Turkey has donated its former TCG Volkan (P343) missile boat to the Maldives.

TurDef reported on this.

Thanks to the transfer, the Maldives Coast Guard will receive the largest vessel to date.

The former TCG Volkan (P343) missile boat has been in service with the Turkish Navy since May 12, 1981.

It belongs to the Doğan class, designed by the German company Lürssen. There are four representatives of the project in total, of which TCG Doğan (P340) was built in Germany and the rest in Turkey.

Brief technical specifications:

• Displacement: 436 tons
• Length: 58.1 m
• Width: 7,62 m
• Speed: up to 38 knots
• Operating range: 1050 nautical miles
• Crew: 40 people

In Turkish service, the main strike weapons were two Harpoon anti-ship missiles, and the boat will probably be transferred to the Maldives without them.

The boat also has two artillery pieces – 76 mm OTO Melara and twin 35 mm Oerlikon GDM-A.

The 76-mm artillery system is more than enough for the functions assigned to the Maldives Coast Guard, which performs mainly search and rescue and law enforcement functions.

Currently, the largest vessel in the combat force is the MCGS Huravee patrol boat, which was transferred to the Maldives by India in 2023. This patrol boat replaced the previous ship of the same name, which was also transferred by India in 2006.

As part of the Turkish Navy, the Doğan class was first supplemented and then almost completely replaced by the Kılıç I and Kılıç II missile boats. In total, the Turkish Navy has nine boats of this class, built in 1997-2010.