''Bremen'' was a ''Bremen''-class frigate of the

German Navy The German Navy (, ) is the navy of Germany and part of the unified ''Bundeswehr'' (Federal Defense), the German Armed Forces. The German Navy was originally known as the ''Bundesmarine'' (Federal Navy) from 1956 to 1995, when ''Deutsche Mari ...

. She was the

lead ship The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very complex and may ...

of the class, and the second surface warship to serve with one of the navies of Germany to be named after the city of Bremen, in the state of Bremen. Her predecessor was the cruiser of the

Imperial German Navy The Imperial German Navy or the Imperial Navy () was the navy of the German Empire, which existed between 1871 and 1919. It grew out of the small Prussian Navy (from 1867 the North German Federal Navy), which was mainly for coast defence. Kaise ...

, one of the ''Bremen'' class cruiser.

Construction and commissioning

''Bremen'' was laid down in July 1979 at the yards of

Bremer Vulkan Bremer Vulkan AG was a prominent German shipbuilding company located at the Weser river in Bremen-Vegesack. It was founded in 1893 and closed in 1997 because of financial problems and mismanagement. All together Bremer Vulkan built about 1100 s ...

, Bremen and launched on 27 September 1979. Her sponsor was Christine Koschnick, wife of the then

mayor of Bremen The Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, which is one of the states of Germany, is governed by the Senate of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. The Senate is chaired by the President of the Senate, who is the head of government of the city-state. The P ...

Hans Koschnick Hans Koschnick (2 April 1929 – 21 April 2016) was a German politician ( SPD) and elder statesman. He was the President of the Senate and Mayor of Bremen from 1967 to 1985, the President of the Bundesrat in 1970/71 and 1981/82, and afterwards s ...

. After undergoing

trials In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribun ...

''Bremen'' was commissioned on 7 May 1982. During her later career she was based at

Wilhelmshaven Wilhelmshaven (, ''Wilhelm's Harbour''; Northern Low Saxon: ''Willemshaven'') is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea, and has a population of 76,089. Wilhelmsh ...

as part of ''4. Fregattengeschwader'', forming a component of '' Einsatzflottille 2''. Initially built with five-bladed Sulzer-Escher propellers, these were later replaced with seven-bladed ones from Wegemann & Company, making ''Bremen'' the fastest of her class. She was also the first warship in the navy to carry a helicopter.

Service

''Bremen'' participated in various international missions during her career. She was frequently deployed to participate in

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

permanent monitoring missions in the Mediterranean during the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

in 1991. In late January 1992 she escorted the German freighter ''Godewind'' into Cartagena, Spain. The ''Godewind'' had been intercepted in the Mediterranean by the destroyer ''Mölders'' while transporting

T-72 The T-72 is a family of Soviet/Russian main battle tanks that entered production in 1969. The T-72 was a development of the T-64, which was troubled by high costs and its reliance on immature developmental technology. About 25,000 T-72 tanks h ...

tanks from Poland to Syria without German permission. From 1992 to 1996 ''Bremen'' was active in the

Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) to t ...

as part of

Operation Sharp Guard Operation Sharp Guard was a multi-year joint naval blockade in the Adriatic Sea by NATO and the Western European Union on shipments to the former Yugoslavia. Warships and maritime patrol aircraft from 14 countries were involved in searching for a ...

, the maritime blockade of the former

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

during the

Yugoslav Wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and insurgencies that took place in the SFR Yugoslavia from 1991 to 2001. The conflicts both led up to and resulted from ...

. From 2002 she served in the counter-terrorism Operation Enduring Freedom. In 2009 ''Bremen'' joined

Operation Atalanta Operation Atalanta, formally European Union Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) Somalia, is a current counter-piracy military operation at sea off the Horn of Africa and in the Western Indian Ocean, that is the first naval operation conducted by the Eu ...

, the EU's anti-piracy mission off the Horn of Africa. On 14 August 2009 she deployed her helicopter to counter a pirate attack on the Turkish-flagged merchant ship MS ''Elgiznur Cebi''. On encountering a pirate skiff and six pirates, the helicopter fired warning shots to force it to stop. The skiff was then seized by the Greek frigate ''Narvarinon'', which found weapons and boarding ladders. In May 2012 ''Bremen'' was again deployed with Operation Atalanta, taking over from the replenishment oiler ''Berlin'', in a ceremony attended by German Secretary of State . ''Bremen'' was relieved from these duties in September 2012 by the ''Sachsen''-class frigate ''Sachsen''.

Decommissioning

''Bremen'' was removed from active service on 30 September 2013, and was decommissioned on 28 March 2014 at Wilhelmshaven by her final commander, Ingolf Schlobinsky. By this time she had been in service for 32 years, and had sailed over 1.5 million kilometres, under the command of 16 different captains. She was laid up in Wilhelmshaven as a source of spare parts for the remaining ''Bremen''-class frigates in service. In mid-October ''Bremen'' left Wilhelmshaven in tow, for demolition at

Aliağa Aliağa is a town and a district of Izmir Province in the Aegean Region of Turkey. The town is situated at about north of Izmir. Aliağa has a large port, mainly for oil and bulk cargo. Its economic activity is based on tourism, shipbreaking ...

, Turkey.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bremen Bremen-class frigates 1979 ships Ships built in Bremen (state)