The Turkish Navy are the naval forces of the Turkish Armed Forces. The commander is Admiral Eşref Uğur Yiğit. The Turkish Navy has historically been one of the largest sea powers of the Mediterranean. Following the demise of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of World War I, and the establishment of the modern Republic of Turkey in 1923 with the victory of Turkish revolutionist forces under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk at the Turkish War of Independence, the Turkish Navy, which inherited the remaining warships of the former Ottoman fleet, underwent a structural reformation and modernization.