The minesweeper Fulda has set sail from the Kiel-Wik naval base on the Baltic Sea bound for the Mediterranean where it will initially be integrated into a NATO mine countermeasures group.
Its highly specialized equipment for tracking down and destroying sea mines could lend significant support to NATO’s anti-mining operations, should Germany’s conditions for participating in an international operation in the Strait of Hormuz be met, and the Fulda would be in a more convenient position, dw.com reports.
The German navy has extensive experience in clearing mines. Since the end of World War II, it has continued to remove old munitions, especially from the Baltic Sea.
Ten minesweeper ships, equipped with modern drones and specially trained mine divers, have established Germany’s reputation as an international leader in a field where few others operate. Within NATO, expertise in mine clearance is seen as a rare and valuable skill.
As with any armed deployment of the German armed forces abroad, a naval mission in the Strait of Hormuz could only take place under the circumstances outlined in Germany’s Basic Law and by the rulings of the country’s highest court, the Federal Constitutional Court.
First, the mission would have to be part of a “system of collective security,” such as the United Nations, the NATO defensive alliance or the European Union.
Secondly, the German parliament would have to be informed about the overseas deployment and debate and ultimately approve the mandate, specifying the exact mission of the Bundeswehr, as well as the military assets deployed, the theatre of operations, the total number of troops and the duration of the mission.
Authorization of a mission by the German parliament could take days or even weeks and that is why the German Navy is already preparing.
According to German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, the German navy, already “the smallest navy in the history of the Federal Republic”, is currently involved in multiple missions for the European Union, NATO and the United Nations.
