Turkish Navy Amphibious Assault Ship TCG Anadolu Anadolu (L-400) to Start Sea Trials

The Turkish Navy Amphibious Assault Ship TCG Anadolu Anadolu (L-400) will begin sea trials shortly and is expected to be commissioned by the end of the year. It is named after the peninsula of Anatolia (Turkish: Anadolu) which forms the majority of the landmass of Turkey. The construction works began on 30 April 2016 at the shipyard of Sedef Shipbuilding Inc. in Istanbul, with the keel being laid on 7 February 2018, and is expected to be commissioned in 2022. Anadolu (L-400) is an amphibious assault ship (LHD) of the Turkish Navy that can be configured as a STOVL aircraft carrier. The construction of a sister ship, to be named TCG Trakya, is currently planned by the Turkish Navy. Trakya means Thrace in Turkish.

The Sedef–Navantia consortium won the tender for the LPD/LHD project of the Turkish Navy and Anadolu will use the same design as that of the Spanish ship Juan Carlos I. All of the ship’s weapons system will be procured by Turkish firms Aselsan and Havelsan. 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, which is classified as a Light Aircraft Carrier/LHD by Turkish Lloyd.

The vessel is intended to meet the various needs and requirements of the Turkish Armed Forces, such as sustaining long-endurance, long-distance military combat or humanitarian relief operations; while acting as a command center and flagship for the Turkish Navy. The dimensions of the final design are 231 meters (757 ft 10 in) in length, a 32-meter (105 ft 0 in) beam, a 6.8-meter (22 ft 4 in) draft, and 58 meters (190 ft 3 in) in height. Its displacement will be 24,660 tons in “STOVL aircraft carrier” mission configuration; or 27,079 tons in “LHD” mission configuration. Its maximum speed will be 21.5 knots (39.8 km/h; 24.7 mph) in “STOVL aircraft carrier” configuration; or 29 knots (54 km/h; 33 mph) in “LHD” configuration.

The ship has a 5,440 m2 (58,600 sq ft) flight deck and a 990 m2 (10,700 sq ft) aviation hangar 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 STOVL fighter jets and 12 medium-sized helicopters, with the possibility of hosting six more helicopters on the flight deck of the ship. But the U.S. Senate blocked the export of the fighter jet to Turkey due to its purchase of the S-400 missile system from Russia. 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 ship has a 1,880 m2 (20,200 sq ft) light cargo garage for TEU containers and 27 Amphibious Assault Vehicles (AAV); a 1,165 m2 (12,540 sq ft) dock which can host four Landing Craft Mechanized (LCM) or two Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC), or two Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel (LCVP); and a 1,410 m2 (15,200 sq ft) 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.