TCG Alanya Takes Part In Spanish Minex-13

16 Apr 2013 Leave a comment

M-266 TCG Amasra. She is identical to TCG Alanya taking part in Minex '13 in Spain.

M-266 TCG Amasra. She is identical to TCG Alanya taking part in Minex ’13 in Spain.

A large mine warfare exercise organised by Spanish Navy has started off the coast of Cartagena and Alicante.

The ‘Spanish Minex-13′ is an advanced exercise Naval War Mine Action organized annually by the Spanish Armada in order to implement common procedures for defense against the threat of naval mines.

Among the participants to this exercise are NATO’s SNMCMG-2 and EU’s Euromarfor, along with many units from Spanish Armada.

The exercise will last till 26th April 2013. Turkish Aydın class mine hunter TCG Alanya is taking part in this exercise as a member of SNMCMG-2.

The exercise is led by the Commander of the Force Mine Action, Captain Juan Jose Fernandez Garcia, who will command the more than 500 soldiers of the Spanish Armada and France, Turkey and United Kingdom.

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The mines used in the ‘Spanish Minex-13′ are simulated submarine artifacts completely harmless and safe for the environment, which will be collected at the end of exercise. As usual in this type of maneuver, it will take the opportunity to make a clean seabed area exercises.

This is the list of participating naval units to this exercise. More info is always welcomed.

S-71 SPS Galerna Submarine Spain
P-77 SPS Infanta Cristina Frigate Spain
P-81 SPS Torella Patrol craft Spain
P-82 SPS Formentor Patrol craft Spain
M-31 SPS Segura Mine hunter Spain
M-32 SPS Sella Mine hunter Spain
M-35 SPS Duero Mine hunter Spain
M-36 SPS Tajo Mine hunter Spain
A-101M-31 SPS Mar Caribe Logistic support ship Spain
M-653 FS Capricorne Mine hunter France
M-31 HMS Cattistock Mine hunter UK
M-265 TCG Alanya Mine hunter Turkey

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Update On Nusret 12 And Mavi Balina 12 Exercises

10 Nov 2012 Leave a comment

The Mavi Balina 12 anti submarine warfare and Nusret 12 mine warfare exercises are continuing. The former is conducted in Eastern Mediterranean while the later is in Aegean Sea. My list of the order of battle for both exercises is still incomplete but I was able to get some help.

First I have received this photo. I thank my reader Mr Yıldırım for this photo.

A the superstructure of a sixth warship is visible at the right part of the photo. I am not able to tell exactly ship that is but I am confident that she is one of the two Rhein class tenders / training ships of the Turkish Navy A-577 TCG Sokullu Mehmet Paşa or A-579 TCG Cezayirli Hasan Paşa. TCG Sokullu Mehmet Paşa acted as the flagship of SNMCMG-2 earlier this year when the Turkish Navy was commanding the task force.

 Number Name Type Country
M-500 TCG Foça Mine Sweeper Turkey
M-501 TCG Fethiye Mine Sweeper Turkey
M-516 TCG Sığacık Mine Sweeper Turkey
M-1064 FGS Grömitz Mine Hunter Germany
M-5559 ITS Viareggo Mine Hunter Italy
M-111 HMS Blyth Mine Hunter UK
M-276 TCG Ayvalık Mine Hunter Turkey
A-57X TCG Unidentified Tender Turkey
M-61 HS Evniki Mine Hunter Greece

Second I have received this comment. I thank my reader Herr Leif for this information.

 Number Name Type Country
F-217 FGS Bayern Frigate Germany
F-570 ITS Maestrale Frigate Italy
F-495 TCG Gediz Frigate Turkey
DDG-98 USS Forrest Sherman Destroyer USA
F-252 PNS Shamsheer Frigate Pakistan
F-244  TCG Barbaros Frigate Turkey
Unidentified Turkey
Unidentified Turkey
S- Unidentified Submarine Turkey
S- Unidentified Submarine Turkey
S- Unidentified Submarine Turkey

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SNMCMG-2 In Izmir

8 Nov 2012 Leave a comment

NATO’s mine hunter task force in İzmir harbor. Photo: Kubilay Yıldırım. Used with permission.

NATO SNMCMG-2 plus Greek M-61 HS Evniki and one unidentified Rhein class tender from Turkish Navy in İzmir harbor on 6th November 2012.

