French and British warships moor at the overseas bridge.

On Friday, 23 January 2026, two NATO warships will enter the port of Hamburg. The French coastal patrol vessel FS "Pluvier" should arrive at around 9:00 a.m. and the British frigate HMS "St Albans" is expected to arrive at 1:00 p.m.

Update: The responsible Hamburg State Command announced on 22/01/2026 that the planned visit to FS PLUVIER had been cancelled.

The port visit comes at a time when NATO's largest deployment manoeuvre "Steadfast Dart" has been launched with the participation of the Allied Reaction Force (ARF) and naval manoeuvres are pending in the Baltic Sea. According to the information available, however, the units are not involved.

The British frigate HMS "St Albans" (F 83) is the sixteenth and last ship of the Duke class. It was commissioned in 2002 and has its home port in Devenport, Plymouth. The Type 23 frigate is 133 metres long, around 16 metres wide with a draught of 7.30 metres and displaces a mass of 4,900 tonnes. The crew comprises up to 185 servicemen and women. The ship is propelled by a CODLAG-drive (COmbined DieseleLectric And Gas). This is a type of drive in which diesel generators supply electricity for electric traction motors and a gas turbine can be switched on for each shaft to reach the maximum speed. This system is also used on the German Navy's F125 frigate.

The French patrol boat FS "Pluvier" (P 678) was commissioned in 1997 and is the third and last boat of the Flamant class, a series of three patrol boats type OPV54 with home port Cherbourg. The boat is 54 metres long and 10 metres wide with a draught of 2.90 metres. The French Navy boat has a crew of up to 25 men and women on board. The boats are used to monitor fishing, for search and rescue operations and to monitor France's exclusive economic zone up to a distance of 200 nautical miles (370 kilometres).

The crew of the HMS "St Albans" will be opening the Stelling to all interested parties on Saturday 24 January from 10:00 to 14:00 for an open ship and will be answering questions from the public. Last admission is at 13:30. For safety reasons, large bags are not permitted on board the ship.

HMS ST ALBANS will leave the port of Hamburg again on Tuesday morning, 27 January 2026.

hsc, ajs, kdk