The Turkish Navy commissioned the lead ship of a new class of landing ships, TCG Bayraktar, on April 14, Turkish minister of defense tweeted.
This was first reported by Turkish Bosphorus Naval News who noted that the ship will remain under the shipyard’s warranty for 12 months. After the 12-month period, TCG Bayraktar will become responsibility of the Turkish Navy.
TCG Bayraktar and sister ship TCG Sancaktar, the second ship in the class, are being built under a contract signed between Anadolu Shipyard and the Turkish Ministry of Defense in May 2011. TCG Sancaktar was launched on July 16, 2016 and is expected to be delivered in October this year.
First steel for TCG Bayraktar was cut in May 2014 and the ship was launched on October 3, 2015.
TCG Bayraktar and her sister ship displace over 7200 tonnes at 139 meters. They are capable of transporting up to 1.200 tonnes of cargo (18 tanks).
Additionally, the ships are equipped with two command and control centers (one for ship’s CIC and the other for joint amphibious command and control purposes) and four landing craft, vehicle, personnel boats (each can carry 40 Marines or 8 t cargo).
They feature three onload/offload gates (fore, aft, and port side) and have an 18 m trifold bow ramp. A fore draft of less than 2 meters makes the ships suitable for beach landing operations.