Yıldız-class fast attack craft

The Yıldız class is series of two fast attack craft/missile boats of the Turkish Navy. They class was designed by Lürssen Werft of Germany and share the same hull layout as the preceding Doğan-class fast attack craft. Both ships of the class were built in Turkey and entered service in 1996. They remain in service.

Description
The Yıldız class are missile-carrying fast attack craft (FAC) designed by Lürssen Werft of Germany. They have a full load displacement of 433 LT. The FAC measure 57.8 m long overall and 54.4 m at the waterline with a beam of 7.6 m and a draught of 2.7 m. They share the same hull design as the preceding Doğan-class fast attack craft (Lürssen Werft PB 57 design), with a steel hull and aluminium superstructure.

The vessels are propelled by four shafts powered by four MTU 16V956TB91 diesel engines rated at 15120 hp. The FAC have a maximum speed of 38 kn and a range of 1050 nmi at 30 kn. The Yıldız class have a complement of 45 including 6 officers.

The Yıldız class are equipped with Siemens/Plessey AW 6 Dolphin air & surface search radar, Oerlikon Contraves TMX-CW fire control radar and a LIOD Mk.2 optronic director. For countermeasures the FAC mount two Mark 36 SRBOC chaff launchers and Racal Cutlass Tacticos combat data system.

The FAC mount two quad launchers for eight Boeing AGM-84 Harpoon surface-to-surface missiles which have a range of 130 km at Mach 0.9. The vessels are also equipped with a OTO Melara 76 mm dual-purpose gun mounted forward with a range of 16 km against surface targets and 12 km against air targets. The Yıldız class also has a dual Oerlikon 35 mm anti-aircraft (AA) gun mount located aft with a range of 6 km against air targets.

Construction and career
Two FAC were ordered in June 1991 from Taşkisak Yard in Istanbul, Turkey. The second ship, Karayel, was launched on 20 June 1995. Yıldız was the first to enter service on 3 June 1996, followed by Karayel on 19 September later that year. Both vessels remain in service. The following Kılıç-class fast attack craft are an improved version of the Yıldız class.