The Mysterious Boat On Bosphorus Identified

17 Jun 2013 Leave a comment

The handover ceremony of the Italian patrol boat to Romanian Border Guard. Photo: Romanian Embassy in Italy

The handover ceremony of the Italian patrol boat to Romanian Border Guard. Photo: Romanian Embassy
in Italy

The boat from my previous post has been identified as a Bigliani class patrol boat.

I thank everyone who shared his/her information and made comments. Your help and support is as always very much appreciated.

This is the official announcement of the handover ceremony in late May 2013:

On 27 May 2013, in the presence of Inspector General of the Romanian Border Police, John BUDA Quaestor Police Chief, and Finance Guard Assistant Commandant-General Emilio Spaziale corps, at the Nautical School of Finance Guard to Gaeta held official handover ceremony of two class ship “Bigliani” Finance Guard fitted to the Romanian Border Police. At the event, the Romanian Embassy in Italy has participated Adina LOVIN prime collaborator.

Delivery and reception of the two vessels, which were divested Free Italian Finance Guard, was made ​​under the provisions of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Administration and Interior of Romania and the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Italy in collaboration informative to combat economic crime financial , signed in Bucharest on 14 December 2005.

Background elements

Finance Guard’s police force with military status under the Ministry of Economy and Finance of the Italian Republic, with competent bodies under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Romania made an intensive cooperation, according to the Memorandum of Understanding signed on 14 December 2005

 

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Mysterious Boat On Bosphorus

16 Jun 2013 3 Comments

The myterious boat on Bosphorus.

The mysterious boat on Bosphorus. Photo: Victor M.S. Barreira, used with permission.

The above photo shows a boat that is moving in high speed on Bosphorus. The photo was taken by Mr. Victor M.S. Barreira, on 8 june 2013.

The boat in picture does not have the appearance of a pleasure craft for private use. It has as far as I can see both Turkish and Romanian flags and looks like a boat for government service but I have no further information about it expect the photo.

So I will welcome any additional information regarding this boat from my readers.

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Photos Of Russian Warship Bora

12 May 2013 1 Comment

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The Russian Dergach class corvette 615 RFS Bora in Bosphorus.

As reported earlier last week we had an unusual guest. The Russian Dergach class air cushion corvette 615 RFS Bora made her maiden foreign visit to Istanbul during the IDEF 2013 defense exhibition.
I don’t know if the ship has received any visitors, as she was docked almost 30 kilometers (18 miles) away from the exhibition center.

I was able to take the photos of RFS Bora on her very last moments in Istanbul, during her deployment back to Russia. The ship is heavily armed with 8 SS-N-22 Sunburn supersonic missiles, one 76mm gun, two 30mm close in weapon systems and SA-N-4 Gecko SAM missiles. I was not on board so I have no idea about the inside of the ship but judging the size and the armaments and sensors she is carrying I do not think that there is much space left for the crew to live.

With her foils inside the water she can make up to 56 knots. It is not  an easy feature to accelerate a 1000 ton warship to speeds as high as this.
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TCG Heybeliada In Bosphorus

2 Apr 2013 1 Comment

Here are a couple of photos from 29 March 2013, taken by Kerim Bozkurt as TCG Heybeliada was sailing in Bosphorus.

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Shalatein In Istanbul

29 Mar 2013 1 Comment

Egyptian supply ship A-230 Shalatein in Istanbul.

Egyptian supply ship A-230 Shalatein in Istanbul.

The Egyptian replenishment tanker A-230 Shalatein is in Istanbul for an official visit for an undisclosed duration.

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The Russian Warship Bora Will Visit Istanbul In May

21 Mar 2013 2 Comments

Bora Class Guided Missile Corvette Samum. Photo: Wikipedia

Bora Class Guided Missile Corvette Samum. Photo: Wikipedia

The Voice Of Russia reported today that a Russian warship will be visiting Istanbul between 7 and 10 May 2013.

The Bora class hoverborne guided missile corvette of the Russian Navy, RFS Bora will be in Istanbul during the IDEF’13, 11th International Defence Industry Fair.

The Bora class corvettes have a very unconventional structure where a large air cushion is placed between a catamaran hull.

This shape provides lift and high speed.

The ship is armed with Moskit anti-ship missiles and short range anti aircraft missiles.

The sensor suit and the armament of this class closely resembles another Russians corvette class Tarantul.

