On 17 June, the F125 Baden-Württemberg was officially commissioned in a ceremony in the presence of German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen.
The German Navy now has in service the most modern and powerful frigate which was ever built in Germany. Baden-Württemberg was built by ARGE F125 with thyssenkrupp Marine Systems as lead company.
The newly designed class F125 ships, with their highly complex systems and approximately 28,000 sensors, have a very high degree of automation, which makes it possible to halve the crew size in comparison to previous German frigate classes.
The ships can remain in their operational area for up to two years. This way, the number of the usually very long transits can be significantly reduced. The F125 Baden-Württemberg is the first ship worldwide to successfully implement the intensive use concept.
Next to the traditional tasks of national and alliance defence, the ships are designed for conflict prevention, crisis management and intervention and stabilisation operations in the international arena. In addition to the ability to fight offshore and onshore targets, they also have anti-aircraft systems and helicopters specially equipped for submarine hunting.
The contract for the construction of the four frigates became effective in June 2007. The concept, design and a detailed design phase followed. Around 90 percent of the highly complex systems on board the F125 were specially developed for this new class of ships. Due to this high complexity and the related, different challenges as well as the further modular development of the ship during the project, Baden-Württemberg was delivered about three years after the contractually agreed date.
The second class F125 ship, the Nordrhein-Westfalen (North Rhine-Westphalia), will be ready to be handed over to the customer in 2019. The handing over of the third and fourth ship is planned to take place successively within the next two years.
The ARGE F125 consortium comprises thyssenkrupp Marine Systems as the lead company and Fr. Lürssen Werft in Bremen. The pre-fitted bow sections are being manufactured at the shipyards of the Lürssen Group in Bremen and Wolgast. Construction of the stern sections, the joining of the two sections and further fitting out was being carried out at Blohm+Voss Shipyards in Hamburg under the leadership of thyssenkrupp Marine Systems.
Key data for the F125:
Length: 149m
Width: 18m
Maximum speed: >26k
Displacement: approx. 7,000t
Crew: max. 190 (of which up to 120 regular crew members)