HAMBURG - The fourth and final 125 class frigate (F125) for the German Navy was christened "Rheinland-Pfalz" May 24 at the Hamburg site of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems. Following the christening of the first three frigates "Baden-Württemberg," "Nordrhein-Westfalen" and "Sachsen-Anhalt" this is a further important step toward completing the F125 shipbuilding program. Rheinland-Pfalz is scheduled to be handed over to the German defense procurement agency BAAINBw in spring 2020. The contract for the F125 program is worth around €2 billion ($2.24 billion).
The ARGE F125 consortium which was awarded the contract to build four F125 class ships for the German Navy in 2007 comprises ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems as the lead company and Fr. Lürssen Werft in Bremen. The pre-fitted bow sections are being manufactured at the Fr. Lürssen Werft shipyards in Bremen and Wolgast. Construction of the stern sections, the joining of the two sections and further fitting out is being carried out at Blohm+Voss Shipyards in Hamburg.
The four 125 class frigates will begin the replacement of the German Navy's eight (Bremen type) 122 class frigates. The ships were developed specially for current and future deployment scenarios for the German Navy. In addition to the traditional tasks of national and alliance defense, the 125 class frigates are designed for conflict prevention, crisis management and intervention/stabilization operations in the international arena. T
he ships are capable of remaining at sea for 24 months and thus represent the first realization of the intensive use concept, i.e. significantly increased availability in the deployment region. This capability is supported by a smaller crew and a multiple-crew strategy which permits a complete change of crew during deployment.
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