PHOTO GALLERY #32: Bonn, replenishment ship of the German Navy

Bonn, replenishment ship of the German Navy

This is the ninth photo gallery from my visit to Kiel in 2019, on the first weekend of the 137th Kiel Week. The Kiel Week (German: Kieler Woche) or Kiel Regatta is an annual sailing event in Kiel, the capital of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The first weekend of the Kiel Week, the famous Naval Base of Kiel, opens its gates for just four hours per day, for thousands of tourists who are eager to visit the German Navy warships and dozens of foreign warships which visit the city of Kiel, to honor the Kiel Week. Among the German ships moored at the Base, was the final vessel in the giant Berlin-class replenishment ships, Bonn (A1413), a ship that was commissioned in 2013. Her sisters are Berlin and Frankfurt am Main; both have a rear mast and until some years ago they lack of the Thales Variant radar. Berlins are combat support ships which serve the logistical and medical support of mixed task forces. They are the largest ships of the German Navy and named after cities in which German parliaments were or are based. In Canada , the design of the Berlin class was selected in a competition on June 2, 2013 for the two new "Joint Support Ships" ( Protecteur (II) class) of the Royal Canadian Navy. Her length is almost 174m, the beam 24m, while the displacement reaches the 21,000t at full load. Berlin class's capacity is 9,330 tonnes in total, consisting of fuel oil (7,600), aviation fuel (490), fresh water, ammunition, consumer goods and others. There are 84 container parking spaces on board. The ships of the class can take care of the disposal of waste water and waste from the supplied units. The flight deck is quite large while the hangar can accommodate two 10t helicopters, Sea King or NH90, which are used to transport people and materials. The flight deck also allows the use of even larger helicopters. For self-defense, the ship is armed with four (4) Rheinmetall MLG 27 remote weapon 27mm gun systems, Stinger MANPADS and a variety of machine guns. The ships can be equipped with a so-called Naval Rescue Center (MERZ) for medical support as a hospital ship. The MERZ system consists of a network of 26 ISO special containers , which form a two-story deck house and are connected to the on-board supply network. The containers contain examination rooms, operating rooms, diagnostic and therapeutic facilities and laboratories. A bed station below deck instead of a hold is designed for the care of 45 patients. The ships are equipped also with two big cranes, each 22 t lifting load. The crew is about 150 people. Enjoy the photos!

INFOGRAPHICS #44: Adolf Hitler's Navy in 1936

"Adolf Hitler's Navy" is a two-page illustration from Life Magazine, Dec 7, 1936, and depicts all German navy ships afloat or under construction at the time. The image was originally posted by u/AspireAgain on www.reddit.com/r/WarshipPorn.

Adolf Hitler's Navy in 1936. High resolution image here.

PHOTO GALLERY #27: U33, submarine of the German Navy

U33, submarine of the German Navy

The following photos were taken during my visit to Kiel, on 21st and 22th of June, the first days of the 137th Kiel Week. The Kiel Week (German: Kieler Woche) or Kiel Regatta is an annual sailing event in Kiel, the capital of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is the largest sailing event in the world, and also one of the largest Volksfeste in Germany, attracting millions of people every year from all over Germany and neighboring countries. The first weekend of the Kiel Week, the famous Naval Base of Kiel, opens its gates for just four hours per day, for thousands of tourists who are eager to visit the German Navy warships and dozens of foreign warships which visit the city of Kiel, to honor the Kiel Week. Note that, the majority of the visiting warships had returned from the NATO BALTOPS (Baltic Operations) Exercise, an annual joint, multinational maritime-focused exercise. It is designed to improve training value for participants enhance flexibility and interoperability, and demonstrate resolve among allied and partner forces in defending the Baltic Sea region. The only submarine present those days a German Navy Type 212 class, the submarine U33. Type 212 class is a highly advanced design of non-nuclear submarine developed by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft AG (HDW) for the German and Italian navies. It features diesel propulsion and an additional air-independent propulsion (AIP) system using Siemens proton exchange membrane (PEM) compressed hydrogen fuel cells. The submarines of the class can operate at high speed on diesel power or switch to the AIP system for silent slow cruising, staying submerged for up to three weeks without surfacing and with little exhaust heat. Type 212 is the first fuel cell propulsion system equipped submarine series. The U33 was laid down in April 2001 by Howaldtswerke, Kiel, launched in September 2004 and commissioned on June 13, 2006. Enjoy photos! 

