



Spanish shipyard Navantia announced today that the keel of the future Turkish Navy Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) has been laid at the Turkish shipyard of SEDEF (a member of TAIS Shipyards) in Tuzla, Istanbul.

The vessel, which will be named TCG Anadolu, is based on Navantia's Juan Carlos I vessel already commissioned with the Spanish and Australian navies.





























The keel of the future TCG Anadolu LHD has been laid in Turkey. Navantia picture.









Turkey began the construction of its first LHD / amphibious assault ship in April 2016. President of Turkish Republic Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared during the first steel cut ceremony that "TCG Anadolu will be the first ship in the navy from which F-35B SVTOL planes will operate".









President Erdogan also declared that TCG Anadolu would be delivered in 4 years (compared to the originally planned 5 years and a half).









Turkey's Undersecretariat for Defense Industries (SSM) announced in December 2013 that it selected Sedef shipyard as winner of its LPD tender and that final contract negotiations with this shipyard could begin. Sedef shipyard in Turkey offers a design based on Juan Carlos LHD under the collaboration with Spain's Navantia.













Landing Platform Dock Project









According to SSM, the Landing Platform Dock Project (LPD)’s main purpose is the acqusition of one Landing Platform Dock in order to meet the operational requirements of Turkish Naval Forces. The scope of the procurement is for:









- 1 LPD and









- Four Landing Craft Mechanics (LCM)









- Twenty seven Amphibious Assault Vehicles (AAV),









- Two Landing Craft Personnel Vehicles (LCVP),









- One Commander Boat









- One RHIB (Rubber Hull Inflated Boat) will be acquired





















One of the requirement was for a Privately Owned Turkish Shipyard to be main contractor, also responsible for design, construction, integration and tests and final performance.













The other proposals which were rejected were:









RMK Marine Shipyard offering its own indigenous design and Desan shipyard offering a design based on South Korea's Dokdo class. At the early stage of the tender a Chinese company submitted its design proposal but then backed away.













Navy Recognition's video interview on the Turkish Navy LHD with Sedef shipyard at IDEF 2017









Turkish Navy LHD Mission Profiles and Capabilities













The ship is to be designed for four mission profiles:









» Amphibious ops: Capable of transporting a marine infantry force to carry out landing and support operations.









» Force Projection: Transporting forces to a theatre of operations.









» Aircraft Carrier: A platform for carrier-based naval aircrafts, acting as a flight deck for strategic projection airborne vectors (Navy's Air Wing)









» Humanitarian air ops: MOOTW (Military Operations Other Than War), humanitarian assistance, evacuation of crisis area, hospital ship in areas affected by natural disaster, etc.





















Turkish Navy LHD Specifications













At IDEF 2015, Sedef shipyard gave the LHD specifications to Navy Recognition:









Length overall: 231 meters









Maximum beam: 32 meters









Draught: 6.8 meters









Height: 58 meters









Maximum speed: 21 knots









Range: 9,000 miles @ economical speed









Electric propulsion with 2x 11 MW Siemens eSIPOD; 5x MAN 16V32/40 Diesel GenSets and 2x bow thrusters









Complete hospital and sick bay

















Combat systems:









Genesis Advent CMS with amphibious and joint operations capability









Link 11/16/22/JRE/VMF









1x SMART-S Mk2 3D Search Radar









2x LPI radars









2x Navigation radars









1x Air traffic and control radar









1x PAR radar









4x 25mm Aselsan STOP









3x 12.7mm Aselsan STAMP









2x Raytheon Phalanx CIWS









Aselsan R-ESM









Aselsan jammers









Chaff/IR Decoy launching system









Aseslan TORK torpedo countermeasure system









IRST









HF/VHF/UHF and satellite communication systems

























Amphibious capacity and force projection:









Garage for heavy loads: 1410 m² (MBTs, AAVs, TEU containers...)









Dock: 1165 m² (4x LCMs or 2x LCACs)









Light cargo garage: 1880 m² (AAVs, ZPTs, TEU containers...)









Aviation hangar: 900 m² (S-70B, AW-149, CH-47 etc.)









Flight Deck: 5440 m² (6 landing spots)