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Nusret 2012 Naval Warfare Exercise Will Start Tomorrow

5 Nov 2012 Leave a comment

On 5th November 2012 the mine warfare exercise organised by Turkish Navy Nusret 2012 will start in İzmir, Turkey.

In addition to Turkish naval,coast guard and air force units, NATO SNMCMG-2, US and Greek naval units will participate in the exercise which will end on 15th November 2012.

Observers from Azerbaijan, UAE, Georgia, Qatar, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Oman will take part too.

The NATO’s mine warfare force SNMCMG-2 already arrived in İzmir on 2nd November 2012.

Nusret mine warfare exercise is organized by Turkish Navy and is an annual exercise.

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A Hundred Years Old Mine Was Found In Didim

5 Jun 2012 4 Comments

The mine. Photo from Hürriyet.com

On 31st May 2012, an old and rusty mine was found in a popular beach in Didim, Aydın.

A swimmer notified the local  police about an odd-shaped rusty metal object laying on the sea floor after she/he injured her/his feed by it. The local police turned to the coast guard for help. Eventually the Navy EOD teams arrived at the beach and after two days work the mine was dragged out of the water to be disposed.

The naval EOD experts stated that the mine was from First World War and was at least one hundred years old and thankfully it was no longer functional.

Click here to watch a video of the salvage of the mine. Every year several old mines are found in the waters around Turkey.

The mine in close. Photo from Stargündem.com

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Catch Of The Day: A G7A Torpedo

13 Mar 2012 Leave a comment

The G7A training torpedo caught by a Turkish fishing boat.

On 10th March 2012, the fishing boat M/V Yeni Asya returned home with a very unusual catch: a G7A torpedo.

The fishing boat found the torpedo dangled in its nets as they were fishing off the coast of Foça, İzmir. The waters around Foça, located at the entrance of Bay of İzmir is one of the popular exercise areas of Turkish Navy.

The fishermen realized that it the torpedo was an inert training torpedo without a warhead as they have encountered similar torpedoes before dully informed the local coast guard station and the harbour master. After the M/V Yeni Asya returned to Foça harbor with the torpedo hanging astern, experts examined the catch. Later it was decided to bring to torpedo to a close by naval base where it will be destroyed.

Originally designed for the use of the U-Boots during the 2. World War, the G7A torpedo is used by Kartal class fast attack craft. These vessels build in Germany as a modified Zobel class fast attack craft carry two forward facing 533mm torpedo tubes, one on each side armed with one G7A torpedoes.

Click here for a video of the incident.

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An Old British Mine, Destroyed On The Shores of Gallipoli, 97 Years After The Battle

26 Feb 2012 2 Comments

When the crew of the fishing boat Rafet Reis 3 cast their nets off the Kabatepe on Gallipoli Peninsula for a good catch of fish, they found something else: a very old and rusty object.

According to the captain of the fishing vessel, they have encountered mines before when hunting in the region. But this time the object did not looked like the other mines they have seen therefore they brought the object to the harbour and notified the Turkish Coast Guard.

After the first inspection by the Coast Guard team, the object was identified as a mine and Turkish Naval Forces, EOD teams were notified. It turned out to be a British made mine from the First World War era. The 97 years old mine was carefully taken of the fishing vessel and loaded on a trailer. The mine was taken to the Suvla beach on the Gallipoli Peninsula where it was destroyed by demolition charges.

Click, to watch a, over 5 minutes long vidoe of the transport and destruction of the old British mine.

Click for previous similar incidents.

 

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ROVKiller: A Countermeasure For Mine Hunting ROVs

5 Feb 2012 Leave a comment

The prototype of ROVKiller. Photo: BUTECH.One of the private universities in Turkey, Bahçeşehir University has founded a Technology Development Center (BUTECH) in August 2005. BUTECH’s main mission is to realize custom projects created for various industries and government in Turkey and in the Middle East region of the world. They employ their students so that they would have sufficient work experience.

BUTECH has developed a number of defense related projects. They are mostly in concept or development phase but I trust that a few of them might even get in to prototype and test and evolution phase by the armed forces.

The ROV Killer is one of the projects I believe that has a good potential to enter into production. The ROV Killer is essentially an intelligent mine that is connected to a standard “dumb” mine and will destroy the mine hunting ROV by exploding.

