A Submarine Sighted

A Turkish Type 209/1400 Preveze/Gür class submarine passing through the Bosphorus. Photo: Yörük Işık. Used with permission.

Today on 1 July 2014, in the late evening hours, one Turkish Type 209 / 1400 class submarine sailed through Bosphorus to the Black Sea.

Since Turkish Navy stopped painting the pennant number of the submarines on their hulls, 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.
With 6 Type 209/1200, 4 Type 209/1400 and 4 Modified Type 209/1400 class submarines in service, Turkey has the largest conventional submarine fleet in the NATO.