The German Navy is part of the unified Bundeswehr, the German Armed Forces. The German Navy was originally known as the Bundesmarine from 1956 to 1995, when Deutsche Marine became the official name with respect to the 1990 incorporation of the East German Volksmarine. It is deeply integrated into the NATO alliance. Its primary mission is protection of Germany's territorial waters and maritime infrastructure as well as sea lines of communication. Apart from this, the German Navy participates in peacekeeping operations, and renders humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. It also participates in anti-piracy operations.
The MEKO family of warships was developed by the German company Blohm+Voss. MEKO is a registered trademark. The portmanteau stands for "Mehrzweck-Kombination". It is a concept in modern naval shipbuilding based on modularity of armament, electronics and other equipment, aiming at ease of maintenance and cost reduction.
In the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant number. Historically, naval ships flew a flag that identified a flotilla or type of vessel. For example, the Royal Navy used a red burgee for torpedo boats and a pennant with an H for torpedo boat destroyers. Adding a number to the type-identifying flag uniquely identified each ship.
The F124 Sachsen class is the German Navy's latest class of air-defense frigates. The design of the hull is based on that of the F123 Brandenburg class but with enhanced stealth features designed to deceive an opponent's radar and acoustic sensors. The class incorporates an advanced multifunction radar APAR and a SMART-L long-range radar which is purported to be capable of detecting stealth aircraft and stealth missiles.
The K130 Braunschweig class is Germany's newest class of ocean-going corvettes. Five ships have replaced the Gepard-class fast attack craft of the German Navy.
The RBS 15 is a long-range fire-and-forget surface-to-surface and air-to-surface anti-ship missile. The later version Mk. IV has the ability to attack land targets as well. The missile was developed by the Swedish company Saab Bofors Dynamics.
The F125 Baden-Württemberg-class frigates are a series of frigates of the German Navy, which were designed and constructed by ARGE F125, a joint-venture of Thyssen-Krupp and Lürssen. The Baden-Württemberg class is the heaviest displacement of any class of frigates worldwide. They replaced the F122 Bremen class. They are primarily designed for low and medium intensity maritime stabilization operations, where they are supposed to provide sea-to-land tactical fire support, asymmetric threat control at sea and support of special forces.
The TRML is a family of air defense radars first developed by Telefunken and currently produced by Hensoldt. It is a development of the earlier TRMS.
Einsatzflottille 1 is one of the three brigade-level units of the German Navy, in addition to Einsatzflottille 2 and the Naval Air Command. It is based in Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, and is under the head of the Navy Command, based in Rostock.
Braunschweig(F260) is the lead ship of the Braunschweig-class corvette of the German Navy.
Magdeburg(F261) is the second ship of the Braunschweig-class corvette of the German Navy.
Erfurt(F262) is the third ship of the Braunschweig-class corvette of the German Navy.
Oldenburg(F263) is the fourth ship of the Braunschweig-class corvette of the German Navy.
Köln(F265) is the sixth ship of the Braunschweig-class corvette of the German Navy.
Emden(F266) is the seventh ship of the Braunschweig-class corvette of the German Navy.
Karlsruhe(F267) is the eighth ship of the Braunschweig-class corvette of the German Navy.
Lübeck(F269) is the tenth ship of the Braunschweig-class corvette of the German Navy.
Augsburg is the ninth ship of the Braunschweig-class corvettes of the German Navy.
Germany
