The third of a total of four 125 class frigates for the German Navy
was christened “Sachsen-Anhalt” today at the Hamburg site
of thyssenkrupp Marine Systems. Following the christening of the first
two frigates “Baden-Württemberg” in December 2013 and
“Nordrhein-Westfalen” in April 2015 this is a further important
milestone in the shipbuilding program for this frigate class. Dr. Gabriele
Haseloff, wife of the premier of the state of Saxony-Anhalt after which
the frigate has been named, performed the christening ceremony in the
presence of high-level representatives from government, the German Navy
and the companies involved. |
The
frigate “Sachsen-Anhalt” is scheduled to be handed over
to the German defense procurement agency BAAINBw in early 2019. Commissioning
and in-port trials of the first F125 frigate, the “Baden-Württemberg”,
have now advanced to the stage where sea trials can commence as planned
in spring this year. Handover of the “Baden-Württemberg”
to the BAAINBw is scheduled for mid-2017. The contract for the F125
program is worth around two billion euros in total.
Dr. Hans Christoph Atzpodien, member of the Management Board of thyssenkrupp’s
Industrial Solutions business area and chairman of the supervisory board
of thyssenkrupp Marine Systems: “The F125 frigate class is a completely
new type of ship. With numerous innovations and a multiple-crew strategy
it is a further showcase for the leading engineering expertise of German
naval shipbuilding.”
The ARGE F125 consortium which was awarded the contract to build four
F125 class ships for the German Navy in 2007 comprises thyssenkrupp
Marine Systems as the lead company and Fr. Lürssen Werft in Bremen.
The pre-fitted bow sections are being manufactured at the Fr. Lürssen
Werft shipyards in Bremen and Wolgast. Construction of the stern sections,
the joining of the two sections and further fitting out is being carried
out at Blohm+Voss Shipyards in Hamburg.
The four 125 class frigates will replace the German Navy’s eight
(Bremen type) 122 class frigates. The ships were developed specially
for current and future deployment scenarios for the German Navy. In
addition to the traditional tasks of national and alliance defense,
the 125 class frigates are designed for conflict prevention, crisis
management and intervention/stabilization operations in the international
arena. The ships are capable of remaining at sea for 24 months and thus
represent the first realization of the intensive use concept, i.e. significantly
increased availability in the deployment region. This capability is
supported by a smaller crew and a multiple-crew strategy which permits
a complete change of crew during deployment.
Key data for the F125:
Length: 149 m
Width: 18 m
Maximum speed: >26 knots
Displacement: approx. 7,000 t
Crew: max. 190 (thereof up to 120 as regular crew) |
