The decommissioned Turkish ocean-going tug, Gazal lay motionless on the sea when the warhead of the torpedo exploded beneath her keel, writes Cem Devrim Yaylali.

The shock in that moment (pictured, above) was profoundly violent, with a water bubble breaking the old ship’s keel in two. It marked the inaugural test firing of the indigenous heavyweight torpedo Akya, with a live warhead, from a Turkish submarine.

The ex-TCG Gazal, a naval tug that had served for 43 years in the Turkish Navy swiftly disappeared beneath the waves. In her earlier career, the vessel saw service in the US Navy, as USS Sioux, for 30 years, including during WW2 in the Pacific. Akya is a dual-purpose torpedo, designed to be effective against both surface and submarine targets.

The warhead is optimized for the underwater shock effect, creating the water bubble to lift the surface target out of the water, damaging or breaking its keel. Manufacturer Roketsan suggests Akya’s range is 50+ kilometres with a speed of 45 plus knots.