Bundesmarine, 82 Built 1981-today for 13 countries. Germany Day ! If on one hand, the Bundesmarine was a relatively modest navy in comparison to West Germany’s and post-1990 unified Germany’s economical means up to this day, export was in addition a major asset to finance it. Indeed, Blohm & Voss was chiefly responsible for it. … Read more
Bundesmarine, Type 123. Built 1992-96, in service. F215-218 Brandenburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Bayern, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern The F123 Brandenburg class were four frigates ordered in the cold war for the Bundesmarine in June 1989, as the Berlin Wall was about to fall. They were completed and commissioned between 1994 and 1996. They had been planned to replace the 1960s … Read more
Bundesmarine, 77 export boats (68 delivered) to 23 countries, also licence-built. For this Germany Day here is probably the most important European submarine class of the cold war, by far its most successful export. Indeed, with 68 boats so far, in five variants (more on order) Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft managed to keep this 1970s design relevant … Read more
Bundesmarine, Type 122. Built 1979-90, in service until 2020. F207-214 Bremen, Niedersachsen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Emden, Köln, Karlsruhe, Augsburg, Lübeck The eight F122 Bremen-class frigates commissioned between 1982 and 1990 constituted the modern backbone of the Bundesmarine in the late cold war, and up recently. Their design was a complete U-turn compared to the previous 1961 Köln, … Read more
Bundesmarine, 18 boats: U-192-199, U-170-179 1972-2011 The Type 206 diesel-electric submarines were the next generation of 1970s U-boats developed by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW) for the Bundesmarine. There was an incremental step as it derived strongly from the Type 205. Still small and agile they were tailored for operational conditions of the Baltic in mind, Atlantic … Read more
Bundesmarine, Type 120. Built 1957-64, in service until 1989: Köln, Emden, Augsburg, Karlsruhe, Lübeck, Braunschweig These were all built in Stülcken, Hamburg, as Type 120 Frigates, ordered in March 1957, designed in 1955-57 under program ‘Geleitboot 55’ (Escort 55). They were the worlds’ first warships to feature a combined diesel and gas propulsion system (CODAG). … Read more
Bundesmarine (1960), 12 boats: U-1 to U-12 The Bundesmarine’s reboot subs U9 of the 205mod class in the north sea, 1980s The Bundesmarine’s naval program including defendive submarines for the baltic sea as early as in the 1950s, but the West German submarine force was starting almost from scratch again. The first step was to … Read more
Bundesmarine Training Cruiser (A59) 1959-1990 West German Navy’s flagship In this day of Germany Unity (3 October) what more but the very flagship that bore the country’s name, Ambassador and flagship of the Bundesmarine for most of the cold war ? A59 Deutschland though was not a capital ship, but a schoolship (A for auxiliary … Read more
Bundesmarine (1960), 3 ships: U-1 – U-3 The Bundesmarine’s first submarines The Type 201 were the first post-WW2 German submarines to see the day. They derived from a long process started with the reintegration of Germany into NATO and the idea that the Bundesmarine could need small submarines as a way to defend the eastern … Read more
Bundesmarine Type 138 (1958-68)FG 212, 217, 218 Gneisenau, Raule, Brommy Bundesmarine’s modernized British Hunt Frigates As part as the rearmament of the newly created Bundesmarine in 1955, as West Germany was now part of NATO, ex stock WW2 allied ships were transferred (purchased with the help of MDAP funds), and among these, a number of … Read more
