The German Navy has christened the Karlsruhe, the third ship from the second batch of its K130 corvettes, at the Blohm+Voss shipyard in Hamburg.
The corvette will take on reconnaissance and maritime engagement missions in the country’s coastal areas.
Its sister ships, Köln and Emden, are expected to partake in the same duties.
The corvettes are scheduled to be fully operational by 2025, with comprehensive crew training and naval systems and technologies implementation handled by ship developers, NVL Group, ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, and German Naval Yards Kiel.
The K130 Corvette
The K130 corvette is a Braunschweig-class ship designed to replace Berlin’s Gepard-class fast attack craft, commissioned in the early 1980s.
Each corvette is equipped with a passive electronically scanned array antenna, which allows the fleet to scan its surroundings faster compared to ships fitted with mechanical-scan radars.
Its two 14.8-megawatt diesel engines allow it to reach a maximum speed of 30 miles (48 kilometers) per hour, with a range of 4,600 miles (7,400 kilometers) at 17 miles (28 kilometers) per hour.
Its armaments include an OTO Melara 76 mm gun, two Mauser BK-27 autocannons, and four RBS-15 Mk. 3 anti-ship missiles.
