Germany sends frigate to fight pirates

WILHELMSHAVEN, Germany, July 29 (UPI) -- Germany has sent an additional naval frigate to the Horn of Africa to fight pirates.

The German Navy's Bremen frigate on Monday left the northern German port of Wilhelmshaven to set course for Djibouti. The nearly 5,000-mile journey will take the ship and its crew of 220 to the Horn of Africa to join the European Union's Atalanta mission. Last month EU foreign ministers extended the mission by another year, until the end of 2010.

The Bremen will protect vessels with food supplies from the U.N. World Food Program and secure commercial shipping lanes.

Germany currently has two ships at the Horn of Africa: The frigate Brandenburg, which can carry up to two Sea Lynx MK 88 helicopters, and the slightly smaller Rheinland-Pfalz, a model of the same class as the Bremen. Once the Bremen arrives at the German naval station in Djibouti, scheduled for Aug. 11, the Rheinland-Pfalz will set sail for Germany.

The 428-foot Bremen is able to divert attacks from sea, land the air. It was initially designed to engage submarines and has in the past taken part in peacekeeping and anti-terror missions, including the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon and the U.S.-led Operation Enduring Freedom.

Although launched as early as 1979, the Bremen-class frigates -- Germany has eight of them -- have frequently been modernized. The ship's class will be replaced by the planned F125-class frigates, starting probably around 2014, vessels specifically designed to perform in peacekeeping, anti-terror and conflict-prevention missions.

Over the past two years, pirates have seized dozens of commercial and private ships for ransom payments off Somalia's coast, the globe's most dangerous waters. According to the United Nations, the pirates seized $150 million in ransom money in 2008.

Dozens of pirates have already been detained, and German frigates were involved in repelling several attacks -- but they are continuing unabated. Officials say that the pirates are now straying into previously unaffected waters, including westward into the Gulf of Oman and off the Kenyan coast.