October 2, 2022 in Istanbul (Turkey) at the military shipyard of the Istanbul Naval Shipyard a launching ceremony of the Ada MILGEM-class Hetman Ivan Mazepa corvette was held, which is being built by order of the Navy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The ceremony took place with the participation of the President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska and the Commander of the Navy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Vice Admiral Oleksiy Neizhpapa.
“Today’s extremely important event for Ukraine and its Naval Forces proves once again that in the conditions of a decisive war for our independence and territorial integrity, for the will of the multinational Ukrainian people, for freedom and dignity, we have a wonderful friend – the Republic of Turkey,” emphasized the commander of the Navy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. “Our cooperation receives another dimension: a beautiful corvette that will soon protect Ukraine, free navigation, which is definitely a common goal of our countries.”
As a reminder, Ukraine ordered two coastal anti-submarine stealth corvettes of the Ada MILGEM class (Milli Gemi, literally “National Ship” from Turkish) in December 2020. The laying of the hull of the first ship took place in September 2021. On August 18, 2022, the ship was named Hetman Ivan Mazepa and got the number F211. In mid-September 2022, a photo of the almost completed corvette hull appeared on the Web.
Before the start of a full-scale war, it was planned that by the end of 2022, the corvette with partial equipment would be towed to Ukraine for completion. Obviously, this is impossible now, and most likely the corvette will be equipped and armed in Turkey. Currently, the armament for Ukrainian ships has not yet been finally selected. Among the possible missile systems, the Neptun, Harpoon, NSM or Atmaca anti-missile defense systems are considered. Anti-aircraft weapons are probably the French VL MICA air defense system, and artillery – 76mm OTO Melara Super Rapid guns and 35mm automatic Millennium guns. Torpedo armament – possibly Murene 90 Impact.
Usually, 2-3 years pass between the launch and acceptance of ships into the fleet. It was during this time that Turkish corvettes of the Ada class were equipped. Therefore, the future flagship of the Navy of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Hetman Ivan Mazepa is the ship of the next war. It will not join the army until 2024.
Specifications of Turkish Ada class corvettes
Displacement – 2400 tons
Length – 99.5 m
Width – 14.4 m
Draft – 3.6 m
Engines – codag; 1 GE 2500 gas turbine engine, 30 800 hp + 2 diesel MTU 16V595TE90, 11 580 hp
Speed - up to 29 knots
Range – 3500 nmi at 15 kn
Crew – 93 people + 13 add. place
Armament – 1 × 76 mm naval gun; 2 × 12.7 mm machine guns Aselsan Stamp; 2 × 2 × 324-mm mk.32 torpedo tube; 2 × 4 Harpoon anti-ship missile; 1 × RIM-116 MK 49
Aircraft carried – 1 × S-70B Seahawk
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