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The Ukrainian corvette Hetman Ivan Vyhovsky, launched in Turkey, will be accepted into service approximately in 2026, but it will not be able to participate in repelling Russian aggression for other reasons. This was stated on air by the head of military security programs at the Center for Globalistics “Strategy XXI” Pavlo Lakiychuk on the FREEDOM TV channel.
He noted that warships in the navy are divided into specialized and universal. Specialized ships include, for example, a minesweeper (mine countermeasure ship), a tugboat – an auxiliary vessel designed for driving (towage) non-self-propelled vessels, floating structures, and so on. Universal ships include a cruiser, frigate, destroyer, corvette.
“A corvette is the smallest universal ship that has all types of weapons necessary for fighting at sea. But for some, these are the smallest, for us [today] they are the largest,” Lakiychuk said.
The corvette “Hetman Ivan Vyhovsky” will be finally accepted approximately in 2026.
“Launched – this means that the construction of the hull and assembly of equipment have been completed. Next, the ship is being completed – this is necessary to complete up to 40% of the work, after which sea trials, factory trials, and ultimately the acceptance of the ship begin,” the expert explained.
“Hetman Ivan Vyhovsky” is the second Ukrainian ship built in Turkey. The first, “Hetman Ivan Mazepa”, was launched in November 2022. It is currently at the factory testing stage.
“And “Hetman Ivan Vyhovsky” will follow at about the same pace. Perhaps a little faster, since this is already the second ship in this series, and the completion and testing will be carried out a little faster. But we will still have to wait plus or minus two years until the ship is completed entering the combat composition of the fleet,” Lakiychuk added.
But the corvettes “Hetman Ivan Vyhovsky” and “Hetman Ivan Mazepa” are ships for the future, they are unlikely to take part in repelling a Russian invasion, because they are outside the Black Sea.
“And Turkey has decided not to allow warships of the warring parties into the Black Sea. By the way, this decision is more beneficial to us, because the Russians have assembled a squadron of three fleets there to break through to the Black Sea. But our ships will also wait until the signing of the peace treaty, from Turkey’s point of view. The same fate awaits our three minesweepers, which are in Great Britain. They are all waiting in the wings,” the speaker said.
The agreement on the construction of the corvettes was concluded with Turkey, because this is the most profitable option.
“The fact is that the Turkish ships — frigates and corvettes — are based on the German MEKO 200 project. It was a very successful project, with which the Germans armed their fleet. And then they gave the Turks a license to manufacture these ships. The Turks are constantly improving the developments they received from their NATO partners and diversifying them depending on the customer’s needs. It is profitable for the Turks to receive orders from Ukraine, since the Turks do not do anything for free. And it is profitable for us, because Turkey is nearby, and [according to the 2020 agreement] it was planned to manufacture a series of ships – only the first stage (construction of the hull) was to take place at a Turkish shipyard, and the rest of the construction – here, in Nikolaev. But due to the large-scale war, the plans had to be revised,” the expert explained.
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Let us recall that on August 1, the Ukrainian corvette “Hetman Ivan Vyhovsky” was launched in Istanbul, which, like “Hetman Ivan Mazepa”, was built in Turkey due to Russian aggression. The construction of the ships is being carried out within the framework of an agreement that Kyiv and Ankara concluded back in 2020.
