Die beste Beleuchtung des vorstehenden Weges sind manchmal die Brücken, die hinter dich glühen. (The glowing bridges behind are the best illumination of the road ahead.)
Germany twice lost its magnificent fleet, and, each time, rebuilt it again in record time. The fact of the rapid revival of the Navy is not particularly surprising: the navy is the quintessence of the best achievements of science and industry, with which Germany has never had problems.
Modern naval forces (Deutsche Marine) no longer claim undivided power over the sea. A typical European economy class fleet, which has become an integral part of the multinational forces of NATO countries. All serious tasks are entrusted to the only and main ally - the United States. The Germans themselves do not particularly bother, providing their overlord with all possible assistance of a various nature (supply, reconnaissance, marks for participation in international exercises). They do not climb especially forward, because they will not be allowed to share the spoils anyway.
And nevertheless, knowing the Germans, it is difficult to imagine that the naval theme was thrown by them "to the mercy of fate." The German naval forces remain true to their traditions: meticulous preparation, attention to the smallest detail, advanced achievements in science and technology. It would be frivolous to call the German fleet weak and small in number: it is compact, extremely balanced and fully corresponds to the current tasks. In addition to solving tasks as part of a multinational force, Deutsche Marine is the strongest fleet in the Baltic and is capable of solving tasks of protecting sea borders in the area of responsibility of the national naval forces.
A separate moment is associated with the shipbuilding industry in Germany. Germany is one of the leading exporters of naval equipment. Despite the high prices, the number of those wishing to purchase German submarines and frigates is not decreasing. However, some people manage to get them for free (Israeli Navy).
In general, there is potential. The whole question is in the situation. History already knows an example of how, in just a few years, a monster grew out of a hundred-thousand-strong "amusing" army and the same "toy" fleet, which was hardly silenced by the whole world.
A French soldier is a citizen in disguise, a German civilian is a soldier in disguise.
- Kurt Tucholsky
It couldn't be better.
3D-model of the frigate of the project F125
On January 29, 2015, a new frigate Rhineland-Palatinate was laid down at the Lürssen shipyard (the fourth ship of the F125 project).
Rhineland-Palatinate is huge. Full displacement 7200 tons. In fact, the Germans are building a destroyer, moreover, a very remarkable one from those. points of view. The intrigue is that there is nothing on it. Of course, some weapons are still present: a 127-mm universal gun, a pair of helicopters, self-defense systems ("miniguns", 27-mm assault rifles, a pair of RIM-116 missile units). 8 Harpoon anti-ship missiles are installed as standard, even unmanned underwater vehicles are planned.
But all this looks extremely frivolous: a promising German destroyer / frigate will be launched almost empty. The paradox can have two explanations. First, the Germans really do not want to spend extra money, due to the lack of opportunities to use the destroyer in serious “showdowns”. And the second: the Germans are cunning. Rhineland-Palatinate and Co., like most European ships, are structurally underloaded. If necessary, the destroyer can be equipped with a full range of missile weapons, the real composition of which is kept secret.
Literally ten years ago, the Germans built three excellent frigates (project F124 Sachsen, Saxony), whose capabilities allow them to be included in the naval missile defense system. The powerful Thales SMART-L radar for tracking targets in low-earth orbits, and 32 silos for interceptor missiles and conventional anti-aircraft missiles. All this and much more (for example, the multifunctional APAR radar with four active HEADLIGHTS) fit into the hull with a total displacement of “only” 5800 tons.
Saxony-class frigates
This does not limit the range of Deutsche Marine's naval equipment: there are 17 more large surface combat units in stock - from the old Bremen to the newest frigates (in fact, coastal patrol ships) of the Braunschweig class.
[center] Frigate "Schleswig-Holstein" (type "Brandenburg")
Obsolete Bremen-class frigate
And then - the underwater component of the Navy. Six non-nuclear (to call them “diesels” would be an insult) Type 212 submarines with an air-independent power plant on hydrogen fuel cells. By the totality of their combat characteristics, these "babies" are not inferior to nuclear-powered submarines, and by the "stealth" parameter they have no analogues at all among nuclear submarines.
