PHOTO GALLERY #33: Mount Whitney, amphibious command ship of the United States Navy

USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20), flagship of the the U.S. 6th Fleet

This is another photo gallery from my visit to Kiel in 2019, on the first weekend of the 137th Kiel Week. The Kiel Week (German: Kieler Woche) or Kiel Regatta is an annual sailing event in Kiel, the capital of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The first weekend of the Kiel Week, the famous Naval Base of Kiel, opens its gates for just four hours per day, for thousands of tourists who are eager to visit the German Navy warships and dozens of foreign warships which visit the city of Kiel, to honor the Kiel Week. Among the visiting ships, was the U.S. 6th Fleet (Commander Vice Adm. Lisa Franchetti) Blue Ridge-class command and control ship USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20). The ship is named for Mount Whitney, a peak in the Sierra Nevada mountain range of California. Mount Whitney is the highest summit in the contiguous United States, with an elevation of 14,505 feet (4,421 m).

PHOTO GALLERY #31: Oak Hill, dock landing ship of the United States Navy

USS Oak Hill moored at Tirpitz quay, Kiel Naval Base

This is the eighth photo gallery from my visit to Kiel in 2018, on the first weekend of the 136th Kiel Week. More galleries will follow from 2018-19 Kiel Weeks. The Kiel Week (German: Kieler Woche) or Kiel Regatta is an annual sailing event in Kiel, the capital of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The first weekend of the Kiel Week, the famous Naval Base of Kiel, opens its gates for just four hours per day, for thousands of tourists who are eager to visit the German Navy warships and dozens of foreign warships which visit the city of Kiel, to honor the Kiel Week. Τhe United States Navy was represented by a number of ships including the USS Oak Hill (LSD-51), a Harpers Ferry-class dock landing ship (LSD). She is named in honor of Oak Hill, the residence of James Monroe, the fifth President of the United States. The Monroe Doctrine was penned at Oak Hill, and subsequently delivered at an 1823 Congressional address which asserted that the Western Hemisphere was never to be colonized again. This doctrine is the inspiration for the Ship’s Motto: Nations’ Protector. Oak Hill is the second ship to honor the residence. Oak Hill was commissioned on 8 June 1996 and is the third vessel in a class of four. She is 186 meters long and has a full displacement around 16,600 tons. Enjoy the photos!

PHOTO GALLERY #25: Chios and Lesvos, tank landing ships of the Hellenic Navy

Chios and Lesvos, tank landing ships of the Hellenic Navy

On Saturday, October 27, I visited the HS Chios (L173), tank landing ship of the Hellenic Navy, which was anchored at the Port of Thessaloniki, alongside one of her sister vessels in the class, HS Lesvos (L176). I did not visit Lesvos, because it is identical to Chios except some very few differences, but I took plenty photos of her while I was aboard Chios. The Jason class Landing Ships Tank (LST) of the Hellenic Navy (Greek: Πολεμικό Ναυτικό) consists of five (5) ship in service. Lot of information about the class you can find in the article Jason class landing ships of the Hellenic Navy. The two  ships, together with the frigate HS Hydra (F-452), lead ship of the Hydra-class frigates (MEKO 200HN), were opened to the public at Thessaloniki harbor due to the forthcoming celebration of Ohi Day (anniversary of the "No") to commemorate the rejection by Greek Prime Minister Metaxas of the ultimatum made by Italian dictator Mussolini on October 28, 1940 during WWII. Enjoy my photos!

PHOTO GALLERY #19: Kraków, minelayer/landing ship of the Polish Navy

ORP Kraków, landing ship/minelayer of the Polish Navy.

