Turkey Building Huge New Multipurpose Amphibious Assault Ship

Turkey has begun the construction of a new multipurpose amphibious assault ship called the TGC Anatolia, reported Turkey's Milliyet newspaper on Tuesday.

The ship is being built at the Sedef shipyard in Istanbul, and it will be the Turkish navy's largest and best-equipped warship when its construction is finished in 2021. It is named TCG Anadolu, or Anatolia is English, after the region in Turkey which makes up most of the country.

Kokpit.aero published an illustration of the new ship.

​According to reports, the ship will be 225 meters long and 32 meters wide, and weigh 28,000 tons when fully loaded. It will be able to transport eight combat helicopters, an infantry battalion of 700 officers, and 1,400 crew members.

The Anatolia will also be fitted with a runway sloped to 12 degrees for fighter planes and combat helicopters. Milliyet reports that the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter and the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotor military aircraft are among the aircraft designed for launch from the runway, on missions by the Turkish armed forces around the world.

"The F-35B class 5th generation fighter and eight helicopters can be carried to theaters in the Aegean, Black Sea and Mediterranean, and the Indian Ocean and Atlantic Ocean if needed," wrote Milliyet.