TCG ''Anadolu'' (L-400)
is an
amphibious assault ship of the
Turkish Navy. It is named after the peninsula of
Anatolia
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
(
Turkish
Turkish may refer to:
*a Turkic language spoken by the Turks
* of or about Turkey
** Turkish language
*** Turkish alphabet
** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
*** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey
*** Turkish communities and mi ...
: ''Anadolu'') which forms the majority of the land mass of
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
. The construction works began on 30 April 2016 at the shipyard of Sedef Shipbuilding Inc. in
Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
, with the
keel
The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...
being
laid on 7 February 2018.
TCG ''Anadolu'' was commissioned with a ceremony on 10 April 2023.
The vessel is intended to meet the various needs and requirements of the
Turkish Armed Forces
The Turkish Armed Forces (TAF; tr, Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri, TSK) are the military forces of the Republic of Turkey. Turkish Armed Forces consist of the General Staff, the Land Forces, the Naval Forces and the Air Forces. The current Chi ...
, such as sustaining long-endurance, long-distance military combat or humanitarian relief operations, while acting as a
command center and
flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...
for the Turkish Navy.
[
The ]Sedef
The Secretary of State for Defence (SEDEF) is the second-highest-ranking official in the Ministry of Defence of Spain. The SEDEF is a civilian which is appointed by the King with the advice of the Defence Minister. In spite of being the second au ...
– Navantia consortium won the tender for the amphibious assault ship project of the Turkish Navy. ''Anadolu'' used the same design as that of the Spanish ship . All of the ship's weapon systems were procured by Turkish firms Aselsan and Havelsan.[Navantia: "Navantia and local partner selected by Turkey for construction of one LPD based on the Juan Carlos I"]
27 December 2013.
28 December 2013.[World Maritime News: "Navantia and SEDEF Join Forces to Construct LHD and LCMs for Turkish Navy"]
7 January 2014.[World Maritime News: Concept design of the Turkish variant of Juan Carlos I (L-61) class BPE]
/ref>Sedef Shipyard
Sedef Shipyard ( tr, Sedef Tersanesi) is a Turkish shipyard established in Gebze, Kocaeli in 1972. Shipyard moved to Tuzla, Istanbul in 1990. The shipyard is building defense industry ships and commercial ships such as the multi-purpose amphibio ...
of Turkey for the design and development of ''Anadolu''.
History
Design and specifications
In December 2013, the Turkish LPD/LHD program was originally estimated to cost €
The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...
375 million ($500 million). According to the original plan, the Turkish Navy wanted a slightly shorter flight deck without the ski-jump ramp
In aviation, a ski-jump is an upward-curved ramp that allows aircraft to take off from a runway that is shorter than the aircraft's required takeoff roll. By forcing the aircraft upwards, lift-off can be achieved at a lower airspeed than that req ...
in front, to be optimized for use with only helicopters.["Turkey signs contract with Navantia-Sedef for the construction of a light aircraft carrier"]
Dartmouth Centre for Seapower and Strategy, Plymouth University, 11 May 2015.
The Turkish Navy later changed its plan and opted for a fully equipped flight deck with the ski-jump ramp in front, after deciding to purchase F-35B STOVL aircraft.["The Contract For LPD Construction Has Been Signed"]
Bosphorus Naval News, 19 May 2015.[ Turkey was a Level 3 partner in the ]Joint Strike Fighter program
Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) is a development and acquisition program intended to replace a wide range of existing fighter, strike, and ground attack aircraft for the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands ...
that led to the F-35 Lightning II. The Turkish Air Force was intending to get the F-35A CTOL version, until the U.S. Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and powe ...
blocked the export of the fighter jet to Turkey due to its purchase of the S-400 missile system
The S-400 Triumf (russian: link=no, C-400 Триумф – Triumf; translation: Triumph; NATO reporting name: SA-21 Growler), previously known as the S-300 PMU-3, is a mobile, surface-to-air missile (SAM) system developed in the 1990s by Russ ...
from Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
, which is subjected to CAATSA sanctions. Instead of the F-35B STOVL version, in the short term the Turkish Navy will operate domestically-produced UCAVs such as the Bayraktar TB3
The Baykar Bayraktar TB3 is a Turkish medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) capable of short-range landing and take-off, produced by Baykar. It is currently being developed due to the lack of aircraft to be d ...
