SS Bandırma

SS Bandırma ship replica in Samsun
History
Ottoman Empire
Name:	SS Bandırma (1910) ex Panderma (1894) ex Kymi (1883) ex Torocarderto (1878)
Builder:	Paisley, Scotland
Launched:	1878
Out of service:	1924
Status:	Demolished
General characteristics
Class and type:	Cargo ship
Tonnage:	192 GT
Length:	47.7 m (156 ft 6 in)

SS Bandırma was an Ottoman mixed-freight ship, which became famous for her historical role in taking Mustafa Kemal Pasha (Atatürk) from Istanbul to Samsun in May 1919 that marked the establishment of the Turkish national movement.

The steamer Bandırma, built 1878 in Paisley, Scotland, was a 47.7-metre (156 ft) cargo ship with 192 gross tons capacity. She was christened Torocarderto, and under this name she sailed five years long as a freighter for Dussey and Robinson. In 1883, she was purchased by Greek ship-owner H. Psicha Preaus, and renamed SS Kymi. 7 years later, she was sold to another Greek ship-owner, Cap. Andreadis, sailing under the same name. In 1891, she went down following an accident, but could be floated again.

The Ottoman Maritime Co. purchased the ship in 1894, renaming her SS Panderma. She served in the Sea of Marmara as a passenger cargo vessel. On 28 October 1910, the company's status was changed, and it was renamed Ottoman Transportation Authority. The ship’s name was also changed to SS Bandırma, Turkish for Panderma, and she served then as a mail ship in the coastal waters of Ottoman Empire.

During World War I, SS Bandırma collided with the British submarine HMS E11, and survived a torpedo attack from the same vessel.

Bandırma was taken out of duty in 1924. She was sold 1925, and demolished in a shipyard in Golden Horn within four months.

She went into the history of Republic of Turkey, when Mustafa Kemal Pasha, who was appointed shortly before Inspector of the Ninth Army Troops Inspectorate of the Ottoman Empire in eastern Anatolia, left Constantinople with SS Bandırma on 16 May 1919 for Samsun. He was sent to Anatolia by sultan's decree to oversee the process of disbanding the Ottoman Army that was ordered by the Entente powers occupying the capital and controlling the Ottoman government.