"Pegnitz" returned from the Aegean on Sunday

A tricky mission - fulfilled by a minesweeper!

The "Pegnitz", a hollow-barrel guided missile boat belonging to the 3rd Minehunting Squadron, returned to its home port of Kiel on Sunday, 3 November 2024 at 4 p.m. from its four-month deployment on the NATO support mission in the Aegean.

It was initially rumoured that the boat would return on Monday. The boat has been the command platform in recent months and was the German contribution to NATO's Standing NATO Maritime Group 2. The aim of the mission is to tackle the refugee and migration crisis. Since February 2016, at the request of Germany, Greece and Turkey, it has been decided to quickly and significantly reduce the flow of refugees through the Aegean Sea. With these activities, NATO intends to contribute to a situational picture for the Greek and Turkish coastguards and the European border agency FRONTEX. For this reason, Turkish and Greek liaison officers were also on board the "Pegnitz".

Against the background of the different political motives of the countries involved, the mission is delicate and requires a great deal of "tact and sensitivity". It is not just about Turkish positions, but also about the Greek-Turkish balance and the role of FRONTEX. This is why the description of the task of the "Pegnitz" sounds rather stilted: "The task was to ensure professional cooperation with all partners and relevant bodies in a region that is important in terms of foreign and military policy and in line with the mission and situation." That doesn't make you any smarter.

The statement by the commander, Lieutenant Captain Jenny Linken, was clearer: "It was the first foreign deployment of a 'troop advertising platform', which has only travelled along the German Baltic and North Sea coasts in recent years. With a very short-term refit, little preparation and, at 54.17 metres in length, probably the 'smallest' flagship in the fleet, we mastered the 'job' expected of us professionally and with a great deal of creativity.

The "Pegnitz", built for the removal of mines, was previously used as a boat to support the recruitment of new recruits. Now, the use of a boat can be categorised as a purely emergency measure due to a lack of units and personnel and can be criticised. After all, frigates and large support units were once deployed (for non-naval readers: battalion level). However, one can also take one's hat off to the fact that a minesweeper deployed as an OPV (Offshore Patrol Vessel) masters this mission (company level). The Navy's signal is recognisable: we can do this, we can do this, but our priority now lies elsewhere.