Aselsan Gökdeniz CIWS System Will Be Tested On Board TCG Sokullu Mehmet Paşa

19 Feb 2022

Today the Rhein class auxiliary ship, TCG Sokullu Mehmet Paşa, left her homeport in Tuzla, İstanbul and headed to the Black Sea.

TCG Sokullu Mehmet Paşa and her sister TCG Cezarli Hasan Paşa have two 100mm gun turrets. The aft turet on board of TCG Sokullu Mehmet Paşa was removed in 2018. She was used as test ship for the Aselsan made close in weapon system Korkut-D in May 2018.

After the completion of these tests, the Korkut-D mount and the associated hardware was removed from the ship.

Today TCG Sokullu Mehmet Paşa was spotted with a new gun system installed. While the whole gun system and the associated radars and other sensors were under wraps the shape of the system is very distinguishable. The system to be tested is the Gökdeniz close-in weapon system.

Gökdeniz consists of one unmanned gun turret with two 35mm guns, an X band 3-D tracking radar and one fire control radar with electro/optical sensors. All subsystems of the Gökdeniz system are recognizable on board.

The gun turret has been remodelled from her initial version making it suitable to be retrofitted in place of the existing CIWS systems on board. The guns can use the ATOM 35mm airburst ammunition developed by ASELSAN. ATOM is a smart ammunition, having a base fuze increasing the effectiveness of the barreled guns. Thus such ammunition is an important option to fight against small and high-speed targets.

The X band tracking radar has a range of 100km. With its phased array, multi-beam antenna the radar can track multiple air targets simultaneously.

The Gökdeniz close-in weapon system will be installed onboard Barbaros class frigates during their mid-life upgrade, İ class frigates and in the future other ships.

Filed under Exercise, Sighting, Turkish Navy Tagged with , ,

Rostov-na-Donu Returns Home

13 Feb 2022

The Russian submarine Rostov-na-Donu passing through Istanbul, escorted by the Turkish Coast Guard vessels

Today improved Kilo-class (Proj. 636.3) submarine of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, Rostov-na-Donu made northbound passage through Bosphorus.
13.12.2015. During her passage, Turkish Coast Guard vessels TCSG-312 and KB-4309 escorted the submarine.

She has 6 533mm torpedo tubes and carries a combination of up to 18 torpedoes, SS-N-27 anti-ship, and Kalibr land-attack missiles.

She passed southbound through Istanbul on 23.06.2020 for overhaul at the Admiralty Yard in St. Petersburg.

Filed under Bosphorus, Sighting Tagged with , , , ,

Russian Minehunter Georgy Kurbatov Passed Through Istanbul

7 Jan 2022

The Project 12700 Aleksandrit class minehunter Georgy Kurbatov made her inaugural passage through Istanbul this afternoon. She was towed by the Project 22870 class rescue Tug SB-739 Spasatel Vasily Bekh.

It was not clear why the mine hunter was towed. One reason is to preserve her engines and not to used unnecessarily. Another reason is not to reveal her engine and propeller signature to other parties. Or may be simply she had some technical troubles and needed to be towed.

The passage of these two warships was preceded in the morning by the transit of Project 23120 class logistics support vessel Vsevolod Bobrov. It, too was her first passage through Istanbul.

Filed under Black Sea, Sighting Tagged with , ,

FS Auvergne Passed Southbound Through Istanbul

2 Jan 2022

The French warship FS Auvergne made her southbound transit through Istanbul this morning and left the Black Sea.

Her northbound passage was on 13 December 2021. During her deployment to the Black Sea, the ship visited Constanta, Romania and Odessa, Ukraine.

This was her first Black Sea deployment.


Filed under Black Sea, Sighting, Turkey, Ukraine Tagged with

SNMCMG-2 Entered The Black Sea

26 Sep 2021

Spanish Meteoro class OPV, ESPS Rayo in Istanbul.

Italian Gaeta class mine hunter ITS Viareggio.

Turkish Engin class mine hunter TCG Edincik.

