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Turkey Capable of Building Own Navy
Hurriyet Daily News ^ | 7 May 2012 | Ümit Enginsoy

Posted on 05/08/2012 8:41:25 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki

Turkey capable of building own navy

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

Turkey has the capacity to produce 70 to 80 percent of all of its own naval needs and parts, expect for submarines, says a senior procurement official

Turkey’s shipbuilding industry has come to a level where it can produce all of its navy needs or parts – with the exception of submarines and engines – one senior procurement official said at the weekend.

“Among our armed forces, probably the most developed is the navy,” the official said. “We can produce 70 or 80 percent of all [naval] needs. The sole exception is submarines, and we are moving with concrete steps on that,” the procurement official added.

The largest boats in Turkey’s surface fleet are the frigates, and Turkey is nearing their manufacture. It has produced two corvettes, the only ship in the warship category smaller than that. It has put to sea the TCG Heybeliada, one of them, in 2008 and last year the ship was accepted by the navy.

It also completed production of the second corvette, the TCG Büyükada. This year Turkey should select a private shipping contractor to build six corvettes. It also has to decide this year whether the Milgem corvette project will end at eight or 12, meaning the total price for the whole program will reach $2 billion or $3 billion.

Then around 2020, the country will launch what is today known as TF2000, or the Turkish frigate program. Both Britain and the United States are competing for that program with their own frigate systems.

Turkey presently can also produce a New Type Patrol Boat, Coast Guard Research and Rescue Boat and Tank Landing Ships, the procurement official said.

“We can also export the smaller ships we produce to friendly and allied countries,” he said. Islamic countries are particularly interested in those, he said.

“As part of our engine development plans, we also are developing our own engines,” said the procurement official.

Separately, a 2 billion-euro submarine deal between SSM and Germany’s HDW shipyards for joint manufacture of six modern U-214 diesel platforms for the Turkish Navy formally took effect in July 2010.

“This will be the last submarine we will be building with someone else,” the procurement official said.

In a less orthodox project, Ankara has plans to a buy a landing platform dock (LPD) a vessel that looks like a helicopter carrier and can transport up to a battalion-sized unit (more than 1,000 troops) long distances.

Turkey plans to use this ship for NATO-related missions to carry troops or refugees.

According to the size and capabilities, the Turkish LPD will cost between $500 million and $1 billion.

Presently, the Turkish Navy includes nearly 49,000 personnel and has 75 aircraft, 17 frigates, seven corvettes, 14 submarines and 27 fast missile boats.

May/07/2012


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aegean; corvette; navy; turkey

TCG Heybeliada

1 posted on 05/08/2012 8:41:33 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
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To: sukhoi-30mki

Yeah, except submarines, and engines. Hmm, and electronics, guidance, munitions, and the actual high tech stuff. Yes, they can make hulls. Whoop ti doo.


2 posted on 05/08/2012 8:47:31 AM PDT by drbuzzard (different league)
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To: drbuzzard

Go to hell Turkey, your no friend of ours.


3 posted on 05/08/2012 8:56:04 AM PDT by STD ([You must help] people in the communityÂ…feel so frustrated, so defeated, so lost, so futureless)
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To: drbuzzard
Turkey actually had one of the larger navies in Europe before World War I. That was before they decided to back the wrong horse.
4 posted on 05/08/2012 9:44:11 AM PDT by Vigilanteman (Obama: Fake black man. Fake Messiah. Fake American. How many fakes can you fit in one Zer0?)
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To: Vigilanteman

Maybe Turkey is thinking about putting the band back together.


5 posted on 05/08/2012 9:46:37 AM PDT by dfwgator (Don't wake up in a roadside ditch. Get rid of Romney.)
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To: dfwgator

Well, they do have a lot of Turks living in Germany and Austria, don’t they?


6 posted on 05/08/2012 10:11:29 AM PDT by Vigilanteman (Obama: Fake black man. Fake Messiah. Fake American. How many fakes can you fit in one Zer0?)
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To: Vigilanteman

Actually having the Turks ruling over Arabia again wouldn’t be such a bad thing, the Arabs are a disaster at governing themselves.


7 posted on 05/08/2012 10:14:13 AM PDT by dfwgator (Don't wake up in a roadside ditch. Get rid of Romney.)
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To: Vigilanteman

During WWI, the Ottoman Empire’s fleet was mostly obsolete (pre-dreadnaught) and not very seaworthy.

The most effective units were a couple of German ships, the SMS Goeben and SMS Breslau. Both were transferred to the Ottoman Empire Navy, the Goeben became the Yavuz Sultan Selim, and the Breslau became the Midilli. The Germans donned Turkish uniforms and fezzes and continued to crew them.

The Ottoman Empire DID have some very brave and clever fellows working the minelayers in the Bosporus and they actually bagged some battleships by clever mine placement...


8 posted on 05/08/2012 10:27:51 AM PDT by Little Ray (FOR the best Conservative in the Primary; AGAINST Obama in the General.)
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To: Little Ray
If I remember my World War I history right, both the Goeben and Breslau were trapped in the Mediterranean when the war broke out.

With Great Britain in firm control of the Straight of Gibraltar, there was no way they were going to get home. So the next best thing was to arrange a flag transfer to the Ottoman Empire in the manner you described.

While you are right about most of the Ottoman's fleet being out of date, the sheer numbers were impressive enough to:

  1. Block the Bosporus as you describe.
  2. Keep the Russian fleet from operating in the Black Sea.
  3. Contribute to the disastrous British defeat in the Gallipoli Campaign, 1915-1916.

Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, suffered a near fatal career setback for his role in the campaign whereas an obscure Ottoman commander named Mustafa Kemal managed to parlay his outstanding performance into being Ataturk, the first leader of modern Turkey.
9 posted on 05/08/2012 11:50:33 AM PDT by Vigilanteman (Obama: Fake black man. Fake Messiah. Fake American. How many fakes can you fit in one Zer0?)
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To: Vigilanteman

The Russian ships weren’t much better than the Turks, and totally outclassed by the Goeben, which was an honest-to-goodness post-Dreadnaught BC. Any attempt for a Russian BB to shoot it out with Goeben would have been suicide.

But yes, the Ottomans did okay.


10 posted on 05/08/2012 11:55:21 AM PDT by Little Ray (FOR the best Conservative in the Primary; AGAINST Obama in the General.)
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