''Mühlhausen'' was a

naval ship A naval ship is a military ship (or sometimes boat, depending on classification) used by a navy. Naval ships are differentiated from civilian ships by construction and purpose. Generally, naval ships are Damage control, damage resilient a ...

in service with 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 ...

. The ship was launched June 30, 1966 at the Burmester Werft in Bremen with the name ''Walther von Ledebur''. She was a prototype of a new class of ocean-going

minesweeper A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...

s, which however was not accepted by the

Bundesmarine 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 commissioned in 1967 and served with a civilian crew as a trials ship for the ''Wehrtechnische Dienststelle'' (Defence Technology Agency) until decommissioning in 1994. She had the pennant number A1410 and was categorized as a Type 742 class ship. After her decommissioning the German Navy decided to convert her into a training and support vessel for

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

-clearing divers. The rebuilding was done at the

Peene-Werft Peene-Werft is a German shipyard with headquarter and shipbuilding facilities in Wolgast. It has been part of the Bremen Lürssen Group since May 2013. Background The shipyard was founded on 20 June 1948 by the Soviet military administration ...

shipyard in

Wolgast Wolgast (; csb, Wòłogòszcz) is a town in the district of Vorpommern-Greifswald, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated on the bank of the river (or strait) Peenestrom, vis-a-vis the island of Usedom on the Baltic coast that can b ...

and on April 6, 1995 she was recommissioned as ''Mühlhausen'' (M1052) and classified as Type 742A ship. After forty years in service, the ''Mühlhausen'' was decommissioned in 2007 and was replaced by the converted ''Frankenthal''-class minehunter ''Rottweil''. At the time of her decommissioning, ''Mühlhausen'' was the largest naval ship still in service with a hull made of

glued laminated timber Glued laminated timber, commonly referred to as glulam, is a type of structural engineered wood product constituted by layers of dimensioned lumber, dimensional lumber bonded together with durable, moisture-resistant structural adhesives so that ...

( mahogany).

References

* Mine warfare vessels of the German Navy 1966 ships Ships built in Bremen (state) {{Germany-mil-ship-stub