Between 20 and 23rd September the Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group Two (SNMCMG2) made a port visit in Istanbul.

The task force consisting of The flagship ESPS Rayo, Turkish minehunter TCG Edincik and Italian minehunter ITS Viareggio were berthed at the Sarayburnu quay.

After this short break, the task force sailed through Istanbul and entered the Black Sea for the third time in 2021. The Romanian mine sweeper ROS Lt. Lupu Dinescu and Bulgarian mine sweeper BGS Shkval joined the group after they enter the Black Sea.

According to the NATO press release the deployment will include the port visits to Batumi, Georgia, after which there will be an exercise with the Georgian Coast Guard. The deployment will also include a port visit to Samsun, Turkey.

Filed under Black Sea, NATO, Port Visit, Sighting Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Improved Kilo Class Submarine Stary Oskol Returned Home

26 Sep 2021

Russian submarine Stray Oskol passing through Istanbul. The NATO task force SNMCMG-2 was making a port visit and can be seen in the background.

Russian improved Kilo class (Project 636.3) submarine Stary Oskol made a northbound passage through Istanbul on 23rd September 2021.

This passage was the end of a very long overhaul and operational deployment. She was last seen in Istanbul passing southbound on 25.4.2019. She exited the Black Sea to sail to the Admiralty Shipyard in St. Petersburg for an overhaul. Later since December 2020, she was stationed in the Med.

She is one of the six 636.3 class submarines commissioned for the Black Sea Fleet between 2014 and 2016.

Filed under Black Sea, Sighting Tagged with ,

Ivan Antonov Transited Through Istanbul

18 Jan 2020

The small boat covered with a tarpaulin at the aft is not the tender of the ship. It is an Inspector-MK2-type MCM unmanned surface vehicle.

The Russian Black Sea Fleet minesweeper, Ivan Antonov transited through Istanbul on 16th January 2020 for her first Mediterranean deployment. Her first northbound passage through Turkish Straits was in September 2019

The Alexandrit class mine countermeasures vessel was laid down in January 2017 and launched in April 2018 at the Sredne-Nevsky Shipyard in St. Petersburg. She is the second ship of her class. These ships have the largest hull of monolithic fiberglass formed by vacuum infusion according to the shipyard

These class of mine countermeasure vessels is designed to provide mine protection of naval bases, coastal sea areas, detect and destroy mines of all kinds, provide, mine protection for ships in transit, exclusive economic zone and mineral deposits at sea, carry out mine reconnaissance, lay minefields.

The vessel carries one LIVADIA-ME mine-detection sonar on her hull. The mine countermeasures operations are managed by the DIEZ-12700E automated system for the MCM operation control system. Ivan Antonov carries one Inspector-MK2-type MCM unmanned surface vehicle, 10 K-STER C lightweight expendable mine disposal vehicles, 2 K-STER I identification vehicles and two Alister 9 autonomous underwater vehicle. All these mentioned mine countermeasure vehicles are provided by French company ECA.

Filed under Bosphorus, Sighting Tagged with , , ,

The Disappearing Red Star of Marshal Ustinov

9 Jan 2020 1 Comment

When Marshal Ustinov arrived in Istanbul on 5th January, she had painted two red stars on her bridge indicating that this ship was awarded for excellence.

А for artillery and ПВО for anti-aircraft. As shown below:

This is a close up to the bridge area. Two stars are clearly visible.

 

This is a screen capture from an HD video uploaded by @benkendim to youtube. Again, two stars are visible.

However, a third star was painted overnight, as it was visible during her aborted berthing maneuver on 6th January 2019.

The third red star is clearly visible one day after the above photo was taken.

 

This is again a screen capture from an HD video uploaded by @benkendim to youtube. And yes there are not two but three stars visible.

Interesting to note that all these photos are from the starboard side of the ship. I was not able to see the port side of the ship until she passed through the Bosphorus to return home.

And when she was returning back to Russia on 8th January, oddly enough she had only two stars painted on her port side.

This is again a screen capture from an HD video uploaded by @benkendim to youtube. And yes there are not two but three stars visible.

