” . But there was a little problem. There was already a ship named Ankara. So they changed her name too. This quick solution let her to carry Turkey’s capital city Ankara’s name. And the previous Ankara was renamed S/S Çorum.

 

She was taken to her new home by Capt. Seyfi Gezer who was one of the most experienced captains working for Turkish Maritime Lines. At first, she was painted black, but then changed to white. Almost %80 of the ship was in use of passengers, which is quite impressing. She had a spacious cigarette hall, a large bar and comfortable dining halls which made the ship very roomy. A plus at those dates was she had a garage. So passengers could travel with their cars. S/S Ankara was the first ship in Turkish Maritime Lines with a swimming pool onboard.

 

Seyfi Gezer brought the ship to Istanbul, but the captin who had a real bound with her was Captain Şefik Gogen. He was born in 1902, in Mardin. A city at south-east Turkey, far from sea. Then he moved to istanbul with his father in 1908. He studied in Moda Saint Joseph primary school.Then he went to Istanbul Sultanisi (High School) and then in 1917 he continued his studies in Hungary. He was aiming to continue his studies in a naval school in Hungary but then he had to turn back home after Bolshevik Revolution. When he came back, he went to merchant maritime school and graduated in 1922. The first ship he served was the beautiful Gülnihal. The other ships he served were Ege, Izmir, Bartın, Tunç, İstanbul and Aksu. (A relative of mine was born onboard S/S Aksu and the Captain insisted on giving him the name Aksu. By the time he was born, Captain Şefik Gogen was already the captain of Ankara. Unfortunately we don’t know who was that captain. But my relative has Aksu as a middle name. ) Then Captain Şefik Gogen spent the rest of his carreer onboard Ankara, the ship which couldn’t be thought without him.

He was a legend, not only in Turkey, also in the ports that he went. He was well known for his punctuality. When someone was doing what he needed to do on time those days were hearing a common joke: “Well done Captain Şefik Gogen!” He was always on time, never a minute late. People were even setting their watches according to Ankara’s whistle!

Being a crew of Ankara or even having travelled onboard her was a noticable plus in a persons life during those days. Being Ankara’s chef, being a steward onboard Ankara was a sign of a good carreer and being good at profession. The newspapers were paying a lot of attention to Ankara’s arrivals and departures. Once Ankara was caught by a very heavy storm in Ionian Sea which is stated to be “once in 50 years storm” . She rolled for days and almost all plates and dining accesories were broken in the kitchen. Hundreds of dead fish were collected from the decks. A newspaper headlined “Ankara left all white, came back yellow”. Because of the heavy sea and high waves pounding her freeboard, the outer paint was gone and the yellow undercoat was visible.

The ship was a real legend in 1950’s. The ship’s couisine was amazing. Especially Turkish Journalists Association’s tours with the ship was a big boom at that time.

Feasts, fashion shows, concerts and so on… Ankara was dubbed as “The Rose of the Mediterranean” . She sailed to America few more times, back to where she was born. Sailed in the North Sea. Close to the end of her carreer, she was hired by a company called Swan and toured Greek Islands. This was known as Swan Hellenic Cruises. And she served every summer for 16 years.

In 1961, the legendary captain Şefik Gogen retired. Ankara was still the most prestigious ship in the fleet after his retirement. And the captain who commanded her were so proud. And after all those long years, in October 1977, Ankara was taken out of service and Turkish Maritime Lines decided to sell her for scrap. Eser Tutel who we owe almost everything we know about last 100 years of Turkish maritime history was the one who gave the sad news to captain Şefik Gogen. He was shaken like he was losing a relative. His relationship with his ship and his carreer was so inspiring. Osman Öndeş wrote a book about him: “Efsanevi Kaptan Şefik Gogen” (Legendary Captain S. Gogen). I am looking forward to read Gogen’s memories, but the book is sold out. Hoping to find a copy…

Ankara was moored to Haliç (golden horn) and upper deck structures started to be dismantled. Many items were carried out of the ship, to Haliç shipyard depots. In 1981 Turkish Maritime Lines auctioned many old items left from old ships . Former Galatasaray football player Ali Beratlıgil (aka Büyük Ali) bought Ankara’s dining sets in kilogram basis. It is known that there are still items left from Ankara in there. Lately Ankara’s bell was discovered and preserved. Some part of the dining sets were bought back to Turkish Maritime Lines and are being exhibited in Romantika Cafe, at Fenerbahçe. Ankara’s bar is now being used in Fenerbahçe Sailing Club with a little changes. Ankara was towed to Aliağa scrapyards in March 1979 . Former Turkish Maritime Lines general manager and economist Nezih Neyzi stated following in his book “Pendik”: “We were scrapping the ship slowly. We were so desperate, even the left over fuel in the tanks helped us a lot. Many items were coming out of the ship’s belly, and they were being sent to re-use. We used deck planking and some other parts in newly building ships Marmara and Avşa. I sent one of the big paintings in a hall to Ankara branch of the company. We gave the ships’s safe to general management building.”

Also in those days, Çorlulu Ali Paşa mosque was under restoration. There was a need for lead to cover the fountain’s roof. But it was so hard to find in those hard days of Turkey. They called everywhere but couldn’t find. Then a phone call came from Aliağa scrapyards.

“We are scrapping a ship here and we found huge amounts of lead” they said. It was like a joke. Lead is not used to build ships except minor stuff and they were telling about huge amounts of lead. They decided to go and inspect. And they saw that the ship being scrapped was Ankara. And there were huge lead blocks covering the walls of a room. Yes, that was the X-Ray room of the ship, when she was USS Solace.

Captain Şefik Gogen passed away in 1989, not so long after his beloved ship Ankara was scrapped. Now a car ferry is carrying his name, operated by the company that he worked for.

And the remains of Iroquois, USS Solace, Pearl Harbor, Ankara are wheel at Turkish Maritime Lines Museum in Karaköy and some lead over Çorlulu Ali Paşa Mosque’s fountain near Haliç.

Emrah Başkan
Just a maritime enthusiast…

Note: I should thank Mr. Ali Bozoğlu for providing pictures of S/S Ankara with us and the information he gave. All rights reserved.