It is the largest military hovercraft unmatched anywhere in the world. With the displacement of 1000 tons, the craft has a cruising speed of 100 kilometers an hour. It is armed with 8 Mosquito missiles which can strike targets on the sea and on land. The hovercraft has 20 anti-aircraft missiles, an artillery complex, a machine-gun and an interference creating device. The hovercraft has an aluminium hull. Though it’s a light craft, its seaworthiness is very high. The hovercraft can be on an autonomous voyage for 10 days. One refueling is enough for 2,500 miles. The complement is 68 men.

I sincerely hope that I may be able to take photos of the strange and interesting vessel.

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A Submarine Spotted

27 Dec 2012 2 Comments

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On 26 December 2012, in the early morning hours, one Turkish Type 209/1400 class submarine sailed through Bosphorus to Marmara Sea. Since Turkish Navy stopped painting the pennant numbers of the submarines, it is impossible to identify each individual submarine anymore. While this new painting scheme helps the submarines to blend and prevents IR/FLIR/LLTV using trackers or electro-optic directors any high contrast target, it makes ship spotting difficult.

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Russian Submarine Alrosa Passed Through Bosphorus

19 Sep 2012 2 Comments

Russian submarine Alrosa passing through Bosphorus.

It was like a scene from the old cold war comedy “The Russians are coming, the Russians are coming“. You don’t see an active duty Russian submarine passing through your neighborhood everyday. So it was a big day for me.

The Kilo class Russian diesel – electric submarine Alrosa came from the Marmara Sea and passed by the Topkapı Place and entered into the Bosphorus. She is on her way to her homeport Sevastopol.

Alrosa departed the Baltic town of Kronstadt in late August where she was laid up for scheduled overhaul since July 2011.

In November 2011 during training she suffered serious engine problem and had to be towed back to Sevastopol. She was repaired and later took part in NATO’s largest submarine rescue exercise Bold Monarc 2011 off the coast of Spain.

Alrosa (originally Varshavyanka), a Kilo-class Project 877 diesel submarine, entered service in December 1990. It was renamed Alrosa in 2004 after it was “adopted” by Russia’s largest diamond company of the same name. She is the only submarine in active service with the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

Russian submarine Alrosa passing through Bosphorus.

Russian submarine Alrosa passing through Bosphorus.

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The BlackSeaFor Task Force Sailed Into The The Black Sea.

11 Aug 2012 2 Comments

Turkish Milgem class corvette F-511 TCG Heybeliada. The flagship of the BlackSeaFor task force.

The Bulgarian minesweeper 62 BGS Shkval

The Russian large landing ship 142 RFS Novocherkassk

The Romanian Tetal 2 class corvette 265 Contraamiral Horia Macellariu

The Ukrainian command ship U-510 Slavutich

Yesterday, after the command handover ceremony in Gölcük Naval Base, the 5 ships participating to this activation of the BlackSeaFor sailed away to their next port of call Trabzon, Istanbul. In order to this they had to pass through Bosphorus, where I was expecting them, as you can see from the photos above.

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Russian Warships In Eastern Mediterranean

27 Jul 2012 4 Comments

It’s a shame that I didn’t had my regular camera with me today. This is the Russian tug SB-5 returning from Mediterranean.

Their southbound passage through the Turkish Straits, a fortnight ago was with much fanfare and media attention. Their return to their home was as silent as a thief sneaking into a house. I must admit that the Russian have a very good understanding of how to play the PR game and they are good at it.

The four ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet that was in the Eastern Mediterranean in the last two weeks returned home yesterday and today. Yesterday the Ropucha class landing ship Tsezar Kunikov, the Alligator class landing ship Nikolay Filchenkov and the salvage tug Shakhter passed through the Bosphorus on their way back to Sevastopol. Today the tug SB-5 made the same voyage.

This is the list of the Russian ships currently deployed (or for the Black Sea units recently deployed) in the Eastern Mediterranean:

Name
Type
Fleet
Location
Tsezar Kunikov Large landing ship Black Sea Fleet @Black Sea
Nikolay Filchenkov Large landing ship Black Sea Fleet @Black Sea
Shakhter Tug Black Sea Fleet @Black Sea
SB-5 Tug Black Sea Fleet @Black Sea
Smetlivy Destroyer Black Sea Fleet @Mediterranean
Admiral Chabaenko Destroyer Northern Fleet @Mediterranean
Yaroslav Mudry Frigate Baltic Fleet @Mediterranean
Kondapoga Large landing ship Northern Fleet @Mediterranean
Alexander Otrakovskıy Large landing ship Northern Fleet @Mediterranean
Georgıy Podedonosets Large landing ship Northern Fleet @Mediterranean
Segei Osipov Replenishment tanker Northern Fleet @Mediterranean
Nikolay Chicker Tug Northern Fleet @Mediterranean

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