The first out of a series of five Class 130 corvettes for the German Navy has been christened BRAUNSCHWEIG today. The ceremony was attended by various guests from the German Federal Ministry of Defence, the German Federal Office of Defence Technology and Procurement, the navy and the industry.

The christening took place in the covered building dock 5 at Blohm + Voss in the harbour of Hamburg. Godmother of the ship is Mrs. Doris Hoffmann, wife of the mayor of Braunschweig, Dr. Gert Hoffmann.

The invitation to the ceremony was issued by the ARGE K130 - consisting of the ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems' yards Blohm + Voss, as lead yard, and Nordseewerke as well as Fr. Lürssen Werft.

The main task of this new class of corvettes will be intelligence-gathering and surface target attack. High mobility and combat strength combined with a considerably higher endurance enable this vessel to act even in remote sea areas. The Class 130 corvettes will replace the missile-carrying fast patrol boats of the Albatros Class. These boats do not fulfil the requirements for future operational profiles. The home port of the new corvette class will be Warnemünde.

The K130 project is of high importance to both the German naval shipbuilding industry and the supporting industry. It strengthens their core business in key technologies. Regarding the platform and marine systems and the weapons command and control systems, the K130 features numerous innovations. A novel transport route concept assures short routes and optimum accessibility.

Both in design and construction of the K130, the ARGE tries to get as close as possible to large-scale-production. Basically, this means that each yard produces five identical parts of the vessel, which they have previously designed. Therefore, Blohm + Voss delivers corvettes Nos. 1 and 4, Fr. Lürssen Werft corvettes Nos. 2 and 5 and Nordseewerke corvette No. 3.

Main characteristics:･ Length overall: 89,12 m
･ Length DWL: 82,80 m
･ Moulded breadth, max.: 13,28 m
･ Breadth DWL: 12,44 m
･ Draft DWL: 3,40 m
･ Sea endurance without tender support: 7 Tage
･ Sea endurance with tender support: 21 Tage
･ Range: >2500 sm
･ Full-load displacement: ca. 1.840 t
･ Speed: >26 kn