The Type 423 ''Oste'' class are purpose built
signals intelligence
Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is the act and field of intelligence-gathering by interception of ''signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly u ...
(SIGINT/ELINT) and
reconnaissance
In military operations, military reconnaissance () or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, the terrain, and civil activities in the area of operations. In military jargon, reconnai ...
ships 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 ...
. Officially designated as "fleet service ships", they replaced the Type 422 class.
The ''Oste''-class ships were designed as reconnaissance units during the
Cold War
The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
. From the 1990s, the tasks were expanded to early warning and telecommunications reconnaissance in cooperation with other units of German and international armed forces. Civil officers of
BND are working on the ships on a regular basis.
Accommodation for the crew was designed to meet civil standards, and the ''Oste'' class offers much more comfort for the crew than other ships in the German Navy.
The ships are set to be replaced from 2029-2031 when the new
Type 424 is planned to come into service.
The three new ships will cost €3.3 billion (2023).
List of ships
Construction and career
The ships were built at
Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft in
Flensburg
Flensburg (; Danish language, Danish and ; ; ) is an independent city, independent town in the far north of the Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. After Kiel and Lübeck, it is the third-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein.
Flensburg's ...
. All ships are currently based in
Eckernförde and belong to the (1st Submarine Squadron) stationed in Eckernförde. The vessels received the same name and pennant numbers as the three Type 422 vessels they replaced. To avoid confusion, the ship names are sometimes suffixed with "II".
''Oker'' was reportedly spotted near the
Syria
Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
n coast in August 2012. Later she was seen at Greenwich, United Kingdom, in February 2017.
Replacement
In June 2021, the
Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...
approved the development and procurement of three fleet service boats as well as a training and reference reconnaissance facility (ARAA) for sea-based signal detection reconnaissance (ssA). As the main contractor,
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 ...
was commissioned to develop the systems by February 2023. All services should be completed by 2029. The first of the three boats is scheduled to be put into service in 2027 and will mark the replacement of the fleet service boats Oker, Alster and Oste, which have been in use for over 30 years.
The new building increased in price from 2.1 billion euros to 3.3 billion euros (2023).
Notes
Bibliography
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Electronic intelligence ships
Auxiliary surveillance ship classes
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