“TCSG Yaşam” Delivered to the Coast Guard Command
Speaking at the ceremony on the delivery of the ship, Koç Holding’s Defence Industry, Other Automotive and Information Technology Group President Kudret Önen indicated that the project was the first warship project realised in a private sector shipyard and that within the project’s coverage ‘Umut,’ ‘Dost,’ and ‘Güven’ ships were delivered in 2013. Önen said, “The final delivery of ‘Dost’ and ‘Umut’ took place. These ships undertook missions of over 1,800 cruise hours in one year. We were very happy to see that during this period no serious problem took place that would worry us. For this reason we are proud of the ships we have built. I have no doubt that ‘Yaşam’ will show the same success and will make us proud. Touching on the superior technical and technological features of the ships, Önen stated that: “These are corvette type ships, 88 metres in length, weigh 1,700 tonnes and can cruise at 22 knots with national command and control software and communication systems that can perform superior search and rescue operations and can also control water surface and air elements with advanced equipment. Apart from this, they can also accommodate day and night helicopter landings and takeoffs that are up to 10 tonnes.
Emphasizing that aside from the superior features of the ships a very important point that Önen underlined was that the technology acquisition and technology transfer was invaluable not only to RMK Marine but also on behalf of the whole sector and stated: “Aside from the construction, integration, testing and delivery with our sub-contractors another of our responsibility was the technology gains from this project. During the project period we carried out technology transfer from design to construction to testing of a corvette type warship with over 100 engineers and technicians thanks to this project. Today our RMK Marine engineers responsible for military projects undertook thousands of hours of domestic and overseas training. We believe that this qualified staff is a tremendous gain for our country and the defence industry. Today at RMK Marine, tomorrow at another company they will use what they have learnt.” Indicating that obtaining a sustainable growth in the defence industry was related to long-term projects, Önen went on to state: “In order take advantage of the competences gained and to further develop them, a responsibility lies with the Undersecretariat for Defence Industries. Our aim is the strengthened growth of the sector and obtaining successful results in foreign markets.”
The first two ships of the project ‘TCGS Dost’ and ‘TCGS Umut’ were received on 5 April 2013 and the third ship ‘TCGS Güven’ was included in the Coast Guard fleet on 21 November 2013, reminded Coast Guard Commander Rear Admiral Adnan Özbal, and indicated that the rise in economic benefits on world seas, the expansion in maritime commerce, irregular migration and similar developments had increased activities on seas to a large extent and said, “In this situation our area of authority on seas, ensuring the security of life and property, protecting our lines and interests has become an important and priority task.” Pointing out that all elements participating at the “Sea Lion Search and Rescue Exercise” that took place in Izmir last week had carried out their mission successfully, Rear Admiral Özbal said: ‘TCSG Umut’ and ‘TCSG Güven’ have rightly become our pride with their performance. ‘TCSG Yaşam’ built with the intense work and sweat of our Turkish engineers and workers in our national shipyard will become the rightful source of pride of our great nation as our glorious flag waves.”
Previously the ‘TCSG Umut,’ ‘TCSG Dost’ and ‘TCSG Güven’ from among the four Coast Guard Search and Rescue Ship programme, commenced within the coverage of the needs of the Coast Guard Command, were delivered. With the inclusion of the fourth and final ship ‘TCSG Yaşam’ in the inventory of the Coast Guard Command the project has been successfully concluded.
TCSG Yaşam’s Features
With a size of 88.6 x 12.2 m and a weight of 1,700 tonnes, the TCSG Yaşam was built for the Turkish Coast Guard Command within NATO and international standards and has search and rescue, patrol, anti-trafficking, reconnaissance and surveillance, preventing and stopping environmental pollution and fire intervention capabilities. The ship with search radar and electro-optic sensors can carry out search and rescue operations and the opportunity and capability to co-ordinate above water and air elements that participate in S&R operations. Equipped with the necessary equipment for helicopters up to 10 tonnes to land and take off day and night, the ships also possess have 250 m long inflatable above water barriers to collect residual oil and petroleum spills as well as a chemical spray system to neutralise leaks through chemical means. The sprays can distribute 200 litres of diluting agents within a 10,000 m2 area cruising at 16 nautical miles. In addition, the ships are equipped with NATO standard JP-5, fuel, freshwater and lubricating oil refueling stations.
