Free Republic

A tiny drone has scanned the wrecks of two German WW1 warships – forgotten and mostly buried by the sludge and mud at the southern end of Whale Island. Marine archeologists hope to bring the two vessels - one a veteran of Jutland - back to life in 3D computer model form as part of centennial commemorations of the Great War.

Hamburg First German Ship to Deploy in U.S. Carrier Strike Group By Lt. Timothy Gorman ABOARD FGS HAMBURG (F220) AT SEA (NNS) -- The German Sachsen-class frigate Hamburg (F220) is the first German ship to fully integrate and deploy with an American carrier strike group, and April 3 marks her second week of operating in the North Arabian Sea with USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) (IKE). The Hamburg will stay a part of the strike group until the group's completion of operations in the U.S. 5th Fleet Area of Responsibility. Both Rear Adm. Michael Manazir, commander CSG 8, and...

"Operation Atalanta" is the name of the EU's first combat mission against pirates. At a naval base in Djibouti, the German frigate Karlsruhe is standing ready to join the fight. .... It is 3,680 tons of gray-painted German steel, and its armaments include guided missile launchers midship, a 76-mm cannon at the bow and two steel-helmeted men on the machine-gun platform. Red Christmas decorations hang in the windows and glitter in the African sun. The vessel is the flagship of the fight against international piracy being waged by the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel. But the question remains: Can a...

A TOP Russian general accused NATO of using humanitarian aid deliveries to Georgia as "cover" for a build-up of naval forces in the Black Sea. "Under the cover of needing to deliver humanitarian goods, NATO countries continue to boost their naval grouping," Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of general staff, said. "In addition to the Spanish and German frigates that entered the Black Sea basin on August 21, yesterday a Polish frigate and a destroyer of the US navy passed the Bosphorous," he said. "I don't think that this will help stabilise the situation in the region."

The German navy will soon be stationed off the coast of Lebanon. That's a development sure to have an impact on Arab perceptions of Germany, which is shifting from being a widely respected observer in the region to actively intervening in the Arab-Israeli conflict. But can Berlin hold Arab sympathies while clearly committing itself to protecting Israel? Germany has a lot of friends in Beirut. During the soccer World Cup two months ago, the Lebanese cheered for the German team, the favorite of many, right up until the semi-finals, when Germany lost to Italy. Three days after the final, war...

One of Germany's crack new fuel-cell-powered submarines has set a world record with a two-week-long dive, the German Navy said Wednesday. The trip by the U212A-class sub with a crew of 27 from Eckernfoerde in Germany to Rota in Spain involved the longest period that any non-nuclear vessel had ever spent under water. The navy did not say what the previous record had been. US and Russian nuclear submarines can stay under water for longer. Germany, which has no nuclear weapons and no nuclear-powered ships, developed the high-tech hybrid-powered submarines to replace diesel-electric vessels that need to surface more often...