This is the second photo gallery (the first one is U36, submarine of the German Navy) from my visit to Kiel, on the first weekend of the 136th Kiel Week. The Kiel Week (German: Kieler Woche) or Kiel Regatta is an annual sailing event in Kiel, the capital of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is the largest sailing event in the world, and also one of the largest Volksfeste in Germany, attracting millions of people every year from all over Germany and neighboring countries. The first weekend of the Kiel Week, the famous Naval Base of Kiel, opens its gates for just four hours per day, for thousands of tourists who are eager to visit the German Navy warships and dozens of foreign warships which visit the city of Kiel, to honor the Kiel Week. Note that, the majority of the visiting warships had returned from the NATO BALTOPS (Baltic Operations) Exercise, an annual joint, multinational maritime-focused exercise. It is designed to improve training value for participants enhance flexibility and interoperability, and demonstrate resolve among allied and partner forces in defending the Baltic Sea region. The Polish Navy, a Kiel Week's regular visitor ,was represented by the ORP Kraków, the third ship in the Lublin class. The Lublin class (Projekt 767) are minelayer-landing ships designed and built in Poland for the Polish Navy, in service since 1989. Only five out of the twelve planned ships were built, by the Northern Shipyard in Gdańsk, due to the fall of Communism. They can carry up to nine (9) T-72 tanks or 17 transport vehicles and 135 equipped troops. Moreover, the ships were designed to carry up to 80 naval mines. The ships are named after the chief cities of the Piast dynasty. ORP Kraków has a full displacement close to 1,800t and a length of almost 96 meters. The ship is armed with four ZU-23-2MR Wróbel-II twin 23mm gun turrets, installed forward and aft the superstructure in pairs, as well as with Grom MANPADS. Enjoy photos from my visit aboard this truly unique and very well maintained warship, a ship that I always wanted to visit!

WARSHIPS OF THE PAST: Ivan Rogov class large landing ships of the Russian Navy

Written by Keith Jacobs
Images by D-Mitch

Mitrofan Moskalenko, the third vessel in the Ivan Rogov class

The Ivan Rogov (Project 1174) class amphibious dock landing ships (LPD) were in the early 1970s the largest amphibious warship design then attempted by the former-Soviet Union. They were robust, highly flexible, and expensive in construction and maintenance costs, but offered for the first time, long-distance operational capability to place Soviet naval infantry in such distant locations as the eastern Mediterranean, Indian Ocean, or Southeast Asia, in conducting mosrkaia descantnaia operatsiia (Sea Landing Operation) in support of Soviet policy objectives. Till today, the three vessels of the Project 1174 LPD, are the largest amphibious warfare ships ever commissioned by the Russian Navy.

Mitrofan Moskalenko, the third and most advanced vessel in the Ivan Rogov class

Bayraktar class landing ships of the Turkish Navy

Written by D-Mitch

TCG Bayraktar (L402), lead ship of the Bayraktar class LST

There are very few countries today which develop and built modern tank landing ships (LST). Such countries are South Korea with the Cheon Wang Bong-class, Russia with the Ivan Gren class, China with the Type 072A class and Turkey with the Bayraktar class. Of these three classes, the largest, the most modern and most heavily armed, is certainly the Turkish Bayraktar class, which will be described thoroughly in this article. The first of the ship in the class was launched on October 3, 2015, and was commissioned just recently, in April 2017. The ship, which was designed and built for the Turkish Navy by Anadolu Deniz Insaat Kizaklari Sanayi ve Ticaret (ANADOLU Shipyard), was named Bayraktar (L402) replacing the old TCG Bayraktar, a LST-542 class landing ship/minelayer (and not LST-511 class as it is reported in many sources). The original contract signed in June 2011 for the procurement of two vessels with an option for two more ships and thus to replace the two 30-year old Bey-class ships. It should be mentioned that the Bayraktar was designed, built and commissioned in a period of just 46 months! Moreover, the domestic industry participation in amphibious ship construction is more than 70 percent! The second ship, TCG Sancaktar (L403) was launched on 17 July 2016 and will be commissioned the coming months. The ships of the class are primarily intended for amphibious missions and transportation of troops and equipment, while their secondary missions include humanitarian aid, disaster relief, medical assistance and transportation. The ships of the class will also serve as flagships and logistic support vessels.

