A Turkish Coast Guard (TCG) Corvette rammed a Hellenic Coast Guard (HCG) Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) near the Aegean uninhabited islets of Imia – Kardak in Turkish. The incident took place at 23:45 on the 12th of February 2018 with no reports of injuries to the crew of either vessel.
The Turkish vessel was the SG-703 Umut corvette, a Dost class boat (displacement 1725 tons, length 88,4 meters, equipped with a Fast Forty twin barrel gun 40mm/70 OTO Melara, 2 STAMP 12,7 mm stabilized platforms, one AB-412 helicopter) while the Greek OPV was the “090” Gavdos, a STAN PATROL 5509 class vessel (displacement 700 tons, length 58,5 meters, unarmed).
The incident happened during the night when “090” Gavdos was sent from the island of Kalymnos, to assist another Hellenic Coast Guard OPV, the “060” Fourni, a Sa’ar 4.5 class vessel, which was patrolling the waters around the Imia islets and was harassed by vessels of the Turkish Coast Guard.
Just after “090” Gavdos arrived in the area of the Imia islets, it was rammed by the Turkish Coast Guard SG-703 Umut corvette. From the information available so far, it is believed that at least two Turkish Coast Guard ships had set a deliberate trap to ambush the Greek vessel, which is considered the flagship of the Hellenic Coast Guard.
According to the captain of “090” Gavdos the vessel suffered serious damage to the stern where the Turkish corvette hit it with its bows. He said that, “If I had not maneuvered, they would have sunk us”.
Another high-ranking official of the Greek government said that, “It was a calculated attempt by the Turks to sink the Greek ship. It was not a simple harassment or obstruction of the boat that was patrolling Imia islets like the incident that had occurred on the 17th of January 2018 at the same area when a Turkish Coast Guard vessel tried unsuccessfully to ram the Hellenic Navy gunboat P267 Nikephoros”.
The damaged Greek patrol vessel returned to its base in Elefsis Port for repairs and was replaced by the “070” Ro, a Sa’ar 4.5 class patrol vessel.
Video from the incident of the 12th of February 2018
Video from the incident of the 17th of January 2018