If I had to guess why there is not a third star on the port side of the ship I would say the information for the award arrived from the naval headquarters when the ship was already sailing towards Istanbul and the bosun has only enough red paint to paint on the one side of the bridge.

Filed under Bosphorus, Sighting Tagged with , ,

Turkish Naval Forces Day Commemorated With A Sail Parade

27 Sep 2019

The 27th September, the anniversary of the Battle of Preveza, is celebrated as the Turkish Naval Forces Day.

On 27th September 1538, a naval battle for the supremacy in the Mediterranean was fought between the Ottoman Navy commandeered by Barbaros Hayrettin Pasa and the fleet of a Christian alliance assembled by Pope Paul III and commandeered by Andrea Doria. With the victory at Preveza and the subsequent victory in the Battle of Djerba in 1560, the Ottoman Empire successfully repulsed the efforts of Venice and Spain, the two principal Mediterranean powers, to stop the Turkish drive to control the Mediterranean.

To commemorate the day Turkish Naval Forces organized a sail parade through Istanbul. 8 warships and two special forces RHIB’s took part in the ceremony. All these ships minus TYCG Sancaktar are open for public on Friday afternoon and on Saturday in Istanbul. In all Turkey, 45 ships will be open for public to visit.

F-247 TCG Kemalreis the flagship of the Turkish Navy.

F-246 TCG Salihreis. She too has extra space and equipment to act as a flagship.

F-241 TCG Turgutreis. First-generation of MEKO 200 type frigates in service.

F-512 TCG Büyükada. The second Ada (Milgem) class corvette. She was launched 8 years ago on this day and commissioned 6 years ago again on this day.

F-511 TCG Heybeliada. The first indigenous warship constructed in Turkey. She was commissioned 8 years ago on this day.

L-403 TCG Sancaktar. The newest landing ship in inventory. She has extensive command and control facilities for land operations. 

P-335 TCG Atak. 

P-337 TCG İmbat. Both TCG Atak and TCG İmbat are the last generation of fast attack craft in the Turkish Naval Forces.

Filed under Bosphorus, Sighting, Turkey, Turkish Navy Tagged with , ,

Russian Submarine Krasnodar Transited Southbound Trough Istanbul

14 Mar 2019

Today improved Kilo class (Proj. 636.3) submarine of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, Krasnodar made an unexpected southbound passage through Bosphorus.

The submarine one of the six units built specially for the Black Sea Fleet has been deployed in the region since 7.8.2017. She has 6 533mm torpedo tubes and carries a combination of up to 18 torpedoes, SS-N-27 anti-ship, and Kalibr land attack missiles.

While a southbound passage of a Russian submarine is very rare, it is has happened before. Russian Kilo class (Proj. 877) submarine Alrosa suffered an engine fire in 2009 and had to go to the Baltic for extensive repairs. She did even take part in the NATO exercise Bold Monarch 2011. Yes, it was different times then.

The Montreux Convention regulates the passage of submarines. While the submarines of non-Black Sea nations are forbidden to pass through the Straits, the submarines of the Black Sea riparian States may pass under certain conditions

Article 12.

Black Sea Powers shall have the right to send through the Straits, for the purpose of rejoining their base, submarines constructed or purchased outside the Black Sea, provided that adequate notice of the laying down or purchase of such submarines shall have been given to Turkey. Submarines belonging to the said Powers shall also be entitled to pass through the Straits to be repaired in dockyards outside the Black Sea on condition that detailed information on the matter is given to Turkey. In either case, the said submarines must travel by day and on the surface and must pass through the Straits singly.

The provision in the convention is very clear. If Krasnodar exited the Black Sea for repairs then this passage does not break the rules of the convention. If the submarine, however, joins her 2 sisters all ready stationed in the Med since 2017 and conducts military operations, then this will be a clear breach of the Montreux Convention. We will know better in a few days.

Filed under Bosphorus, Sighting Tagged with , , , ,

← Older posts

%d bloggers like this: