Baden-Württemberg-class frigate

The F125 Baden-Württemberg-class frigates are a series of frigates of the German Navy, which were designed and constructed by ARGE F125, a joint-venture of Thyssen-Krupp and Lürssen. The Baden-Württemberg class is the heaviest displacement of any class of frigates worldwide. They replaced the F122 Bremen class. They are primarily designed for no and low intensity maritime stabilization operations, where they are supposed to provide sea-to-land tactical fire support, asymmetric threat control at sea and support of special forces.

German Navy frigate Baden-Württemberg in Wilhelmshaven, 2017
Class overview
Builders	ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems/Lürssen Peene-Werft, Wolgast
Operators	German Navy
Preceded by	Sachsen class, Bremen class
Succeeded by	F126
Cost	ca. €775 million (2007) per ship
Built	2011–2022
In commission	2019–present
Planned	4
Active	4
General characteristics (Note that the final design may differ)
Type	Frigate
Displacement	7,200 t (7,100 long tons)
Length	149.52 m (490 ft 7 in)
Beam	18.80 m (61 ft 8 in)
Draft	5.40 m (17 ft 9 in)
Installed power	43,000 shp (32,000 kW)
Propulsion	CODLAG 1 × 20 MW gas turbine 2 × 4.7 MW electric motors 4 × 2.9 MW diesel generators 3 × gearboxes: one for each shaft and one to crossconnect the gas turbine to them 2 × shafts, driving controllable pitch propellers 1 × 1 MW bow thruster
Speed	20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) on diesel only, 26 knots (48 km/h; 30 mph) max.
Range	4,000 nmi (7,400 km; 4,600 mi)
Boats & landing craft carried	Submarine ROVs 4 × 11 m (36 ft) RHIB, capable of more than 40 knots (74 km/h; 46 mph)
Capacity	Space for two 6.1 m (20 ft 0 in) containers
Complement	190 (standard crew: 110)
Sensors and processing systems	1 × Hensoldt TRS-4D AESA radar 2(?) × navigation radars IFF diver and swimmer detection sonar (no anti-submarine sonar) Laser warning 1 × KORA-18 Combined RADAR and COMMS ESM from GEDIS 2 × MSP 600 video and infrared target tracker 1 × SIMONE 360 degree infrared monitoring Link 11, Link 16, Link 22 communications systems
Electronic warfare & decoys	1 × TKWA/MASS (Multi Ammunition Softkill System) ECM
Armament	Naval guns: 1 × 127 mm lightweight Otobreda naval gun with guided Vulcano ammunition for land-attack missions (range: more than 100 km (62 mi)) 2 × 27 mm MLG 27 remote-controlled autocannons 5 × 12.7 mm Hitrole-NT remote-controlled machine gun turrets 2 × 12.7 mm heavy machine guns (manually controlled) Close-In Weapon System: 2 × RAM Block II launchers, 21 missiles each Anti-ship missiles: 8 × RGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missiles (interim solution until joint sea/land attack Naval Strike Missile becomes available) Non-Lethal: Water cannons
Aircraft carried	2 × NH-90 helicopters

Design

Background

In contrast to the Bremen class, which were built with Cold War-era scenarios in mind, the Baden-Württemberg-class frigates will have much enhanced land-attack capabilities. This will better suit the frigates in possible future peacekeeping and peacemaking missions. For such reasons, the frigates will also mount non-lethal weapons.

General characteristics

Major design goals are reduced radar, infrared and acoustic signatures (stealth technology), something that was introduced to the German Navy with the Brandenburg-class frigates and was further developed with the Sachsen-class frigates and Braunschweig-class corvettes.

Other important requirements are long maintenance periods: It should be possible to deploy Baden-Württemberg-class frigates for up to two years away from homeports with an average sea operation time of more than 5,000 hours per year (nearly 60%) which includes operation under tropical conditions. For this reason, a combined diesel-electric and gas arrangement has been chosen for the machinery. This allows the substitution of large and powerful diesel engines for propulsion and sets of smaller diesel generators for electric power generation with a pool of med-sized diesel generators, reducing the number of different engines.

To enhance survivability of the frigates, important systems are laid out in the two island principle, i.e. present at least twice at different places within the ship. This is also visible in the superstructures, which are split in two larger pyramidal deckhouses. The aerials of the Cassidian TRS-4D active electronically scanned array radar will be distributed over the two pyramids. This will ensure that the ship remains operational in case of severe damage, such as accidents or enemy action. It will also allow the frigates to keep station if needed when something breaks down and no replacement is available.

