German rotation in the Mediterranean. With Finns on board!
(B2) The German relief for Operation Sophia (EUNAVFOR Med) is on its way. The transport ship Werra (A-514) and the minehunter Dates left their base in Kiel to reach the central Mediterranean. They will come to take over from the tanker Frankfurt and the frigate Karlsruhe. Relay normally scheduled for July 1st.
Do not forget !
Before their departure, the Minister of the Interior of Schleswig-Holstein, Stefan Studt (SPD), wanted to recall the human side of this commitment. " All over the world, families are fleeing violence. The numbers are impressive. But we must not forget that they are mothers and fathers, daughters and sons. This are people like you and me, whom the war has forced to flee ».
Germans in decline
In terms of soldiers, however, this represents a very clear decline in the number of German soldiers engaged. the "Werra" has a crew of 67 (commander: Mirko Preuss) and the Dates 40 crew (commander Björn Fischer). That is barely more than 100 officers/non-commissioned officers and sailors.
Finns still committed
Aboard the Werra, a team of 12 specially trained Finnish soldiers will embark. They will compose a boarding team able either to go to the aid of migrants or to ensure the control of "suspicious" ships. This is not a novelty in itself. The Finns have already been present since last December on board the German ships. Initially, they were embarked on the support ship Berlin, then were transferred to her sister ship Frankfurt am Main.
Codes instead of English
Achim Winkler, the Frankfurt am Main press officer, testifies to this. " Their integration with the German crew worked perfectly well. These guys all speak excellent English. Yet challenges arose that no one had really thought of beforehand. The Finns could not understand the German announcements made over the ship's loudspeakers and therefore missed some alarms. To remedy this, a list of codes has been created. The German messages have therefore been modified with codes like "Bravo two", "Alpha three" or "Dad one".
A well-rehearsed method
During the evacuation of the makeshift canoes where the migrants and refugees are piled up, the team is divided. “Some of them go up in the two launches of the ship to meet the occupants of the canoe. " They give a hand "to help passengers in distress to board" but keep another free, ready to react immediately in case of danger, if necessary by force of arms. In the rear, a sniper team secures the own soldiers. It can never be ruled out that a terrorist has slipped in among the refugees and wants to carry out an attack in the middle of the people on the overloaded boat. One of the boarding officers, on the ship's deck runway, is in constant radio contact with his men. The remaining soldiers are dispatched to recovery points aboard the ship to keep their comrades in sight or to be able to respond in the event of a fall. »
The boarding party or VPD: a Finnish specialty?
The Finns are used to this type of commitment. They had set up a team of autonomous VPDs to accompany the ships of the WFP (the world food programme) in the anti-piracy operation of the EU (EUNAVFOR Atalanta). They also boarded the frigates augsburg et Schleswig-Holstein in 2014 to escort the US special vessel 'Cape Ray', ferrying Syrian chemical weapons to be destroyed.
(NGV)
