Well-deserved award - "Bad Rappenau" crew honoured in the state parliament

The honour will be presented jointly by the President of the Schleswig-Holstein State Parliament, Kristina Herbst, and the Commander of Operational Flotilla 1, Flotilla Admiral Henning Faltin. This reflects the close ties between the Schleswig-Holstein state parliament and the Bundeswehr and offers politicians the opportunity to take part in this special honour. In addition to personalities from the German Navy and state politics, relatives of the servicemen and women being honoured are also present.

It was no ordinary deployment when the "Bad Rappenau" left its home port of Kiel on 7 February this year. In addition to the Mediterranean, its destination was also a detour to the Black Sea. The Kiel-based boat was to provide the German contribution to NATO's Standing Mine Countermeasures Group 2 (SNMCMG 2) for five months.

Visits to nine countries, eleven ports and participation in five international manoeuvres were planned. However, Russia's invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 changed many things for the crew and their commander, Corvette Captain Jan Brodersen (36). From then on, the unit sailed under new NATO command as part of the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force Maritime. The commander formulated it as follows even before departure: "In the current and volatile security situation, we will represent NATO on the front line, a fact that all crew members are aware of and which determines our actions." He was proved right. With the visits to the harbours of Haifa (Israel) and Algiers (Algeria), countries were also visited that are not everyday ports of call for German Navy boats.

The crew of the "Bad Rappenau" is now the first unit of the German Navy to be awarded the "Very High Readiness Joint Task Force Maritime" deployment medal donated by the Federal Minister of Defence.

Background information

As a result of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, NATO's regional defence plans were activated. At the same time, the "Enhanced Vigilance Activities" take account of an increased deterrence and defence capability. In this context, the Allied Supreme Commander in Europe has suspended the Standing NATO Maritime Groups (SNMG) and Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Groups (SNMCMG) and is now operating these units as maritime forces within the framework of the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF(M)).

As a rule, the Federal Minister of Defence awards service medals for participation in NATO operations and missions. These are awarded to servicewomen and men and civilian personnel of the Bundeswehr as a visible sign of participation in deployments, mission-equivalent obligations or special assignments outside German territory as part of humanitarian, peacekeeping or peacemaking measures. On behalf of the servicewomen and men who have taken part in the VJTF(M) to date, the crew of the "Bad Rappenau" minesweeper mission boat from the 3rd Minesweeper Squadron are being honoured today.

Source: Press release of the naval command in Rostock