An initial batch of four frigates was ordered by the German Navy on 26 June 2007. The initial batch of four ships costs around 2.2 billion euros. In April 2007, a contract with Finmeccanica was signed for delivery of Otobreda 127 mm (5 in) Vulcano main guns as well as remote-controlled light gun turrets for the Baden-Württemberg class. The initially considered 155 mm (6 in) MONARC gun, as well as the naval GMLRS rocket launcher, were dropped due to problems with the navalization of these land-based systems. The deal with Oto Melara had become opportune, because Germany still had countertrade obligations towards Italy, as Italy had purchased two German Type 212 submarines.

The Baden-Württemberg-class frigates are equipped with one 127mm main gun, two 27mm auto cannons and seven 12.7mm machine guns for defence against air and surface targets. The vessels are also armed with non-lethal weapons, such as water cannons and searchlights for non-provocative deterrence and defence. Beyond capabilities that might be provided by the ship's helicopter(s), sensors for anti-submarine warfare have not been integrated into the platform while the ship's air defence capability is limited to relatively short-range point defence systems.

Problems

The lead ship – Baden-Württemberg – was initially delivered with several problems. These included a persistent 1.3° list to starboard and the fact that the ship was dramatically overweight which would limit its performance, increase its cost of operation, and most importantly, adversely affect the German Navy's ability to add future upgrades to the somewhat sparsely outfitted vessel. Furthermore, there were also problems with the frigate's operations room from where the highly automated ship will be controlled. As a result, the German defense procurement agency BAAINBw refused to commission the vessel, making it the first time in German naval history that the BAAINBw has refused to commission a ship and returned it to its builder.

Baden-Württemberg was eventually accepted by the BAAINBw on 30 April 2019 and commissioned in June 2019, over two years later than originally planned.

While all vessels in the class had been delivered by January 2022, full operational capability for the first ship in the class, Baden-Württemberg, was still only expected in mid-2023. In 2024, Baden-Württemberg was selected to undertake an around the world deployment, accompanied by the support ship Frankfurt am Main.

Ships in the class

Pennant number	Name	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Commissioned	Status
F222	Baden-Württemberg	ARGE F125	2 November 2011	12 December 2013	17 June 2019	In active service
F223	Nordrhein-Westfalen		24 October 2012	16 April 2015	10 June 2020	In active service
F224	Sachsen-Anhalt		4 June 2014	4 March 2016	17 May 2021	In active service
F225	Rheinland-Pfalz		29 January 2015	24 May 2017	13 July 2022	In active service

Gallery

• Baden-Württemberg-class gallery
• 
  Baden-Württemberg at the deperming range in Wilhelmshaven
• 
  Nordrhein-Westfalen underway on 9 May 2017
• 
  Sachsen-Anhalt on 30 June 2018
• 
  Rheinland-Pfalz in the port of Hamburg in 2019
• 
  Nordrhein-Westfalen and Rheinland-Pfalz under construction on 31 August 2019

See also

• List of naval ship classes in service

Similar ships

• Thaon di Revel-class offshore patrol vessel
• FREMM multipurpose frigate, French/Italian collaboration
• Iver Huitfeldt-class frigate, of the Danish Navy has roughly the same displacement
• Álvaro de Bazán-class frigate, a Spanish frigate design adopted by the Australian, Norwegian and Spanish navies.
• Type 26 frigate, a British frigate design
• Shivalik-class frigate, an Indian frigate design

References

• "Baubeginn der ersten Fregatte Klasse 125" [Construction start of the first Class 125 Frigate] (in German). Deutsche Marine. Retrieved 11 May 2011.
• "Fregatte Klasse F125 – Ein neues Schiff für neue Aufgaben" [The Class F125 Frigate - A new ship for new challenges] (in German). Deutsche Marine. Retrieved 5 August 2008.
• Stockfisch, Dieter. "Fregatte Klasse 125 - Innovative Konzeption" [Class 125 Frigate - Innovative conceptual design] (PDF). Strategie und Technik (in German) (November 2005). Retrieved 30 April 2010.
• Becker, Timm. "Fregatte Klasse F 125 - Neue Wege für die nächste Fregattengeneration der Marine" [Class F 125 Frigate - New paths for the next Navy frigate generation] (PDF). Marineforum (in German) (11–2005). Retrieved 30 April 2010.

External links

• F125 at Blohm Voss Naval
• F125 project details on Naval Technology
• Germany’s F125 Special Forces and Stabilization Frigates