On 5 December 2025, the former crew of the corvette "Ludwigshafen am Rhein" was awarded the "Combat Service Medal".

Former, because the crew members and embarked personnel who were on board at the time of the battle are naturally no longer the same servicemen and women after more than a year as they were 12 months ago.

The ceremony took place at the Warnemünde naval base on the corvette "Köln". The event was classified as a combat situation by the Federal Ministry of Defence. The former crew of the corvette was awarded the Bundeswehr's "Combat" service medal by the Commander of the Fleet and Support Forces and Deputy to the Chief of Naval Operations, Vice Admiral Axel Deetz. At the end of July 2024, the corvette was deployed in the Levant off the coast of Lebanon. At that time, it was operating in an active war zone with daily observation of combat operations. The former commander, frigate captain Christian Rodust Schlenker, commented: "The UNIFIL theatre of operations developed into an active war zone and we increasingly supplied and supported our comrades ashore at the headquarters in Naqoura, directly on the Israeli border, with the essentials. On 17 October we were

attacked with an explosives-laden drone. We were able to successfully fend off this attack thanks to our intensive previous training with the Royal Navy in England and our own training. That same day, we returned to our position in front of the headquarters, as we still had to fulfil our mission. This bravery in accepting and having to take risks, even to the point of endangering our own lives, is the unique selling point of our profession as soldiers. I have the utmost respect for the professionalism with which the crew of the 'Ludwigshafen am Rhein' carried this out! The drone with the explosive charge was successfully brought down during its dive onto the corvette by the drone destroyer." Rodust Schlenker concludes: "After an extension in the area of operations, we returned to our base in Warnemünde on 20 December last year, after 196 days away, with the home pennant and in the presence of the Inspector General of the Bundeswehr, General Carsten Breuer."

The Combat Medal was established on 9 November 2010 by Federal Minister of Defence Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg and approved by Federal President Christian Wulff on 12 November 2010. The medal lies between the general service medal and the highest military decoration, the Bundeswehr Cross of Honour for Valour. The Combat Medal is only awarded to soldiers who have actively participated in combat operations at least once or have suffered terrorist or military violence at great personal risk. After the award to the frigate "Hessen" in 2024, this is the second crew of a Bundeswehr warship to receive this honour.