German Navy F124 frigate FGS Hessen is scheduled to depart its Wilhelmshaven homeport on April 11 to join the Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 (SNMG 2).

The air-defense frigate will replace another German vessel currently deployed to the mission in the Aegean Sea.

Combat support ship Bonn deployed to the international mission in late November 2018 and is set to return home early May.

The crew of FGS Hessen are well-prepared for their upcoming deployment after completing GOST – the German Navy version of the Royal Navy’s Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST), and spending time underway with the US aircraft carrier strike group centered around USS Harry S. Truman in 2018.

During her time with the SNMG2, Hessen will work with Greek and Turkish coast guard vessels and the European Border and Coast Guard Agency “Frontex”.

FGS Hessen’s commander, Frigate Captain Olliver Pfennig, said a highlight of the deployment fro the crew would be an operational standdown period in Crete.

FGS Hessen is a Sachsen-class air defense frigate equipped with the SMART-L radar and SM-2 and ESSM missiles allowing them to provide anti-air defense in a radius of 400 kilometers.