Turkey announced on Saturday that the length of its coming first-ever aircraft carrier is now meant to be 300 meters, or roughly 984 feet, making the vessel one of the longest operated by NATO allies.
The country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, highlighted the carrier’s revised size as he spoke at an Istanbul shipyard about Turkey’s naval construction industry.
Erdogan said work had already started on the new carrier, which he called an “older brother” to the TCG Anadolu, an amphibious assault ship operated by the Turkish navy that is 261 feet long.
The length of a warship doesn’t necessarily translate into actual size, which is more accurately measured in tons of water displaced.
However, a carrier’s length can significantly influence the space available on its flight deck, with profound impacts on capabilities such as the number of aircraft that can be accommodated, runway length, and the type of catapult launch system or ramp used.
When Turkey began unveiling details in late 2024 for its carrier — for now dubbed the MUGEM-class — the vessel was designed to displace 60,000 tons of water, with a length of 935 feet.
Originally announced plans said the carrier would accommodate up to 50 aircraft, including 20 stationed on the flight deck, with a crew of 800.
It’s now approaching the length range of American carriers, which are the largest in the world. The USS Gerald R. Ford is 1,107 feet long and has a displacement of 100,000 tons at full load, while the older Nimitz-class carriers are roughly 1,092 feet long with a displacement of around 100,000 tons, too.
The Turkish ship’s new length is also being pushed far past that of the UK’s Queen Elizabeth-class ships, which are 932 feet long and displace roughly 80,000 tons, and France’s Charles De Gaulle, a much older vessel that’s 857 feet long and displaces about 42,500 tons.
Although part of NATO, Turkey has long sought to achieve defense autonomy through its own military technology.
The new carrier was originally meant to feature a ski-jump ramp for aircraft takeoff, but is now expected to use a locally made catapult system. Turkey is unlikely to deploy vertical-takeoff F-35Bs on the ship, since it was removed from the fighter program by the US after purchasing Russian S-400s in 2019.
At the Saturday event, Erdogan also announced the commissioning of the TCG Hızırreis, the second of Turkey’s Reis-class submarines, and highlighted a new uncrewed surface vessel called the ULAQ.
Turkey maintains NATO’s second-largest standing military, behind only the US in the number of active personnel.
