Turkey’s largest warship spotted off British coast

The biggest warship in Turkey‘s navy was spotted sailing through British waters this week as part of a major military exercise. TCG Anadolu, 27,000-tonne, 750ft drone carrier was seen in the Solent off the Isle of Wight on Tuesday (March 3) along with three other Turkish navy ships.

These included two frigates, TCG Istanbul (F-515) and TCG Oruçreis (F-245), as well as TCG Derya (A-1590), a fast combat support auxiliary ship, Isle of Wight County Press reports. All four are part of the Anadolu Task Group, which set off from Turkey in January to take part in Steadfast Dart, a large-scale international NATO exercise integrating land, air, space, cyber, maritime, and special operations forces.

It marks the second overall deployment of the Allied Reaction Force (ARF), a “high-readiness, multinational and multi-domain force that can be deployed at very short notice to carry out a wide range of tasks”.

11 nations are taking part, including “Allied Reaction Force units from Bulgaria, Czechia, Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Spain, and Türkiye, as well as personnel from Belgium, France and the United Kingdom, who are linking national exercise activities with Steadfast Dart, will participate in the exercise,” Nato says on its website.

According to the alliance, the exercise will “demonstrate the operational and strategic capabilities of the NATO force and other participating units”.

Approximately 10,000 servicemen and women are taking part.

All four vessels could been passing through through the Solent shipping lane, visible from the Island’s north-east coast.

TCG Anadolu and TCG Istanbul were reported to have docked in Southampton at the city’s Ocean Cruise Terminal on Tuesday.

Nato Steadfast Dart 2026 is taking place from January to March.

The exercise is a pre-planned event not related to war in Iran.