German Navy commissioned first F125-class frigate.

The German Navy commissioned its first Baden-Württemberg-class (F125-class) frigate, the F222 Baden-Württemberg frigate, on June 17, according to Christian Thiels, in a ceremony held at the thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) facility.

Picture of the commissioning ceremony of the F222 Baden-Württemberg frigate of the German Navy (Picture Source: DBmW_Marine)

Navaltoday reported that the F222 Baden-Württemberg frigate was commissioned eight years after TKMS was selected as prime contractor for the delivery of four 7000-tonne frigates that would replace the eight Bremen-class frigates currently in service with the German Navy.

According to TKMS, the second ship in the class, the Nordrhein-Westfalen, will be ready for delivery this year. The final two vessels are planned to be delivered within the next 2 years.

TKMS pointed out that the F125-class (which is 149 meters long) is highly automated, allowing the crew to be halved compared with previous frigate classes. The crew has been reduced to 126, compared with 200 for the oldest F122 frigates, according to the German Navy. Crew size can be increased to up to 190, still according to TKMS.