INFOGRAPHICS #39: The major surface combatants of the most powerful European Navies in 2035

Written by D-Mitch

European frigates, ESPS Blas de Lezo (F103), FGS Sachsen (F219)
and TCG Saligreis (F246), in close formation.

In this short article, similar to a complete analysis I did in the past on The major surface combatants of the most powerful European Navies in 2035, I illustrate the six most powerful surface combatant fleets in Europe by 2035 in a single graph, based on the shipbuilding programs that have announced and only. Russian Navy, as a naval superpower, is excluded from the graph. This time, the new graph, does not include only those countries that are located wholly or predominantly in Europe but also countries that exist partially within geographical Europe. Thus Turkish Navy is included as well. In this post, I will mention briefly some additions and changes regarding the previous article but I will not analyze more the developments and the designs, because I believe the before mentioned article covered the topic to a large extent.

PHOTO GALLERY #18: U36, submarine of the German Navy

U36, submarine of the German Navy

The following photos were taken during my visit to Kiel, on 16th of June, the first Saturday of the 136th Kiel Week. The Kiel Week (German: Kieler Woche) or Kiel Regatta is an annual sailing event in Kiel, the capital of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is the largest sailing event in the world, and also one of the largest Volksfeste in Germany, attracting millions of people every year from all over Germany and neighboring countries. The first weekend of the Kiel Week, the famous Naval Base of Kiel, opens its gates for just four hours per day, for thousands of tourists who are eager to visit the German Navy warships and dozens of foreign warships which visit the city of Kiel, to honor the Kiel Week. Note that, the majority of the visiting warships had returned from the NATO BALTOPS (Baltic Operations) Exercise, an annual joint, multinational maritime-focused exercise. It is designed to improve training value for participants enhance flexibility and interoperability, and demonstrate resolve among allied and partner forces in defending the Baltic Sea region. One of the boats were present that weekend, was one of the only two operational submarines of the German Navy today, the last of its German Type 212 class, the submarine U36. Type 212 class is a highly advanced design of non-nuclear submarine developed by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft AG (HDW) for the German and Italian navies. It features diesel propulsion and an additional air-independent propulsion (AIP) system using Siemens proton exchange membrane (PEM) compressed hydrogen fuel cells. The submarines of the class can operate at high speed on diesel power or switch to the AIP system for silent slow cruising, staying submerged for up to three weeks without surfacing and with little exhaust heat. Type 212 is the first fuel cell propulsion system equipped submarine series. The U36 was laid down in August 2008 by Howaldtswerke, Kiel, launched in February 2013 and commissioned on 10 October 2016. She is under the patronage of the town of Plauen, in Saxony. Enjoy some photos from my visit!

FLEETS #20: The German Federal Navy in 1960

The destroyer Zerstörer 2 (D 171)

U-Boot Hecht (S 171, ex U 2367)

The German Navy was originally known as the Bundesmarine ("Federal Navy") from 1956 until 1995 when Deutsche Marine ("German Navy") became the official name with respect to the 1990 incorporation of the East German Volksmarine ("People's Navy"). The following graph includes includes all ships which were in service with the West Germany's Navy on July 1st, 1960. I would like to mention here that the original source of the graphs is not known; the graph was posted by the reddit user J4yJ4m on WarshipP0rn.

The major surface combatants of the most powerful European Navies in 2030 - An analysis of the future developments

Written by D-Mitch

In this article, I will describe briefly the future developments in the major surface combatant fleet of the five most powerful in Europe, the five navies that historically maintain and develop a strong naval fleet of very advanced warships. But what do we mean when we talk about surface combatant? According to the Office of Naval Research of the United States Navy, "..surface combatants (or surface ships or surface vessels) are a subset of naval warships which are designed for warfare on the surface of the water, with their own weapons. They are generally ships built to fight other ships, submarines or aircraft, and can carry out several other missions including counter-narcotics operations and maritime interdiction. Their primary purpose is to engage space, air, surface, and submerged targets with weapons deployed from the ship itself, rather than by manned carried craft.". The term is primarily used to mean any modern vessel type that is not a submarine; although a "surface ship" may range in size from a small cutter to a large cruiser, the largest surface combatant today in any Navy.

HISTORY #5: 100 years since the Battle of Jutland!

The 2nd Division of the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet prepares
to open fire on the German High Seas Fleet.

