Two German Warships Set Sail for Pacific

This month, the German frigate Baden-Wuerttemberg set sail from the Spanish port of Rota for the Indo-Pacific. Separately, the combat support ship Frankfurt am Main departed from Wilhelmshaven, Germany. The two ships will meet in the Atlantic and then travel to Canada and New York. Following exercises with the US and Canadian navies, the German ships will travel through the Panama canal and sail across the Pacific Ocean in the direction of India. There has also been some speculation over the possibility of the vessels crossing through the Taiwan strait, albeit no official statements have yet been released on this matter.

The frigate Baden-Wuerttemberg in port in Rota (Bundeswehr)

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius commented on the deployment on May 7:

“In the Indo-Pacific region, what is particularly important is freedom of navigation, freedom of shipping, freedom of trade routes. We want to contribute to compliance with international law and expand our relationships with our partners there in the region. Looking the other way, not showing a presence in the Pacific and not standing up for the rules-based order is and will not be an option for Germany.”

Defense Minister Boris Pistorius together with Rear Admiral Axel Schulz who leads the deployment (Bundeswehr)

Meanwhile, Chief of Navy Vice Admiral Jan Christian Kaack commented on how the deployment ties into Germany’s defense cooperation with Japan:

“When the German task group hails at Tokyo, a Japanese naval training force will be in Hamburg almost at the same time. We agree with the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force: What happens politically in the Indo-Pacific can also happen to us in our areas.”

the combat support ship Frankfurt am Main in port in Wilhemshaven (Bundeswehr)

At the same time the vessels will be traversing the Pacific this summer, Germany also plans to deploy around over 30 aircraft to the region as part of a larger multinational force including France and Spain. The air forces will participate in a number of multinational exercises hosted in Australia, India, Japan and the US, including RIMPAC 2024.

The two vessels are part of the first German naval mission to the Indo-Pacific since the 2021 deployment of the frigate Bayern. Following the publication of its ‘Policy guidelines for the Indo-Pacific‘ in late 2020, Germany has been expanding its focus on the region.