German Navy

[kato]

It's not the navy that wants them, it's lobbyists for TKMS in the parliament.

And yes, it probably means less F126. The official statement from the MoD is that "the two-track approach does not prejudice the future of the F126 project".

The intention is for a stop-gap, not a backup.

 

[kato]

As of July 2025 these restructuring plans were put on hold since the Bundeswehr has issued a stop on sales of any former military areas. The City of Kiel does own most of the area, but has entered (ongoing) negotiations with the Bundeswehr since with the current geopolitical climate there's the potential for the federal government simply expropriating the area for military use.

The City of Kiel and the Bundeswehr have now signed a memorandum (not legally binding for either side) about the Bundeswehr buying back the entire area in the linked post, with the exception of the future WSV base already owned by the federation. It's planned to move the naval infantry battalion from Eckernförde base to Kiel, in addition to some basic training facilities.

As part of the memorandum the Bundeswehr gets to expand its naval base in Kiel-Wik a few km south of the area. In return there are nine smaller areas throughout the city which "the Bundeswehr" (actually the federal government) will sell to the local government. These include the current WSV base, but also e.g. some federal-owned research institute and similar sites. The main portion of these returns is 12 hectares on the south side of Kiel Airport for residential development adjacent to the Bundeswehr-bought-back areas.

 

[kato]

The last of five K130 Batch 2 corvettes (Lübeck) has entered final outfitting, which technically now four out of five are in. The first of the Batch 2s, Köln, is being used for training ahead of delivery.

Lübeck is also the first ship christened at Blohm+Voss since Rheinmetall bought the shipyard.

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WSV meanwhile has commissioned multi-purpose ship Scharhörn (see video below) as well as another Emmerich class landing-craft-type river buoy tender (... also named Köln).

The Super Puma landing on Scharhörn at the beginning is Federal Police assigned to the Central Command for Maritime Emergencies (CCME, Havariekommando), i.e. the joint Bundeswehr / WSV / coastal states command for emergency tugs and oil defense.

The Bundeswehr's contribution to CCME is mostly two surveillance aircraft with military crews patrolling the German EEZ for oil spills.

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Since I looked at their website (for the first time in years) this below ship from an earlier post was commissioned a couple weeks ago in March under the name "Lütt Matten":

The coastal states jointly ordered a replacement for Orfe from Damen at the beginning of 2025 which just had its launch three weeks ago and is planned to commission early this year. This is a more standard 24m multi-purpose tugboat with an open workdeck.

The ship's design and construction was overseen by CCME. Formal owner is the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern which has it operated commercially. The rather small ship is stationed on Rügen island and covers the area between that island and the sea border towards Poland. Equipped as a small salvage tug with additional oil defense capability and a laboratory container (and moonpool) for hydrological survey. In case of emergencies the ship (incl. crew) comes under CCME command and has to be available for deployment within 2 hours.