Home Europe Germany lays keel for seventh K130 corvette Emden

Germany lays keel for seventh K130 corvette Emden

Photo: German Navy

The German Navy held a keel laying for its seventh Brauschweig-class (K130) corvette at the Peene-Werft on January 30.

While being the seventh unit in the class, Emden is the second ship in the second batch of corvettes that were ordered in September 2017 under a €2.4 billion contract. The first five ships were commissioned between 2008 and 2013.

The second batch will be delivered by a shipbuilding consortium composed of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, German Naval Yards Kiel and Lürssen Werft as prime contractor. All five units are scheduled to be delivered by 2025.

Two of the five ships will be built at the Lürssen shipyard in Bremen, while three will be pre-built by German Naval Yards in Kiel. The ships’ final assembly will take at the Blohm+Voss shipyard in Hamburg.

The second batch of ships will have improved combat systems, new masts and an additional RHIB.

The 90-meter ships are equipped with two 27 mm Mauser MLG27 remote-controlled, fully-automatic cannons, and one OTO Melara 76 mm gun.

Germany is delivering an almost identical version of the ship to the Israeli Navy under a contract from 2015. The construction of the four SA’AR 6 ships, as they will be referred to in Israel, began in early 2018. Corvettes Magen, Oz, Independence and Victory will feature the Naval Iron Dome, and Barak 8 missiles.