Although there was no official launch at Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft (FSG), which has since been taken over by the Heinrich Rönner Group from Bremerhaven, the decommissioned frigate "Karlsruhe" (class 122) was undocked after a four-week stay at the shipyard. The newly reorganised FSG was thus able to celebrate two premieres.

On the one hand, the 180 metre long floating dock, which FSG acquired years ago from the insolvency estate of the Hamburg shipyard PELLA SIETAS GmbH and had towed to Flensburg, was used for the first time for this order. Originally the hulls for luxury yachts were to be built on the floating platform for the Nobiskrug shipyard in Rendsburg, which also belonged to the Windhorst Group at the time. As is well known, these plans were never realised.

On the other hand, the new owners have succeeded in landing another order for the German Navy, even if it was initially only for repairs to the former frigate, which was last used in the Bay of Kiel for blasting trials by the defence technology centres 71 Eckernförde and 91 Meppen.

Since it was decommissioned in 2017, the "Karlsruhe" has been extensively prepared for this - for example by installing countless sensors - and maintained to the necessary level. In particular, large parts of the propulsion systems are kept in operation and regular test runs are carried out.

In 2024, two detonations were carried out - one each with 50 kilograms and 175 kilograms of explosives; in the following years until 2028, one detonation with increasing amounts of explosives is planned. These will take place around five kilometres from the coast in the Baltic Sea. After each measurement campaign, it will be validated whether the computer simulations created in advance are sufficiently consistent with the measurement results of the blasting tests.

The type of frigate used contains many components that are still used today in the same or comparable form. This means that the results of the blasting tests are easily transferable to modern shipbuilding: the data obtained from the study will therefore become an important basis for future ship designs.

The decommissioned frigate "Karlsruhe" with the former hull number F212, which served the German Navy for 33 years, is currently moored in a prominent position at the entrance to Flensburg harbour.

kdk, shz, Bundeswehr