The German Tender Werra has left Operation Sophia after over four months of deployment.
Werra was substituted by the German combat support ship, FGS Berlin. With Commander Marcel Rosenbohm at the helm, FGS Berlin arrived to the Italian port of Augusta, Oct 14, to begin its EU Naval Force deployment.
FGS Berlin will constitute the German operation contingent in the Operation Sophia along with frigate FGS Schleswig-Holstein and soldiers in the operation’s headquarters and aboard the Italian flagship Cavour.
The ship has already been involved in saving lives in the Mediterranean. During these operations they saved over 900 people in three rescue operations from May 8 to June 8.
The crew of the tender Werra, being one of the first vessels to join Operation Sophia, have saved 1186 lives during the four months they spent at sea. Of those, 627 people were saved on a single occasion, June 23, when they were hauled from a wooden barge northwest of Tripoli.
Werra is expected to arrive to her homeport in Kiel by the end of October.
Naval Today Staff, Image: German Navy