TCG Anadolu is the first Turkish-made landing ship. Despite popular belief, TCG Anadolu is a landing ship, not an aircraft carrier. We can understand this by the name of this ship. TCG is the abbreviation of Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Gemisi (Republic of Turkey Ship). L400 is the ship's code. And the L in is the initial letter of landing. It is 27.436 tonnes, 232 meters long, and 32 meters wide. Although this is enormous for us, it is not enough for most planes to take off on its 202-meter runway. (Most planes except the Turkish-made drones and the F35 are unusable.) TCG Anadolu has been the first in many areas; the first drone ship, the first Turkish-made ship, etc.
Let's talk about who made this masterpiece. Sedef Shipyard was responsible for making the fuselage of the ship, ASELSAN for the defense system, and Baykar for the planes on top (We will cover Kızılelma, TB-3, and Akıncı in a different blog since they all deserve their own.). The construction began on February 7th, 2018; was lowered on the water by May 4th, 2019; and was handed over to the Turkish sea forces on April 10th, 2023.
The ship can carry a lot of things onboard. It can take up to 1200 military personnel, 41 AUAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) or 29 helicopters, a hospital with two surgery rooms, four mechanism landing crafts, 13 tanks, 23 AAAVs (Armored Amphibious Assault Vehicles), six armored personnel carriers, 33 miscellaneous vehicles, and 15 trailers.
This ship will help the Turkish military a lot. It will give Turkey dominance over its neighboring countries. Even though it is for landings, Turkey will mainly use it as an AUAV carrier, which will help Turkey dominate both sea and air. There are a few types of drones on this ship. Right now it is Kızılelma, Akıncı and TB-3. These drones are detrimental to the enemy. The previously used TB-2 changed the course of many wars in Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Qatar, Turkmenistan, Morocco, etc.
Overall, TCG Anadolu will help the Turkish Armed Forces drastically, and give them the upper hand against their neighbours. And I congratulate everyone who took part in this ship.