German Navy corvette ‘Erfurt’ returned to her homeport in Warnemünde, Germany on June 11 after a 17-month deployment.
Having a ship spend 17 months deployed without returning home was important for the German Navy as it was able to test the ‘intensive use’ principle for the corvettes where four crews man one ship.
The K 130 corvette sailed out in January 2015 and took part in the UNIFIL and Operation Atalanta missions. During this period, the corvette sailed 74.000 nautical miles.
As the ship sailed into Warnemünde, sailors from the crew “Delta” currently onboard Erfurt put up a banner which read ‘4 crews 1 unit’ to emphasize the unity of the squadron.
The 90-meter K 130-class corvette, was commissioned in 2013 and joined the German 1st Corvette-squadron as the fourth of five ships in the class.
Designed for operation in coastal waters, the corvettes augment the capabilities of fast attack boats and frigates. They are equipped with two 27 mm Mauser MLG27 remote-controlled, fully-automatic cannons, and one OTO Melara 76 mm gun.
The corvettes are also fitted with a helicopter landing deck and use the Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) – guided naval missile for close-in defence of ships against anti-ship missiles, aircraft, helicopters and surface threats.