German Navy’s Bremen-class frigate FGS Karlsruhe is scheduled to leave its homeport Wilhelmshaven on March 18 to join EUNAVFOR’s Operation Sophia in the Mediterranean.
Led by Commander Christian Clausing, the ship’s crew will join another German ship in the operation, the combat support ship EGV Frankfurt am Main.
FGS Karlsruhe will be taking over the roles of the corvette FGS Ludwigshaven am Rhein which will thereafter return to its home base in Warnemünde, Germany.
Even though it has not been said when exactly the corvette Ludwigshaven am Rhein would return home, the ship was originally expected to return to Germany at the end of April, 2016.
EUNAVFOR’s Operation Sophia is aimed at disrupting the business model of human smuggling and trafficking networks in the Mediterranean, off the coast of Libya, and to prevent the further loss of life at sea. Op Sophia vessels have saved more 10,000 lives since the operation was launched in June 2015.