TSAMTO, May 21. According to the German Defense Ministry, on May 17 at the naval base in Wilhelmshaven, a ceremony was held for the commissioning of the German Navy frigate "Sachsen-Anhalt" project F125.
Due to the restrictions in force in connection with COVID-19, the event was held in a shortened format.
The F224 Sachsen-Anhalt is the third of four Project F125 frigates being built by the ARGE F125 consortium for the German Navy. The last ship of the F125 series, the F225 Rhineland-Palatinate, is expected to be delivered to the customer in 2021.
As reported by TSAMTO, the Federal Office of Defense Technology and Procurement (BWB; now BAAINBw) of Germany in June 2007 signed a contract with the ARGE F-125 consortium (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Fregatte 125) for the construction of four F125 frigates for the country's Navy. The estimated cost of the program is 2.69 billion rubles. euro. The frigates were supposed to be delivered to the Navy from 2017 to 2020.
The keel laying of the lead frigate of the series, F222 Baden-Württemberg, took place on 2 November 2011. Due to problems with the integration of complex equipment, the ship's delivery dates were disrupted. At the end of 2017, the German Navy command, based on the results of acceptance tests, returned the lead ship of the series to the contractor to eliminate the shortcomings. As a result, the modified Baden-Württemberg was handed over to the customer at the end of April and adopted by the German Navy in June 2019. The second frigate in the series, the Nordrein-Westphalen, was transferred to BAAINBw in March 2020.
The christening of the "Sachsen-Anhalt" laid in June 2014 took place in March 2016. In May 2017, the F225 "Rhineland-Palatinate"was laid. The Sachsen-Anhalt frigate was transferred to the German Navy on 30 March 2021.
The ARGE F125 consortium includes ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems and the shipbuilding company Lurssen Werft. The bow sections are built by Lurssen Werft in Bremen and Wolgast. The construction of the aft sections, final assembly, equipment fitting and testing are carried out by Lurssen Blohm+Voss in Hamburg under the supervision of Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems.
Four F125-class frigates are to replace the eight F122-class frigates in service ("Bremen"). The F125 is specifically designed to perform combat missions in the context of modern and future conflicts and is designed for both national defense and participation in multinational peacekeeping operations, crisis prevention, anti-piracy, counter-terrorism and asymmetric threats. In addition, the frigate is capable of providing fire support to forces on the coast, supporting the actions of special operations forces and evacuation operations, as well as the work of headquarters groups.