Jason class landing ships of the Hellenic Navy

Written by D-Mitch

Jason class tank landing ship of the Hellenic Navy

The Jason class Landing Ships Tank (LST) of the Hellenic Navy (Greek: Πολεμικό Ναυτικό) consists of five (5) ship in service. It is worth mentioning that all ships in the class were built and designed by the Greek Elefsis Shipyard in cooperation with the National Technical University of Athens and the Hellenic Navy. The class was ordered to Elefsis Shipyards in 1986. The keel for the first vessel, Chios (L173), was laid down in April 1987. It was launched in December 1988 and commissioned in May 1996. The second vessel, Samos (L174), was laid down in September 1987, launched in April 1989 and commissioned in May 1994, two years earlier than the first vessel in the class. Construction of all the ships was originally scheduled to be completed by September 1990. However, all the vessels, in particular the last three, were delayed due to a financial crisis faced by the shipyard. Privatization of the shipyard in October 1997 resulted in steady progress of the construction. A sixth ship was added to the programme in 2000, but cancelled before construction began.

PHOTO GALLERY #6: Changbaishan, amphibious warfare ship of the People's Liberation Army Navy

The impressive 20,000ton LPD Changbaishan!

On Monday morning (February 16, 2015), the 18th Escort Task Force of People's Liberation Army Navy arrived in Piraeus, Greece, for a four-day visit. The fleet consists of the Changbai Shan (989), a Type 071 Yuzhao-class Landing Platform Dock (LPD), the flagship of the squadron, the frigate Yuncheng (571), a Type 54A class frigate (Jiangkai II)  and the large replenishment ship Chaohu (890), a Type 903A (Fuchi) replenishment ship. The fleet is under the command of Real Admiral Zhang Chuanshu. On Wednesday, the Chinese ships docked at Piraeus, were open to the public (except Chaohu) for a limited time (10:00-12:00 and 14:00-16:00). Of course, I could not miss this opportunity; I found the time to visit the warships just for an hour. Enjoy photos of LPD Changbaishan, the flagship of the Chinese task force and one of the four ships of the class in service with People's Liberation Army Navy that was commissioned just in 2012!

Osman Gazi class landing ship / minelayer of the Turkish Navy

Written by D-Mitch


Osman Gazi landing/minelayer ship. Photo: trmilitary.com

The Osman Gazi class landing ships consists of only one vessel in service, the Osman Gazi, which is the newest and largest active landing ship of the Turkish Navy (Turkish: Türk Donanması) at the moment (2014). It is worth mentioning that the design is completely indigenous. The second ship in the class, thee NL126 Orhan Gazi, was cancelled. The pennant number is NL-125; NL due to the two roles that the ships has, N stands for minelayer while L for landing ship. The Osman Gazi was launched in 1990 at the Taşkızak Naval Shipyard and it was commissioned in 1994. The ship followed an extensive modernization in the period 2010-2011 in Alaybey Shipyard, İzmir. The general characteristics of the ship, is a full displacement of about 3,775tons, a length of 105m, speed of 17 knots while the range is 4,000n.m. with the cruising speed of 15 knots.

Hercules, the multi-purpose rapid transport ship of the Argentine Navy

Written by armored_diplomacy 
Images and infographics by D-Mitch

ARA Hercules, the last of the Type 42 class destroyers in a new role

Few ships have had such a controversial and debatable life as the Argentine Type 42 destroyers. Her story goes back to 1970, when a contract with the British firm Vickers was signed to build two units of the state-of-the art of that time Type 42 destroyers for area air-defense role, as a replacement for obsolete assets used by the Argentine Navy (Armada de la República Argentina or Armada Argentina), as well as for providing air defense for the navy´s flagship, the carrier ARA 25 de Mayo. Originally classified as "Frigate", to avoid the British cutbacks Defence Review 1967/8, and suggested as a lower cost alternative to Type 82 heavy destroyer/cruiser, the Type 42s were high technology vessels, specially designed for the AAW. The contract specified the construction of one unit at the Vickers Shipbuilding yard in Barrow-in-Furness, United Kingdom and the other in Argentina at Rio Santiago Shipyard, thanks to a technology transfer agreement. The unit to be built in the United Kingdom would be named D-1 Hercules, after a historical Argentine ship commanded by Admiral Guillermo Brown from the XIX century. The ship was completed on May 10, 1976 and she was entered in service in Argentine Navy on September 19, 1977. The second unit would be named D-2 Santísima Trinidad, and it would have a short operational life (commissioned July 1981 and decommissioned in 1989), being even damaged during its construction in 1973 by a terrorist attack.