Ukraine Bought Two Warships From Turkey - But Can it Take Delivery?
Ukraine has been fighting the Russian Black Sea Fleet without having a single manned surface combatant since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in 2022, and it has had so much success that it is changing ideas about the nature of naval combat. Its exploits with unmanned drone boats have captured the world's attention, but the Ukrainian Navy has a lesser-known program to rebuild its manned fleet - starting with corvettes.
On Friday, Turkey's RMT Shipyard launched the new corvette Hetman Ivan Vyhovskyi in a high-profile ceremony, attended by Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska.
The Vyhovskyi is the second in the series of Ukraine's two new Ada-class corvettes, after Hetman Ivan Mazepa, which is currently out on sea trials. Mazepa is named after a Ukrainian general who fought Russian Tsar Peter I, the 17th-century autocrat whose empire-building inspired Russian President Vladimir Putin. Mazepa will be the Ukrainian Navy's flagship when delivered, and will be its first fully modern warship.
In December 2020, Ukraine signed a contract with Turkey's Defense Industry Department for construction of two Turkish Ada-class corvettes, with options for two more to be built at a domestic Ukrainian yard under license. The first-in-class cost came to $200 million (at current exchange rates).
The Ada-class is fitted for surface warfare with launchers for eight U.S-built Harpoon antiship missiles. It will be capable of launching the Italian-built MU90 torpedo for antisubmarine warfare.
"With a vessel of this class, Ukraine will be able to protect its national interests not only in the Black and Azov Seas but also in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean," said the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a statement.
There may be one difficulty for the Ukrainian Navy: Turkey has closed the Bosporus to all warships from nations involved in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The Montreux Convention empowers Turkey to close the Bosporus to warships while a conflict is under way in the Black Sea - even to ships of Turkey's allies. In January, the Turkish government rejected Ukraine's request to move two ex-Royal Navy minehunters through the waterway for delivery, leaving the much-needed vessels stranded in Britain for an indefinite period.
This order might be different. Since the two Ada-class corvettes were bought through the Turkish government, and were built at a Turkish yard, it is unclear whether Turkey will block them as well - or whether the corvettes might remain officially neutral and "Turkish" until a handover in the Black Sea. If they are blocked, they might still be used in the Mediterranean, potentially expanding the geography of the conflict to new waters.
Ukrainian agro-industrial conglomerate Nibulon has proposed another way to get around the Montreux Convention. The company owns a yard at Mykolaiv, and has asked Kyiv to invest in domestic production of modern warships, in hopes of reviving a shipbuilding industry that thrived during the Soviet era.
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