The lead ship of the German Navy’s K130 corvettes, the FGS Braunschweig, is returning from a five-month mission in Lebanon as part of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
The corvette, manned by the “Charlie” crew, is scheduled to return to her homeport in Warnemünde on October 5.
Commanded by Frigate Captain Alexander Dubnitzki, the 62 crew sailed some 26,000 miles since starting their deployment on May 14.
One of the main tasks of FGS Braunschweig were the surveillance of Lebanon’s coasts and the training and education of Lebanon Navy. During their time as part of UNIFIL, the international task force was led by Brazilian Navy Rear Admiral Eduardo Machado Vazquez.
In addition to German, the task force was also composed of Bangladesh, Greek, Indonesian and Turkish personnel. The UNIFIL-blue helmet force includes 10.500 personnel from 40 nations.
As part of her task force, FGS Braunschweig led a number of exercises including boarding team training and helicopter evolutions with other ships.
The Maritime Task Force of UNIFIL is the only naval force led by the United Nations. Since 2006, navies have been helping the Lebanon government secure its sea border and prevent weapon smuggling from the sea. Since the beginning of the operation, more than 68,000 ships were checked and around 7,200 vehicles led to the ports of Beirut, Sidon and Tripoli for further checks.