First New LCT Handed Over To The Turkish Navy

Turkish Navy maintains a large fleet of medium sized landing vessels. There are 25 LCT’s and 16 LCM’s according to Jane’s fighting Ships in the inventory of Turkish Navy. The newest of these vessels is more than 20 years old and their top speed is around 8,5 knots.

In 2007, Undersecretariat for Defence Industries (UDI), submitted a Request for Proposal for 8 LCT’s. These new vessels were to be built in Turkey and had to be fast. From the four companies that submitted to the tender, ADİK shipyard was chosen. On June 2009, a contract was signed between UDI and ADİK for the production of the ships. The exact value of the contract was not made public but it is estimated to be around 100 million EUR.

The first ship Ç-151 was launched on 2 October 2010. The second ship Ç-152 was launched on March 2011. As of March 2012 the first five vessels have been launched. The construction of the remaining three is continuing.

According to ADIK press release each ship has over 7 kilometers of inox piping and over 50 kilometers of cabling. It took on average 400 days to construct one LCT. The LCT’s are 80 meters long. When loaded their speed can be up to 18,5 knots. Unloaded they can reach 20 knots.

Specifications for the LCT’s:
Length o.a: 79,85m
Beam: 11,70 m
Displacement 1155 tons full load
Speed: 20kts
Range: 400 nm / 16 kts
Propulsion: 2 x 2320 kW
Weapons: 2 x 25mm; 1 x 12,7mm
Crew: 22
Cargo: 320 tons / 250 troops

Today the first of the class Ç-151 was handed over to Turkish Navy. The remaining 7 will be delivered in 3 months intervals.

I wish Ç-151 friendly winds and following seas.