The 31st of May 2016 marks 100 years since Britain and Germany fought each other in the Battle of Jutland. It was the biggest fight to take place on sea during World War One and happened in the North Sea, just off the coast of Denmark. British ships had set sail to stop the German fleet and there was an expectation that Britain would win the battle. Britain's navy was superior to Germany's - they had a bigger fleet and more firepower. But the battle didn't unfold as simply as many thought it would do. Around 100,000 men were involved in the battle of Jutland and 250 ships. The battle was fought over 36 hours from 31 May to 1 June, 1916. The German High Seas Fleet was under the command of the Admiral Reinhard Scheer. In charge of the British fleet that day was Admiral Sir John Jellicoe. It brought together the two most powerful naval forces of the time and it became the largest sea battle in naval warfare history in terms of the numbers of battleships involved. More than 6,000 Britons and 2,500 Germans died. Who won the battle? The Germans claimed victory, as they lost fewer ships and men. The British press reported this and Admiral Jellicoe was criticized for being overly cautious in the battle and was later sacked. But within days, attitudes changes and Jutland was seen by some people as a victory for the British. This was because Germany never again tried to challenge the British Grand Fleet and stayed in their bases for the rest of the war. Who really won the Battle of Jutland is a topic that is still debated now, 100 years on. More information, details and photos from the battle here and here.

INFOGRAPHICS #21: Deutschland class heavy cruisers (pocket battleships)

German heavy cruiser pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee
returning from an Atlantic cruise, October 1938.

The Deutschland class was a series of three Panzerschiffe ("armored ships"), a form of heavily armed cruiser, built by the Reichsmarine officially in accordance with restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. The class, which comprised the ships Deutschland (renamed Lützow later), Admiral Scheer, and Admiral Graf Spee, were all stated to displace 10,000 long tons (10,000 t) in accordance with the Treaty, though they actually displaced 10,600 to 12,340 long tons (10,770 to 12,540 t) at standard displacement. Despite violating the weight limitation, the design for the ships incorporated several radical innovations to save weight. They were the first major warships to use welding and all-diesel propulsion system, a radical innovation at the time that contributed to significant savings in weight. Due to their heavy armament of six 28 cm (11 in) guns, the British began referring to the vessels as "pocket battleships". The Deutschland-class ships were initially classified as Panzerschiffe or "armored ships", but the Kriegsmarine reclassified them as heavy cruisers in February 1940. The three ships were built between 1929 and 1936 by the Deutsche Werke and Reichsmarinewerft in Kiel and Wilhelmshaven, respectively. The three Deutschland-class ships varied slightly in dimensions, appearance and armament. The Admiral Graf Spee was confronted by three British cruisers at the Battle of the River Plate. Although she damaged the British ships severely, she was herself damaged and her engines were in poor condition. Coupled with false reports of British reinforcements, the state of the ship convinced Hans Langsdorff, her commander, to scuttle the ship outside Montevideo on December 17, 1939. The Lützow and Admiral Scheer were destroyed by British bombers in the final weeks of the war (April 1945). Lützow was raised and sunk as a target by the Soviet Navy while Admiral Scheer was partially broken up in situ, with the remainder of the hulk buried beneath rubble.

Baden-Württemberg class frigates of the German Navy

Written by D-Mitch 

The German Navy F125 class frigate Baden-Württemberg
during sea trials (July 1st). Photo: Carsten Vennemann

After approximately two years, and with very limited time, I managed finally to reach my 100th post. Due to this special occasion, I chose to write an analysis on a warship class that has not been in service yet, a new "controversial" warship design if I may say which I will elaborate later why is that. This is the newest frigate design today in Europe and one of the latest worldwide, the Baden-Württemberg class of the German Navy, also known as F125 class which is the project name. The F125 class intends to replace the eight aged F122 class (also known as Bremen class) of frigates in a 1:2 ratio which means one F125 class frigate will succeed two F122 class frigates. There is not so much information regarding the capabilities of the design and her electronic equipment or photos of her special features as only few images of the lead ship of the class during its first sea trials were just recently released in public. That is the main reason why the majority of the photos in the article are of low resolution; once they become available better photos I will update the analysis.

INFOGRAPHICS #16 and HISTORY #3: Battleships of WWII!

Written by D-Mitch

IJN Yamato in 1941. The ship, together with its sister-ship,
IJN Musashi, were the only super-battleships that saw action.

