According to information published by In Cyprus on July 19, 2022, a total of four ships of the Turkish Navy will be in the occupied ports of Famagusta and Kyrenia as part of “celebrations” for the July 20, 1974 invasion of Turkey in Cyprus.
Follow Navy Recognition on Google News at this link
Bayraktar class tank landing ship TCG Bayraktar (Picture source: Turkish National Defence University)
Specifically, the Turkish Cypriot newspaper “Halkin Sesi” has reported that the Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate TCG Giresun and the Gür-class submarine TCG Burakreis will be in the port of occupied Kyrenia.
And in the port of occupied Famagusta, the Bayraktar-class tank landing ship TCG Bayraktar and the Cezayirli Hasan Pasa class TCG Sokollu Mehmet Pasa of the Naval War School of the University of the Ministry of Defense of Turkey will be anchored till the 23rd.
About the Bayraktar class tank landing ship TCG Bayraktar
The Bayraktar class is a class of landing ship tanks (LSTs) built in Turkey. The two amphibious vessels of the class were built for the Turkish Navy by Anadolu Shipyard.
The LSTs are primarily intended for amphibious missions and transportation of troops and equipment, while their secondary missions include humanitarian aid, disaster relief, medical assistance, and transportation.
Each vessel has an overall length of 138.75 metres (455 ft 3 in), a beam of 19.60 metres (64 ft 4 in) and a draught of less than 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) forward and less than 5 metres (16 ft 5 in) aft when fully loaded.
The displacement of the vessel is 7,125 long tons (7,239 t) and the load carrying capacity is 1,180 long tons (1,200 t), including a mix of vehicles or cargo on open decks.
The vessels are powered by four 2,880 kW (3,860 hp) main diesel engines, driving two controllable pitch propellers through twin shafts. The ships will also integrate a 500 kW (670 hp) bow thruster and four 785 kW (1,053 hp) diesel generators with a power management system (PMS). The propulsion system provides a maximum continuous speed of more than 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) at full load displacement.
The Turkish LSTs are armed with two OTO Melara 40 mm Fast Forty single naval gun mounts, two Mk 15 Phalanx close-in weapon systems (CIWS), and two machine guns on remotely controlled stabilised mounts.
The amphibious ships feature a Smart Mk2 3D air/surface search radar, AselFLIR 300D EO director, torpedo countermeasures systems and a laser warning receiver. The sensors and weapons aboard the vessel will be controlled by Genesis CMS.
