One of the largest ships in the German Navy, the combat support ship FGS Bonn, has been returned to the fleet at the end of an extensive refitting process.
The 174-metre vessel, which displaces more than 20,000 tonnes, is called an Einsatzgruppenversorger (EGV), which literally translates as “task force supplier.” She is the newest of three Berlin-class replenishment ships designed to support German naval vessels at sea with fuel, food, water, ammunition, and other required provisions and materiel.
In January 2024 FGS Bonn, which had been in active service since her commissioning in September 2013, returned to shipyard German Naval Yards in Kiel for an extensive overhaul.
As per a recent press statement from the shipyard, part of CMN NAVAL, the EGV was handed back to the German Navy earlier this month after the wide-ranging maintenance works.
While she was in dry dock extensive overhaul work was done on her engines, pumps, generators, and propulsion systems, followed by pierside works since the start of the year which took in a range of other ship systems including cooling, fuel, and air conditioning and works on cabins, mess halls, and galleys for its crew.
FGS Bonn then underwent sea trials testing the new systems and sailed to Wilhelmshaven for additional works “no longer under the shipyard’s responsibility.”
Celebrating the on-time handover, project manager at German Naval Yards Sascha Krems commented: “We are proud that, thanks to the excellent cooperation with the ship’s command and the subcontractors, we were able to complete the repair work on the EGV Bonn on schedule and to everyone’s complete satisfaction. The on-time handover demonstrates our mutual commitment.”
- You can read more details on the German Naval Yards website