"Landtag care" by the crew of the Gorch Fock

Back in August, we received a report of unusual maintenance work being carried out on the Schleswig-Holstein Landtag. There is a lower shroud of the Gorch Fock, which has undergone some maintenance work by the crew of the sail training ship. It is positioned on the north side of the state parliament building in Kiel.

Another sign of the outstanding sponsorship between the German Navy's sail training ship and the Schleswig-Holstein state parliament.

The lower shroud of the "Gorch Fock" is a sponsorship gift that the ship's command and the German Navy presented to the state parliament during Kieler Woche 2004. It is rigged in a 15 metre high steel frame. The lower shroud had previously been in use on the three-masted barque for 42 years. It was used by the crew to stay on the main mast, bracing it firmly to the hull and giving it the necessary stability to move the ship forward under sail. The lower shroud therefore not only symbolises the maritime history of the "Gorch Fock", but was also presented to the Landtag with a conscious view to its symbolic significance as an "anchor of stability".

The "Gorch Fock" regularly checks the lower shroud and maintains it every few years. The measure also serves to train the crew. There are no costs for the Landtag. The last maintenance work was carried out in October 2017. The sponsorship between the state parliament and the "Gorch Fock" is also visibly expressed in the last traditional German Navy cane anchor, which is located in the immediate vicinity of the lower shroud. It also comes from the "Gorch Fock" sail training ship and was handed over to the state parliament back in 1985.

The state parliament took over the sponsorship of the training sailing ship "Gorch Fock" on 26 January 1982.

The sponsorship of a parliament for a Bundeswehr unit is unique in Germany to date. The Hanseatic City of Hamburg has also been the sponsor of the barque since it was commissioned. However, the sponsorship is carried out by the Senate, not the parliament. Alongside the "Gorch Fock", the frigate "Schleswig-Holstein" is the "second" naval "godchild" of the Schleswig-Holstein state parliament.

Text: Tim Gabrys

Photos: Marcel Kröncke