The ROV’s are the soft under belly of today’s naval mine hunting vessels. In our age where we adore anything that can perform dangerous and mundane task by a unmanned way ROV’s are more valuable assets than divers. If a mine hunter ship, cannot deploy a ROV to neutralize or to identify a mine then a human diver have to be risked for the mission of the ROV.

According to BUTECH’s website the prototype of the system was completed in April 2009 and, testing has begun.

ROVKiller Technical Specifications

  • High precision and accuracy
  • 5 meter detection distance
  • Operable under 300 meter depth (31 atm)
  • Light difference detection
  • Specific light color detection
  • Attachable via magnetic node to bottom mines
  • Easy integration to mine
  • Ability to be built in various size and models

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Turkish Navy Replaces The Flagship Of SNMCMG-2

29 Jan 2012 Leave a comment


Turkish warship A-577 TCG Sokullu Mehmet Paşa replaced A-579 TCG Cezayirli Gazi Hasan Paşa as the flagship of Standing NATO Mine Counter Measures Group 2, on 23rd January 2012. The Turkish Captain Abdulhamit Şener is commanding this task force.

Actually both ships are more or less same. They were originally built for the German Navy as Rhein class tenders. Four ships of this class Elbe, Donau, Isar and Ruhr were transferred to Turkish Navy in 1980′s. Isar was the first   TCG Cezayirli Gazi Hasan Paşa. She was replaced by Donau. Similarly Ruhr was the first TCG Sokullu Mehmet Paşa; she was replaced by Elbe.

When not used as flagships both ships are used for long distance training sails of Turkish Naval Academy and Turkish Naval High-school cadets.

It was just the Turkish Navy that replaced the warship it has committed to this task force.  This is the current composition of SNMCMG-2:

Number
Name
Nation
Participants
A-577 TCG Sokullu Mehmet Paşa Turkey Flagship
M-268 TCG Akcakoca Turkey Minehunter
M-34 SPS Turia Spain Minehunter
5556 ITS Alghero Italy Minehunter
M-30 HMS Ledbury UK Minehunter

This was the composition of SNMCMG-2 in November 2011:

Number
Name
Nation
Participants
A-579 TCG Cezayirli Gazi Hasan Paşa Turkey Flagship
M-270 TCG Akçay Turkey Minehunter
M-35 SPS Duero Spain Minehunter
5557 ITS Numano Italy Minehunter
M-1063 Bad Beversen Germany Minehunter

Standing NATO Mine-Countermeasures Group 2, is a multinational, integrated maritime force – made up of vessels from various allied nations, training and operating together as a single team – that is permanently available to NATO to perform a wide range tasks, from participating in exercises to crisis response and real world operational missions. Usually the Force is employed in the Mediterranean area but, as necessary, will be available anywhere NATO requires it to deploy.

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Nusret 2011 Mine Warfare Exericse

17 Nov 2011 Leave a comment

Between 20th and 30th November 2011 The Turkish Navy will host the Nusret 2011 Exercise. This is an annual exercise to hone mine hunting skills of the participants.

This years exercise area is Bay of Saros just west of the Gelibolu peninsula which is a very appropriate place for a mine warfare exercise.

The list of the participating ships is below. In addition to these forces a naval explosive ordnance disposal team, one air force C-130 Hercules aircraft and a helicopter will take in the exercise too.

Number
Name
Nation
Type
A-579 TCG Cezayirli Gazi Hasan Paşa Turkey Flagship
M-270 TCG Akçay Turkey Mine hunter
M-35 SPS Duero Spain Mine hunter
5557 ITS Numano Italy Mine hunter
M-1063 Bad Beversen Germany Mine hunter
NL-125 Osmangazi (Note-1) Turkey Mine layer
M- 9 mine warfare ships Turkey Mine hunter /sweeper
P- Fast attack craft Turkey Fast attack craft
P- Patrol vessel Turkey Patrol vessel
P- Fast attack craft Turkey Fast attack craft
P- Patrol vessel Turkey Patrol vessel
A-589 Işın (Note-1) Turkey Salvage
SG- Coast Guard Vessel Turkey Patrol Vessel
Note-1: Participation these ships are not confirmed but assumed. Bosphorus Naval News

Click here and here to read about the last year’s exercise.

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