German Navy Wraps Red Sea Mission, Begins Indo-Pacific Deployment

Hessen has escorted 27 merchant ships during her Red Sea-deployment.

Operational pause for EUNAVFOR Aspides contribution coincides with launch of ambitious Indo-Pacific Deployment. Another frigate to return to Red Sea in August.

Alex Luck  10 May 2024

The German Navy this week has finished the first rotation of a warship to the Red Sea. FGS Hessen, an anti air-warfare frigate of the Sachsen-class, arrived in her homeport of Wilhelmshaven on Sunday, May 5th. The ship conducted maritime escort operations in the Red Sea from the end of February until end of April. The deployment ran under EUNAVFOR Aspides, which Germany had signed up to in February this year.

Hessen has escorted 27 merchant ships during her Red Sea-deployment.

The EU-organised operation is one of two major naval deployments by Western navies in response to missile- and drone attacks against international shipping in the Red Sea by the Houthi militia based in Yemen. The United States have organised their own, more robust military response dubbed Prosperity Guardian, also with participation of several European partners including the UK, Denmark and the Netherlands.

Successes and some setbacks for Hessen

During her two months in the Red Sea FGS Hessen has conducted combat operations at least three times. These included the destruction of several Houthi-drones, both air- and seaborne. They also featured a case of abortive friendly fire and technical issues, as reported by Naval News before.

Bridge of German Navy frigate Hessen during combat operations in Red Sea. Image Bundeswehr.

Overall Hessen‘s experience illustrated some growing pains in operational deployments against a robust military threat encountered also by other European navies. Examples include eerily similar operational difficulties encountered by the Danish Navy, and a pre-deployment missile launch failure by the Belgian Navy.

Nevertheless Hessen, which was pressed into this deployment on the tail-end of a busy previous period of scheduled exercises abroad, also marked several firsts for a German warship in combat operations seven decades after the end of WW2. This tally included the destruction of Houthi-USV by one of her embarked Sea Lynx-helicopters on March 21, when the drone approached commercial ships protected by Hessen.

The ship also conducted a replenishment of her missile stocks in Djibouti in early April. Interestingly Hessen at the time did not restock the spent RAM-missiles launched in the encounter described above. The frigate visibly still featured two missing rounds in the forward launcher on her return to Wilhelmshaven. The German Navy has not disclosed any issues with the replenishment in Djibouti. It is worth noting in this context that RAM comes in several “Block”-variants. German Frigates so far only use the Block 1-standard. The newer Block 2A-version is in use on K130-corvettes and the Block 2B-standard is currently in procurement.

Hessen with Dutch frigate Tromp, before departing the Red Sea. Note RAM-launcher with missing rounds.

Germany will not immediately send another warship to EUNAVFOR Aspides. Instead the service will use Hessen‘s experience to apply lessons learned for a follow-up currently scheduled around August. The resulting gap in addition to other European partners withdrawing forces or delaying follow-ups is currently causing some headaches for the Aspides-force commander over a lack of combatants available to the mission. By late summer Hessen‘s sistership FGS Hamburg will deploy to the Red Sea once again.

Commencing “Indo-Pacific Deployment 2024”

Meanwhile Berlin has kicked off the long-planned “Indo-Pacific Deployment 2024” (IPD 24) on May 7. The effort includes F125-frigate Baden-Wuerttemberg and combat support ship Frankfurt am Main. The two ships left separately from Rota/Spain and Wilhelmshaven respectively. After joining up in the Atlantic Ocean, the formation, carrying a crew of 380 sailors, will first head to Halifax and New York.

Frigate Baden-Wuerttemberg departing Rota, while Spanish and German aircraft conduct a fly-over as farewell. Image Bundeswehr.

After exercises with the US and Canadian navies, both ships will pass through the Panama Canal in June. At home political debates on the deployment meanwhile focus on whether the formation will sail through the Taiwan Strait. Officials in Berlin have not yet disclosed any related information. The Foreign Office reportedly objects to the idea, whereas the Ministry of Defence is in favor of it.

Another fly-over by Luftwaffe aircraft in Wilhelmshaven, as Frankfurt am Main is departing her berth.

The Indo-Pacific Deployment will last until at least November. IPD 24 represents the most complex global cruise for a German Navy detachment in many decades. Therefore details are likely contingent on how closely the existing schedule can be met.

TAGS German Navy Indopacific Red Sea

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