''Nordrhein-Westfalen'' (F223) is the second ship of the s of the

German Navy The German Navy (, ) is part of the unified (Federal Defense), the German Armed Forces. The German Navy was originally known as the ''Bundesmarine'' (Federal Navy) from 1956 to 1995, when ''Deutsche Marine'' (German Navy) became the official ...

Background

''Nordrhein-Westfalen'' was designed and constructed by ARGE F125, a

joint-venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

Thyssen-Krupp ThyssenKrupp AG (, ; stylized as thyssenkrupp) is a German industrial engineering and steel production multinational conglomerate. It resulted from the 1999 merger of Thyssen AG and Krupp and has its operational headquarters in Duisburg and Ess ...

and

Lürssen Lürssen (or Lürssen Werft) is a German shipyard with headquarters in Bremen-Vegesack and shipbuilding facilities in Lemwerder, Berne and Bremen-Fähr-Lobbendorf. Lürssen designs and constructs yachts, naval ships and special vessels. Tradin ...

. She is part of the has the highest displacement of any class of

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...

worldwide, and are used to replace the .

Construction and career

''Nordrhein-Westfalen'' was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one ...

on 24 October 2012 and launched on 16 April 2015 in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

. She was commissioned on 10 June 2020. In late 2024 ''Nordrhein-Westfalen'' was patrolling in the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

, coming from the port of

Gdańsk Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdań ...

, Poland. In late November the frigate was encountered a Russian convoy consisting of a not named tanker and a

corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the sloo ...

in the Baltic Sea, potentially breaking the

international sanctions International sanctions are political and economic decisions that are part of diplomatic efforts by countries, multilateral or regional organizations against states or organizations either to protect national security interests, or to protect i ...

imposed on Russian oil. When one of the NH90 helicopters from ''Nordrhein-Westfalen'' was sent to inspect the Russian vessels more closely, the corvette responded with five red flares instead of routine radio communication. The incident became public when German foreign minister

Annalena Baerbock Annalena Charlotte Alma Baerbock (; born 15 December 1980) is a German politician and diplomat of the Alliance 90/The Greens party. She served as Minister for Foreign Affairs (Germany), Germany's minister for foreign affairs from 2021 to 2025. I ...

mentioned the act of aggression at a

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

meeting a week later.

Gallery

File:German frigates F223 and F225 in Hamburg, August 2019.jpg, ''Nordrhein-Westfalen'' moored opposite on 31 August 2019 File:The frigate Nordrhein-Westfalen F223 is towed into dock 17 of the B&V shipyard.jpg, ''Nordrhein-Westfalen'' being towed into dock 17 of the

Blohm and Voss Blohm+Voss (B+V), also written historically as Blohm & Voss, Blohm und Voß etc., is a German shipbuilding and engineering company. Founded in Hamburg in 1877 to specialise in steel-hulled ships, its most famous product was the World War II battle ...

(B&V) shipyard on 10 November 2015. File:F223 Nordrhein-Westfalen.jpg, ''Nordrhein-Westfalen'' on 22 May 2019.

References

External links

Seaforces.org
Baden-Württemberg-class frigates 2015 ships Ships built in Hamburg {{Germany-mil-ship-stub