>Construction of 8 LCT’s Has Started

>I must confess that I am not much a fan of modern shipbuilding processes. In the former days there would be keel laying ceremony to celebrate the start of the construction of the ship. The hull of the ship would evolve around that keel.

Nowadays with introduction of advanced production processes, the ships are produced in blocks and welded together for the final assembly. Thus I am not certain anymore what should the yesterday’s ceremony to be called. Never the less the construction of the first of 8 fast LCT’s has started officially.

As reported earlier this month ADİK shipyard was won the bid to produce 8 LCT’s for Turkish Navy. On June 2009, a contract was signed between SSM and ADİK about this project. The exact value of the contract was not made public but it is estimated to be around 100 million EUR.

According to Mr. Süalp Ö. Ürkmez CEO of Furtrans company, that owns ADİK shipyard, the scheduled delivery date for the eight ships is August 2012.

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

Photos from the ceremony: