Notes On Deniz Yıldızı 2018 Naval Exercise

1 Apr 2018 1 Comment

On 26 March 2018 Turkish Navy started its spring exercise Deniz Yıldızı 2018. Ships departed from their ports and the first phase of the exercise was held in the Marmara Sea. On 27 March 2018 Turkish warships passed northbound through Istanbul and continued the exercise in the Black Sea. The exercise will end on 5th April

Though it has not been officially announced, the decommissioned oiler ex Binbaşı Saadetin Gürcan, that was observed being towed to the Black Sea in February is believed to be sunk as a target.

This weekend these warships are dispersed all over the ports in the Black Sea for a well earned weekend break. Turkish warships are simultaneously visiting Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, and Ukraine. It is neither an easy nor a simple act of sending 8 warships to foreign cities for port visits and small scale exercises at the same time.

The list of the warships taking part in the exercise and their port of call for the weekend is below:

Number	Name	Type	Port	Country
S-360	1. İnönü	Submarine	Varna	Bulgaria
P-1207	Tekirdağ	Patrol Boat	Varna	Bulgaria
A-578	Darıca	Tug	Varna	Bulgaria
F-242	Fatih	Frigate	Batumi	Georgia
P-343	Volkan	Fast Attack Craft	Batumi	Georgia
F-504	Bartın	Frigate	Constanta	Romania
P-331	Kalkan	Fast Attack Craft	Constanta	Romania
			Novorossiysk	Russia
			Novorossiysk	Russia
A-572	Yüzbaşı İhsan Tulunay	Tanker	Giresun	Turkey
F-240	Yavuz	Frigate	Hopa	Turkey
P-341	Martı	Fast Attack Craft	İğneada	Turkey
S-350	Yıldıray	Submarine	Karadeniz Ereğli	Turkey
A-580	Akar	Tanker	Karadeniz Ereğli	Turkey
F-245	Oruçreis	Frigate	Rize	Turkey
F-247	Kemalreis	Frigate	Samsun	Turkey
S-349	Batıray	Submarine	Samsun	Turkey
F-243	Yıldırım	Frigate	Sinop	Turkey
F-500	Bozcaada	Corvette	Trabzon	Turkey
P-335	İmbat	Fast Attack Craft	Trabzon	Turkey
P-336	Zıpkın	Fast Attack Craft	Zonguldak	Turkey
F-246	Salihreis	Frigate	Odessa	Ukraine
F-512	Büyükada	Corvette	Odessa	Ukraine

It is interesting to note that Novorossiysk, Russia was declared the fifth foreign port of call by Turkish Navy on 16th March 2018, in the pre-exercise press release. However, Novorossiysk was not mentioned by the daily dispatch of Turkish General Staff on 31st March 2018, as one of the ports where Turkish Navy ships are conducting a visit.

On the other hand, the same dispatch mentioned 23 warships are taking part in the Deniz Yıldızı exercise but only disclosed names and location of 21 warships. So there could be two warships conducting a port visit in Novorossiysk, Russia or not.

Another interesting thing to note is the absence of Gabya ex-Perry class frigates. Turkish Navy operates 8 Gabya class frigates. None was observed to pass to the Black Sea recently.

Here are the photos of some of the participants: