The keel-laying ceremony for the first component of the foreship of the forth Class 130 corvette took place on thursday at ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems' Nordseewerke shipyard in Emden. After completion, the ship will carry the name OLDENBURG and will be handed over to the German Navy in 2008. For the keel-laying ceremony Dr. Christian Eckel, member of the Nordseewerke management board, welcomed guests from the Federal Office for Military Technology and Procurement, the German Navy and the industry. The city of Oldenburg was represented by its mayor Mr. Dietmar Schütz.

The entire project covers a total of five corvettes and will be executed by the ARGE K 130. The consortium consists of the three shipyards Blohm + Voss in Hamburg as the leading yard, Nordseewerke in Emden and Friedrich Lürssen Werft in Bremen. The execution of the project will be shared between the three sites.

The main task of the new corvette class 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 patrol boats of the Tiger and Albatros class. These boats do not fulfil the requirements for future operational profiles. The home port of the new corvette class will be Warnemünde.

Main characteristics:･ Overall length: 89.1 m
･ Molded breadth max.: 13.3 m
･ Operational displacement: approx. 1,840 t
･ Speed: >26 kts
･ Crew: 65