Among the curious features of the Type 212 is its fiberglass hull, which does not create disturbances in the Earth's magnetic field - the boat cannot be detected from the air with a magnetic detector. In addition, the small size of the boats and the X-shaped arrangement of the rudders allow them to operate in coastal sea areas with depths of up to 17 meters.
In the future, the German fleet should be replenished with promising type 216 submarines. The new submarines promise to be much larger than their predecessors. The project should become the basis for the creation of an export modification of a large non-nuclear submarine, in which such rich and respectable clients as Australia and Canada are showing interest.
U-bot U212 is preparing a surprise for enemy anti-submarine helicopters. An optoelectronic cable-guided anti-aircraft missile of the IDAS system fired from a torpedo tube. Primary target detection - according to the submarine hydroacoustic station. Rocket guidance - infrared TV camera.
The German auxiliary fleet is of particular interest. Three dozen units - from relatively peaceful research vessels to meticulous naval reconnaissance and armed integrated supply ships.
Tanker (integrated supply ship) of the "Berlin" type. Capacity - 9330 tons of ship and aviation fuel and fresh water. + 550 tons of cargo in standard containers. Also, there is a mobile hospital and a couple of helicopters on board.
Simons Town Naval Base (South Africa). A German tanker of the "Berlin" type is visible in the bay
Auxiliary ship of the "Oste" type. Equipped with a full range of systems for species, radio-technical and hydroacoustic reconnaissance.
Export of naval weapons
The German industry has no equal in the export of submarines: in the period from 1971 to 2007, Germany managed to sell sixty diesel-electric Type 209 submarines, which entered service with the navies of India, Greece, Turkey, South Korea, Venezuela … only 14 countries of the world!
The Germans continuously modernized the successful design, as a result, even today, these submarines continue to remain a formidable naval enemy.
With the beginning of the new century, the Germans thrashed another 12 non-nuclear submarines Type 212 and Type 214.
Italy sold three boats of the basic modification (Type 212, similar to the boats of Deutsche Marina). The rest - the export modification Type 214.
Submarine of the South Korean Navy "Sun Won" (Type 214), naval base Busan
The cost of the Type 214 is enormous - $ 330 million for a small ship. Experts seriously say that this time the Teutonic genius made a mistake, betting on excessively complex and expensive hydrogen fuel cells (instead of the more efficient Stirling engine powered by compressed oxygen and ordinary ship diesel fuel). Nevertheless, the high price did not stop those wishing to purchase such "toys". Among the clients are Greece, Portugal and even the highly developed South Korea.
There are not so many reliable suppliers and offers in this market. And the high reputation of German technology, as well as the objectively high quality of modern nuclear submarines, confirm the correctness of the transactions concluded.
In addition to submarines, Germany has exported over forty frigates of the MEKO family (Mehrzweck-Kombination - multifunctional combination). The ships scattered all over the world - from Algeria and Nigeria to Poland, Malaysia and South Africa. The largest batch of MEKO frigates went to Turkey.
The military-technical cooperation of German shipbuilders with Israel is fraught with a lot of interesting things. In the early 2000s, the Germans, tormented by a complex of guilt, were forced to build three diesel-electric submarines according to the special Dolphin project and donate them to the Israeli naval forces.
The first two boats were built free of charge. The cost of building the third was split 50-50 between both countries. Subsequently, the Israelis expressed a desire to purchase three more submarines with a 30% discount.
In the event of an attack with the use of weapons of mass destruction, the Israeli Dolphins promise to bypass the African continent to the Persian Gulf and burn Iran with nuclear fire.
From a technical point of view, Dolphin is a compilation of the most successful solutions of the Type 209 and Type 212 submarines. Israeli submarines are very large for such submarines (in / and submerged 1900 tons), in addition, they carry reinforced weapons: 10 torpedo tubes, four of which have a caliber of 650 mm and are designed to launch long-range cruise missiles with nuclear warheads. The last three submarines are being built according to the modified Dolphin-2 project using an anaerobic power plant on hydrogen cells.
Here is such an unexpected ending to the story of the German navy.
