[6] The purchase of the vessel, along with three of her sister ships—Muavenet-i Milliye, Nümune-i Hamiyet, and Gayret-i Vataniye—occurred in March 1910, at the same time that the Ottoman government acquired a pair of pre-dreadnought battleships.

[10] The naval command expected a war between the Ottoman Empire and the Balkan League and viewed that conflict as a greater threat to the country.

[11] By December, the fleet had been reorganized; Yadigar-i Millet was assigned to I Division, along with the torpedo cruiser Berk-i Satvet and the destroyers Basra, Taşoz, and Muavenet-i Milliye.

The Ottoman command planned a minor operation for 12 December, which envisioned using Basra and Taşoz to lure nearby Greek destroyers into an ambush that was to be launched by Yadigar-i Millet and her sister Muavenet-i Milliye.

Mecidiye and Berk-i Satvet briefly engaged a group of six destroyers, but Yadigar-i Millet and the rest of the division don't close before the Greek ships turn and flee.

[14] The Ottoman Army had become convinced that it could occupy Tenedos and that the fleet could support an amphibious assault on the island, over repeated objections from the naval command.

The Ottoman government nevertheless ordered the operation, and on 4 January 1913, the navy decided to make a major sweep toward the island, despite the fact that the regiment assigned to the landing had not yet arrived.

Yadigar-i Millet and the other I Division ships were among the first vessels to leave the Dardanelles, and they took up a defensive position by around 07:15 near the straits while the other elements of the fleet assembled themselves.

Reports of the Greek fleet in the area prompted the Ottoman commander to order the screening cruisers and destroyers to rejoin the battleships and then return to the Dardanelles.

After the fleet resumed its cruising formation around mid-day, the battleships briefly engaged three Greek destroyers at long range, which quickly retreated.

[17] When the Ottoman Empire entered World War I in late October 1914, Yadigar-i Millet was assigned to I Destroyer Squadron with her three sisters.

The Ottoman force consisted of the battlecruiser Yavuz Sultan Selim, the light cruiser Midilli, Hamidiye, Mecidiye, and an escort of destroyers that included Yadigar-i Millet.

[19] In May, she carried a contingent of Germans across the Bosporus during their trek back to Germany, after their ship, the protected cruiser Emden, had been sunk at the Battle of Cocos the year before.

[20] On 1 July, the British submarine HMS E14 launched a torpedo at Yadigar-i Millet while the latter was cruising in the Sea of Marmara, but it failed to hit.

Two weeks later, Yadigar-i Millet carried a load of fuel oil to Zonguldak for a group of German U-boats that was operating out of the port.