Hellenic Navy tries to keep up with Turkey

Defense officials are worried about Turkish shipyards’ growing capacity to turn out fighting vessels as well as the rising costs of keeping up with Greece’s nominally allied neighbor. Since the two navies nearly clashed in summer 2020 over Turkey’s use of “research vessel” Oruc Reis to question Greece’s maritime sovereignty, Greece’s only move has been to order three advanced FDI-type frigates from France to partially replace its aging S-type ones. For each arriving frigate – two are expected in 2025 – an older one will be decommissioned.

Rising cost considerations have prevented the government from further expanding its naval procurement program. Its best hope is to obtain four Freedom-class littoral combat ships (LCS) from US Navy surplus and, maybe, join the construction program for the new US Constellation-class frigates, building up to seven vessels locally for its own use.

But there are issues with the LCS procurement, which seems assured, according to a letter sent by Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in January. The US offer of the USS Milwaukee, USS Detroit, USS Little Rock and USS Sioux City was met with a less-than-enthusiastic response from Greek officers, who noted that they have already been decommissioned and equipping them would be costly. Officers who visited the US have stated their preference for the Wichita, Billings, Indianapolis and the St Louis, which have not been decommissioned. It is far from certain, though, that these vessels will be available and it is why Greece has, so far, only temporarily shelved its corvette procurement program.

These matters will be discussed when US Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro visits Athens on April 19.