.
According to the official specifications, TCG ''Anadolu'' will be capable of operating up to 10 F-35Bs, if Turkey purchases the aircraft in the future, and 12 medium-sized helicopters in the "V/STOL aircraft carrier" configuration.[
The dimensions of the final design are in length, a ]beam
Beam may refer to:
Streams of particles or energy
*Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy
**Laser beam
*Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles
**Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...
, a draft, and in height.displacement
Displacement may refer to:
Physical sciences
Mathematics and Physics
*Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...
will be 24,660 tons in "V/STOL aircraft carrier" mission configuration, or 27,079 tons in "amphibious assault ship" mission configuration.
Amphibious assault ship configuration
The ship has a light cargo garage for TEU containers and 27 Amphibious Assault Vehicles
The Assault Amphibious Vehicle (AAV)—official designation AAVP-7A1 (formerly known as Landing Vehicle, Tracked, Personnel-7 abbr. LVTP-7)—is a fully tracked amphibious landing vehicle manufactured by U.S. Combat Systems (previously by Unit ...
(AAV);Landing Craft Mechanized
The landing craft mechanized (LCM) is a landing craft designed for carrying vehicles. They came to prominence during the Second World War when they were used to land troops or tanks during Allied amphibious assaults.
Variants
There was no ...
(LCM) or two Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC), or two Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel (LCVP);main battle tanks
A main battle tank (MBT), also known as a battle tank or universal tank, is a tank that fills the role of armor-protected direct fire and maneuver in many modern armies. Cold War-era development of more powerful engines, better suspension sys ...
(MBT), Amphibious Assault Vehicles, and TEU containers.
V/STOL aircraft carrier configuration
The ship has a flight deck and a aviation hangar
A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...
which can accommodate either 12 medium-sized helicopters or 8 Boeing CH-47F Chinook heavy-lift helicopters.
Construction and commissioning
The final contract for the construction of the ship was signed with the Navantia-Sedef consortium on 7 May 2015.["Havuzlu Çıkarma Gemisi 2021 yılında Deniz Kuvvetleri'ne teslim edilecek"]
Denizhaber.com.tr, 7 May 2015. The commissioning of the ship was initially scheduled for 2021,[ and the estimated cost of the ship according to the final specifications was declared as $1 billion in 2015.][ The construction works began on 30 April 2016 at the shipyard of Sedef Shipbuilding Inc. in Istanbul.][
A small area in the forward of the ship caught fire whilst in dry dock on the evening of 29 April 2019, but the fire was quickly extinguished and the minor damage on the coating paint (stains of smoke and flames) was subsequently repaired with a fresh repainting.
On 27 February 2022, the sea trials of TCG ''Anadolu'' began.
TCG ''Anadolu'' was commissioned with a ceremony, attended by President Erdoğan, on 10 April 2023.]sister ship
A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...
, to be named TCG ''Trakya'', is being planned by the Turkish Navy.
Gallery
File:Turkish Navy amphibious assault ship TCG Anadolu (L400) (starboard).jpg, Starboard
Port and starboard are nautical terms for watercraft and aircraft, referring respectively to the left and right sides of the vessel, when aboard and facing the bow (front).
Vessels with bilateral symmetry have left and right halves which are ...
view side of the TCG ''Anadolu''
File:Bayraktar TB3 on the runway of TCG Anadolu - 2.jpg, A Baykar Bayraktar TB3
The Baykar Bayraktar TB3 is a Turkish medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) capable of short-range landing and take-off, produced by Baykar. It is currently being developed due to the lack of aircraft to be d ...
on the flight deck
File:Turkish Navy S-70 lands on the flight deck USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78).jpg, The S-70 is one of serveral aircraft used on the ''Anadolu''
File:TCB-83 Bell AH-1 SuperCobra (cropped).jpg, An AH-1W Super Cobra
The Bell AH-1 SuperCobra is a twin-engined attack helicopter that was developed on behalf of, and primarily operated by, the United States Marine Corps (USMC). The twin Cobra family, itself part of the larger Huey family, includes the AH-1J Se ...
and S-70 Seahawk sit on the deck
See also
* Spanish amphibious assault ship ''Juan Carlos I''
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anadolu
2019 ships
Amphibious warfare vessels of the Turkish Navy
Ships built at Sedef Shipyard