The corvette “Emden” was launched in 2023, but it is still not in service with the German Navy. The IT system had problems and needed to be overhauled. At the time, it was said that the software was vulnerable to hacker attacks.
Now, the suspicion of sabotage is also in the air. Unknown individuals allegedly inserted dozens of kilograms of metal shavings into the ship’s propulsion system. Since the corvette was not in operation, no damage was caused. According to research by the WDR, in collaboration with the Süddeutsche Zeitung and the NDR, the incident allegedly occurred in January. If the corvette had been in operation, significant damage could have occurred, concludes WDR editor Florian Flade. However, this was not expected, as the ship remains in the builder’s yard “Blohm and Voss” in Hamburg. The delivery to the German Navy is delayed.
Already in 2023, serious flaws were found in the corvette after it was named “Emden”. Flottillenadmiral Andreas Czerwinski said at the time: “The ship is not fit for service and vulnerable to hacker attacks.”
Both the “Emden” and the corvette “Köln” need to be rectified. Czerwinski gave the time frame until the errors would be fixed as two to two and a half years.
However, the WDR does not hold German incompetence, but rather Russia, responsible for the central problem. Although there are no concrete indications of the perpetrators, Flade states, but adds that the constitutional protection agency has been warning of Russian activities for a long time. In Germany, “Low Level Agents” are allegedly being recruited to carry out sabotage acts for payment. Whether this is really necessary is, however, put into question by the story of the corvette “Emden”.
The German Navy has a total of five ships, worth 2 billion euros, in order. Initially, the “Emden” is to be deployed in the Baltic Sea to make it “safer”. Speculations about Russian sabotage also arose there. Tankers of the Russian shadow fleet were said to have deliberately attacked underwater cables. The accusations, however, proved to be unfounded. Whether the “Emden” will also contribute to the clarification of the sabotage of Nord Stream is not known.