The German frigate "Mecklenburg-Vorpommern" will strengthen the northern flank of NATO

According to a statement by the German Navy, after the periodic renovation, the ship "Mecklenburg-Vorpommern" is ready for duty. The unit's crew underwent nine months of operational training aimed at participating in national and allied missions.

The mission of the ship is to check acquired skills within NATO rapid response forces, demonstrate operational readiness and thus contribute to the strengthening of the alliance's defence capabilities," the ship commander claims.

Fregata left the base early this morning. Siemtje Möller (SPD), State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Defence, and her Slovak colleague Marian Majer visited the base to say goodbye to the ship. The ceremony was attended by family and crew friends as well as naval personnel. The marine part of the NATO northern flank includes the Baltic Sea, the North Sea and the North Atlantic. The Bundeswehr did not give the exact location where the ship would operate.

Several German warships were dispatched from Kilonia to the Baltic Sea in late February, shortly after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine. According to current plans, the frigate "Mecklenburg-Vorpommern" is to return to Wilhelmshaven in July.

"Mecklenburg-Vorpommern", like its three sister units, was designed and built as a multi-tasking frigate and replaced outdated destroyers of type 101/101A of the type Hamburg. The ship was launched in February 1995 in Bremer Vulkan. The godmother was Annemarie Seite, wife of the then Prime Minister of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Berndt Seite. On 6 December 1996, after intense tests, the ship was commissioned. He was initially assigned to the 6th Fregat Division, and after being reformed in 2006 to the 2nd Fregat Division in Wilhelmshaven.

"Mecklenburg-Vorpommern" was the second new ship of the German Navy, which was named after the unification of Germany as the East German Land. This name refers to the tradition of broadcasting larger German naval units in honour of the federal states or cities.

Fregate "Mecklenburg-Vorpommern" participated in a training cruise DEX 2002, which included visits to the ports of Souda Bay in Crete, Karachi (Pakistan), Mormugao and Cochin (India), Manila (Philippines), Quingdao (China), Inchon (South Korea), Tokyo (Japan) and Malaga (Spain). The Japanese imperial couple were welcomed aboard by German Federal President Johannes Raua at a party in Tokyo. On her way back, she took part in a missile shooting at a naval range in the Crete area.

"Mecklenburg-Vorpommern", along with the frigates Hamburg and Augsburg, the Oldenburg corvette, and the supplyer of the "Frankfurt am Main" fleet, she left Wilhelmshaven (the Heppenser Groden naval base) on 11 February 2014 creating the German Navy's dazzle. She participated with her in a number of aquavan exercises between the Arctic Circle and the equator until the group returned to Kilonia on 20 June 2014. During the mission, the ship visited thirteen ports in nine countries.

Source: 24TALKER