This article is devoted to the battleships, the most powerful ships to sail the waves and the pride of every navy from 1880 to the early '40s. These large warships with the impressive gun armament, the so-called "Castles of Steel" or "The Floating Fortresses", were a symbol of naval dominance and national might, and for decades the battleship was a major factor in both diplomacy and military strategy. The following image (compiled by iksanov) depicts individual battleships and battlecruisers of major battleship classes as they were in a specific year (camouflage, prior or after a modernization, etc.). The majority of them served during WWII with very few exceptions such as the España class battleship Jaime I (n.28) or the HMS Vanguard (n.2) that was commissioned in 1946 (I modified the original image because instead of Vanguard, it had the Sovetsky Soyuz-class battleship, a ship that was never completed and commissioned). Somebody can notice also that not all the battleship classes are included, such examples are the Conte di Cavour class of Italy, the New Mexico and Pennsylvania classes of the United States of America, the Ise class of Japan and many more classes of the United Kingdom. For a brief overview of all the battleship classes (ironclads, pre-dreadnoughts, dreadnoughts, battleships and fast battleships), including those that were never commissioned, you can read here (I noticed quickly that some classes are missing though such as the Espana class). About the individual battleships within the classes you can find them here where they are listed alphabetically. Please notice that the silhouettes have not been created by me but by anonymous users in the web (if somebody found an author or the authors please send me a message!)

Sachsen class frigates of the German Navy

Written by D-Mitch

Frigate Hessen, last ship of the Sachsen class.

The Sachsen class (or else F124 class/Klasse 124) of German Navy (Deutsche Marine) is a class of three high-tech Anti-Aircraft Warfare (AAW) frigates built by Blohm + Voss, Howaldtwerke-Deutsche Werft and Thyssen Nordseewerke (from 2005 the three companies are part of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems) the period 1999-2005 under a contract of €2.1 billion (!) that was signed in 1996. The shipyards joined forces for this contract as Working Group 124 (ARGE 124); all three yards built a vessel each. An option on a fourth vessel that was provisionally to have been named Thüringen was not taken up. This class of warships is based on an enlarged pattern of the Brandenburg class (F123/Klasse 123) multipurpose frigates featuring stealth characteristics, weapons and sensors for air defence capabilities. The three vessels replaced the three Lütjens-class destroyers that were modified Charles F. Adams-class destroyers. It is worth of mention that the ships of the class have about 2,000tons more displacement and 10 meters more length than the class that they replace. The Sachsen class frigates are very similar to the Dutch De Zeven Provinciën class frigates (the class will be analyzed in another article), in that both are based on the use of a common primary anti-air warfare system built around the APAR and SMART-L radars as well as the area-defence SM-2 Block IIIA and point/medium range defence Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM) surface-to-air missiles. The ships of De Zeven Provinciën class frigates are of similar size but their major differences are that they have one more module (8-cells) in their vertical launch system (VLS), they have Goalkeeper CIWS instead of RAM, 5in gun and their hangar can accommodate one helicopter. The last ship of the class, Hessen, entered in service in April 21, 2006. The vessels of the class are some of the most advanced AAW in the world and contribute significantly to the European air-defence.

FLEETS #11: French Navy, German Navy, Royal Navy and Austro-Hungarian Navy in WWI

The following images illustrate the most important classes of warships that were in service with the navies of France, Germany, United Kingdom and Austria-Hungary (Austro-Hungarian Empire) during the World War I. More posts will follow for your collection of current naval fleets but also of fleets from the past.

French Navy (Marine Nationale) in WWI

Click to enlarge and save the image to view the details - French Navy in WWI

FLEETS #10: Royal Navy, German Navy and Romanian Navy today

Written by D-Mitch

This is the fifth article about various countries' navies today. In these articles, I briefly describe a country's naval fleet by reporting the ships in each type/category of warships and by providing a nice image where all the types of warships are illustrated and the units of its class are reported. I include the vessels that will enter in service this year and I have excluded those that are about to be decommissioned. I deliberately excluded many classes of auxiliary ships; those that they have "0" defence capacity and those that have secondary roles such as hydrographic survey ships, tugs, depollution vessels and training ships.

FLEETS #4: Italian Navy, German Navy, Russian Navy and Japanese Navy in WWII

The following images illustrate the most important classes of warships which were in service with the navies of Italy, Germany, Russia and Japan during the World War II. More posts will follow for your collection of current naval fleets but also of fleets from the past.

Italian Navy (Regia Marina) in  WWII

Click to enlarge and save the image to view the details - Italian Navy in WWII