''Anadolu'' (L-400) is an

amphibious assault ship An amphibious assault ship is a type of amphibious warfare ship employed to land and support ground forces on enemy territory by an amphibious assault. The design evolved from aircraft carriers converted for use as helicopter carriers (and, a ...

of the

Turkish Navy The Turkish Naval Forces ( tr, ), or Turkish Navy ( tr, ) is the naval warfare service branch of the Turkish Armed Forces. The modern naval traditions and customs of the Turkish Navy can be traced back to 10 July 1920, when it was establis ...

that can be configured as a V/STOL

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

. 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: ''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 transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

. The construction works began on 30 April 2016 at the shipyard of Sedef Shipbuilding Inc. in

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

, 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, and is expected to be commissioned in 2022. 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 Chie ...

, such as sustaining long-endurance, long-distance military combat or humanitarian relief operations; while acting as a

command center A command center (often called a war room) is any place that is used to provide centralized command for some purpose. While frequently considered to be a military facility, these can be used in many other cases by governments or businesses ...

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 ...

for the Turkish Navy. The Sedef–

Navantia Navantia is a Spanish state-owned shipbuilding company, which offers its services to both military and civil sectors. It is the fifth-largest shipbuilder in Europe and the ninth-largest in the world with shipyards around the globe. The heir to t ...

consortium won the tender for the amphibious assault ship project of the Turkish Navy and ''Anadolu'' will use the same design as that of the Spanish ship . All of the ship's weapons system will be 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> The ship will feature a Turkish combat management system, namely the GENESIS-ADVENT, which will be integrated by Aselsan and Havelsan. Aircraft landing is assisted in all weather condition by Leonardo SPN-720 Precision Approach Radar. Navantia will provide design, technology transfer, equipment and technical assistance to Sedef Shipyard 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. However, 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 A short take-off and vertical landing aircraft (STOVL aircraft) is a fixed-wing aircraft that is able to take off from a short runway (or take off vertically if it does not have a heavy payload) and land vertically (i.e. with no runway). The ...

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 Netherlan ...

that led to the F-35 Lightning II, and the

Turkish Air Force The Turkish Air Force ( tr, ) is the aerial warfare service branch of the Turkish Armed Forces. The Turkish Air Force can trace its origins back to June 1911 when it was founded by the Ottoman Empire, however, the air force as it is known to ...

was intending to get the F-35A CTOL version until the U.S. Senate 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 transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

, 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. According to the official specifications, TCG ''Anadolu'' will be capable of operating up to 10 F-35Bs (if Turkey will purchase 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, a draft, and in height. Its displacement will be 24,660 tons in "V/STOL aircraft carrier" mission configuration; or 27,079 tons in "amphibious assault ship" mission configuration. Its maximum speed will be in "STOVL aircraft carrier" configuration; or in "amphibious assault ship" configuration. Its maximum range will be at economical speed.

V/STOL aircraft carrier configuration

The ship has a

flight deck The flight deck of an aircraft carrier is the surface from which its aircraft take off and land, essentially a miniature airfield at sea. On smaller naval ships which do not have aviation as a primary mission, the landing area for helicopte ...

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. When the aviation hangar and the light cargo garage are unified, the ship can carry up to 25 medium-sized helicopters. Alternatively, the ship can carry up to 10 F-35B

fighter jets and 12 medium-sized helicopters, with the possibility of hosting six more helicopters on the flight deck of the ship. File:Bayraktar TB2 Runway.jpg,

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 ...

UCAV designed to operate on TCG ''Anadolu'' will have

folding wing A folding wing is a wing configuration design feature of aircraft to save space and is typical of carrier-based aircraft that operate from the limited deck space of aircraft carriers. The folding allows the aircraft to occupy less space in a con ...

s and a longer wingspan compared to the

Bayraktar TB2 The Bayraktar TB2 is a medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations. It is manufactured by the Turkish company Baykar Makina Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş ...

File:Андрій Єрмак розпочав візит до Туреччини і зустрівся з керівниками компанії Baykar 02.jpg, Baykar MIUS Kızılelma (in the background, at right) is a jet-engined, low-observable, supersonic, carrier-capable UCAV designed to operate on TCG ''Anadolu''. Its maiden flight took place on December 14, 2022.

Amphibious assault ship configuration

The ship has a light cargo garage for TEU containers and 27 Amphibious Assault Vehicles (AAV); a dock which can host four

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 The Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) is a class of air-cushioned landing craft (hovercraft) used by the United States Navy and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF). They transport weapons systems, equipment, cargo and personnel from sh ...

(LCAC), or two Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel (LCVP); and a garage for heavy loads, which can host 29 main battle tanks (MBT), Amphibious Assault Vehicles, and TEU containers. The ship will be protected by the ARAS-2023 diver detection sonar (DDS), and will have a crew consisting of 261 personnel: 30 officers, 49 NCOs, 59 leading seamen, and 123 ratings.

Construction

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 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, TCG ''Anadolu'' has officially started sea trials.

TCG ''Trakya''

The construction of a

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. ''Trakya'' means

Thrace Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to ...

in Turkish.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anadolu 2019 ships Amphibious warfare vessels of the Turkish Navy Ships built at Sedef Shipyard