When a Russian Su-24 was shot down in the Syrian sky by the Turkish Air Force, there was no dangerous hysteria in our country. The reaction was adequate, and it was not immediately possible to call Turkey to account and apologies, but it was possible with a completely different war - an economic one. But if Russia decided to "rattle" its arms, could it hope for success in the war on land and at sea? This article will review the state of the Turkish Navy, as well as make comparative characteristics. Is a military confrontation between the two countries possible? This issue is now being discussed by many experts.
Modernization
The Turkish Navy is rapidly changing, turning from a bunch of collapsing ships into an effective force capable of asserting itself in the waters of the Bosporus and the Dardanelles. The ships are mostly foreign and modern, but more and more often they are the brainchild of their own shipyards. This is not the most fundamental force of the Turkish army, not the biggest, not the mostrich, but the Turks carefully manage all resources and carefully conduct certification tests.
Good designers, modern shipyards - that's the key to viability in the total modernization of the Turkish Navy. In the coming years, the Turkish command plans to upgrade or replace most of the ships and ships. The Turkish Navy modernization program is designed in such a way that it gradually and finally provides for the rejection of foreign ship systems. Already, projects are becoming cooperative, joint with foreign shipyards: the lead ship is being assembled abroad, the rest under license in Turkey. This is how the skill of building more and more complex ships is acquired.
Reasons for modernization
The country's shipbuilding industry is already quite well developed: about forty modern shipyards work not only for their own merchant fleet - quite large compared to the Turkish Navy - but also build ships for export. A competition has been announced in the Department of Defense Industry, as a result of which only four shipyards that will build ships for the navy will become winners. Turkey feels the need for a stronger navy as it sees threats around its not only land but also maritime borders.
The first Turkish fear is Russia restoring spheres of influence, and Turkey has its own interests in the nearby northern territories. These are conflicts in the south, and historical confrontation in the west with Greece, and, of course, in the east - completelyunpredictable Iran. And if we take into account that ninety percent of the country's total foreign trade is carried out by sea, then we can understand why the ships of the Turkish Navy should be capable of defense. A strong navy guarantees the safety of navigation and is able to secure the borders that make up 8300 coastlines alone plus the islands of the Aegean Sea.
Composition
The Turkish Navy today has fifty-five thousand people. The surface fleet is based on nineteen patrol vessels, among them frigates from Germany (Meko 200) and the USA (Oliver Hazard Perry and Knox), six French corvettes. Also, twenty-five missile and several dozen patrol boats can be involved in coastal operations. Mine-sweeping ships were mostly purchased again from France, Germany and the USA.
Landing ships are very outdated, and there are few of them. There are fourteen submarines, and all German. The number of ships of the Turkish Navy, as we see, is quite impressive. The entire fleet is now carrying out the standardization of weapons, checking control systems and other ship equipment.
Armaments
In the very near future, Turkey will start designing on its own, without the help of foreign powers. These are combat systems, and heavy torpedoes, and hydroacoustics for submarines. Despite the fact that in many respects the modernization of the Turkish fleet still depends on foreign partners, even now the Turkish Navy is often put in the place of the leader of this region.
RussianThe Black Sea Fleet has never set itself the task of competing in tonnage with its closest sea neighbors, but even the only operational-strategic unit of the Russian Navy, which is the Black Sea Fleet, will certainly be able to fulfill its task and will fully ensure military security in this theater of operations. The Black Sea Fleet has at its disposal surface ships operating in the near sea and ocean zones, naval fighter, anti-submarine and missile-carrying aircraft, diesel submarines, as well as parts of coastal troops.
Russian Black Sea Fleet
The fleet's flagship is the Moskva missile cruiser (Project 1164), an attack missile carrier with the Vulkan (Bas alt) anti-ship system. The missiles have supersonic speed and hit targets in absolutely any point of the Black Sea space. "Moskva" also performs anti-aircraft functions fully, since the "Fort" complex is practically S-300, and there are eight such launchers, which means that they will ensure the defeat of sixty-four targets simultaneously. And when "Moscow" began to control the air on the western coast of the Mediterranean Sea in Syria after the incident with our Su-24, Turkish military aviation stopped flying there immediately and completely.
The most productive combat units of the Black Sea Fleet are Samum missile boats, which have no analogues in any naval forces of the countries of the Black Sea basin. These boats have a unique combination of impact potential and maneuverability, which is why theyare at the heart of the combat composition of their class. Rapidly fast, with a powerful armament of eight anti-ship missiles, a wide range of anti-aircraft and artillery installations, these missile boats reliably provide control over the sea zone.
Submarines
Russia's Black Sea submarine forces have also recently been reborn. Project 636 submarines are considered the most inconspicuous - "ocean black holes" in the words of experts from NATO. They merge with the natural sea background and hit targets at a distance that does not allow the enemy to be detected, and this distance exceeds the detection by several times.
And there are at least four new submarines of this class in the Black Sea. Submarines of this class (Varshavyanka) have powerful weapons - six vehicles of eighteen torpedoes or twenty-four mines, as well as Caliber cruise missiles, which also destroy ground targets, which was demonstrated in the Syrian operation. The naval aviation has also been updated for the Black Sea Fleet, replenished with new SU-30SM fighters, and the most extensive arsenal of laudatory words is not enough to describe the combat qualities of this aircraft. All of the above suggests that in the forecasts of the confrontation between the Turkish and Russian navies, the comparison is clearly in our favor.
Floating "second hand" is updated
Turkey is well aware that the situation on the maritime borders needs to be strengthened, and thereforethey have long and stubbornly been trying to create a completely own warship, even if the designs are borrowed from the Germans, and the weapons from the Americans. But new corvettes are being built at Turkish shipyards, even a purely Turkish-made destroyer is planned, with European or American level capabilities. There is even talk of building an amphibious helicopter carrier similar to the Mistrals.
That is, the mood of the Turkish side is still militant, and the strengthening of the Black Sea Fleet of Russia is very annoying for the Turkish leadership. Moreover, such a self-sufficient grouping has appeared in Crimea that it completely covers the Black Sea basin. The leadership of the country is even more concerned that the Russian squadron has also settled in the Mediterranean Sea. It's a shame for Turkey, because quite recently they were the strongest in this region.
Vulnerabilities
Today, Turkey is at odds with almost all of its neighbors, even Israel has ceased to be an ally, the more strange relations have become with Syria. And the tension in relations with Russia is the most unpredictable circumstance. The only thing that Turkey can do in this regard is to make friends with Ukraine against Russia, but this will not bring comfort to anyone, first of all, the Turkish Navy.
The Russian-Turkish conflict developed exceptionally quickly, but was extinguished even faster - and without military intervention. However, predictions of incredible events have already been made: the blockade of the straits, the blockade of the Russian fleet off the coast of Syria, demonstrated in the exercises of Turkish troops in the Sea of Marmara, and later the advancement of submarineboats in the direction of the cruiser "Moscow", increased the tension in relations between the two countries almost to the maximum. You can analyze the recent behavior of the Turkish Navy, photo information is presented quite widely.
Legal Rights
It should be emphasized that Turkey has no right to block the straits, since back in 1936 the convention was ratified by most countries, including Turkey itself. Sovereignty over the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus does not give the right to block the movement of the fleets of other countries without declaring war.
