TKMS hands over fourth German Navy Type 125 frigate

The German Navy's fourth and final Type 125 frigate, Rheinland-Pfalz (F 225), pictured in Hamburg. (TKMS)

The fourth Baden-Württemberg (Type 125)-class frigate on order for the German Navy has been delivered to the Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw).

ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) handed over Rheinland-Pfalz (F 225) during a ceremony in Hamburg on 28 January.

Rheinland-Pfalz is the fourth and final ship to be built by the ARGE F125 consortium, comprising TKMS and NVL Group (formerly Lürssen Defence), under a contract signed in June 2007.

NVL Group produced the prefitted bow sections of Rheinland-Pfalz at its shipyards in Bremen and Wolgast on the Baltic Sea, while construction of the stern sections, the joining of the two vessel halves, further fitting out, commissioning, and trials were carried out at Blohm+Voss shipyard in Hamburg.

First-in-class FGS Baden-Württemberg (F 222) was originally delivered in 2016 but was returned to the Blohm+Voss shipyard in December 2017 to rectify problems with the platform and software that were discovered during sea trials. As a result, deliveries of all four ships were rescheduled to 2019–21. By March 2021 the first three had all been delivered, with FGS Baden-Württember g commissioning in 2019, followed by FGS Nordrhein-Westfalen (F 223) in 2020, and FGS Sachsen-Anhalt (F 224) in 2021.