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Turkey Launch its Final MILGEM-class Corvette & Start Construction on First Istanbul-class Frigate.

4 Jul, 2017 7:50 | 2017

Naval Forces News - Turkey

Turkey Launch its Final MILGEM-class Corvette & Start Construction on First Istanbul-class Frigate

Turkey yesterday launched its fourth and final MILGEM (Ada) class corvette, TCG Kinaliada (hull number F-514) during a ceremony held in presence of President Erdogan. The event also officially marked the start of the construction of the first Istanbul-class Frigate.

Ceremony for the launch of TCG Kinaliada Corvette.

Speaking at the ceremony President Erdogan said: “We will continue to increase the number of projects that are of critical importance in terms of our national security. We have ten more projects the contracts of which will be signed in the upcoming years. All these developments reflect the importance we attach to finding maritime solutions to the threats emerging in the region our country is located in. We are determined to build our aircraft carrier, too.”

Video of the launch of TCG Kinaliada Corvette.

TCG Kinaliada was named after Kinaliada, an island of the Prince Islands archipelago in the Sea of Marmara, to the Southeast of Istanbul. TCG Kinaliada is the fourth and final ship of the "National Vessel Project" MILGEM class. The mission of this class of corvette is to protect the interests of the Republic of Turkey at sea, via establishing deterrence and prevention by:
- Show of flag in all areas of interest
- Performing effective and continuous reconnaissance, surveillance and patrol missions
- Carrying out counter-terrorism activites at sea
- Executing SAR missions
- Executing ASW operations at open seas and littoral waters, identifying and destroying targets
- Performing coordinated operations with other naval and air assets taking part in sea control operations.

The ship's overall length is 99.5 meters and the maximum beam is 14.4 meters. With her 2400 tons displacement and 3.9 meters draft, TCG Kinaliada is fully operational at sea state 5 and partially operational at sea state 6. With her 32 MW propulsion power, she has a maximum speed of 29+ knots.

CGI of the Istanbul-class frigate on the Turkish Navy stand at IDEF 2017.

Istanbul-class Frigate
The ceremony for the first Istanbul-class frigate was just symbolic as, according to our colleagues from Bosphorus Naval News, the first steel of the frigate was actually cut on 19 January 2017. The first module of the future TCG Istanbul was constructed in the past 6 months. As Tuzla Naval Shipyard has only one slipway to accommodate new buildings, the launching of TCG Kinaliada made room for the frigate.

Developed under the MILGEM national warship program as the TF-100-class frigate, the Istanbul class is an enlarged variant of the Ada-class corvette, with improved endurance They will be about 14 meters longer but will have the same width as Ada class. They will be fitted with a Mk41 VLS, capable of firing RIM-66 Standard, RIM-162 ESSM and VL ASROC missiles, along with other systems for improved multi-role combat capabilities. Navy Recognition learned during IDEF 2017 that the class will have a mixed load out of 8x Harpoon and 8x Atmaca for a total of 16x anti surface missiles. The Atmaca is a future anti-ship missile currently under development by Turkish company Roketsan. The frigates, also known as the I-class frigate and the MILGEM-G-class frigate, will be 600 tons heavier than the corvette.

There will be four of them: TCG Istanbul, TCG Izmir, TCG Izmit and TCG Içel. Construction of TCG Istanbul is expected to be completed within the next 46 months with the intended commissioning date is 2021.

Interview on I-class frigate during IDEF 2017

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Turkey Launch its Final MILGEM-class Corvette & Start Construction on First Istanbul-class Frigate.