German frigate Bayern

Bayern is a Brandenburg-class frigate of the German Navy.

Construction and commissioning
Bayern and the three other frigates of the Brandenburg class were designed as replacements for the Hamburg-class destroyers. She was laid down in 1993 at the yards of Nordseewerke, Emden and launched in June 1994. She was christened by Karin Stoiber, the wife of the then Minister-President of Bavaria Edmund Stoiber. After undergoing trials she was commissioned on 15 June 1996, and assigned to ''6. Fregattengeschwader''. After the naval structure was reorganised, Bayern was assigned to ''2. Fregattengeschwader'', based at Wilhelmshaven.

Service
Bayern has been involved in several foreign missions since her commissioning, including deploying in the Adriatic in 1999 during Operation Allied Force, the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. Between April and November 2005 she served as the flagship for Wolfgang Kalähne, Commander-in-Chief of Standing NATO Maritime Group 2. Bayern was deployed with the Group in various manoeuvres, and to support Operation Active Endeavour. Between September 2007 to March 2008 Bayern was the flagship of Hans-Christian Luther, Commander-in-Chief of the Maritime Task Force of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. In late January 2008 Bayern came to the assistance of the container ship Gevo Victory, which was in distress off the Lebanese coast. Bayern rescued 14 crew members.

On 18 July 2011 Bayern left Wilhelmshaven to join Operation Atalanta, the anti-piracy mission off the Horn of Africa. She arrived on station on 13 August, with Thomas Jugel taking over command of the taskforce, with Bayern as his flagship. Bayern was deployed in support of the operation until 6 December, and then returned to Wilhelmshaven, arriving on 22 December 2011. Her next deployment was as flagship of Thorsten Kähler, commander of Standing NATO Maritime Group 2. This lasted until 1 June 2012, after which she took part in exercises, and manoeuvres related to Operation Active Endeavour.

Bayern deployed once more, on 26 January 2015, to join Operation Atalanta, remaining on station until returning to her home port on 3 July 2015. She returned to Operation Atalanta on 23 March, serving as the flagship of Flotilla Admiral Jan Christian Kaack. This deployment lasted for five months, Bayern sailing some 32,000 nautical miles, before returning home on 8 August 2016. On 7 March 2018, Bayern sailed from Wilhelmshaven to rejoin Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 in the Aegean Sea, replacing the replenishment ship Frankfurt am Main. Bayern was expected to complete this deployment at the end of August 2018.

In August 2021, Bayern was deployed to the South China Sea in an effort to "show more presence in the Indo-Pacific region". The Bayern arrived in Fremantle Harbour on 28 September 2021 for a long-pre-planned one-week visit, thereby becoming the first German navy ship to visit Australia since the Gorch Fock berthed in Sydney in 1988. After China had denied the ship permission to dock in Shanghai, the Bayern's visit to Australia had been extended to a second port, with the ship scheduled to head to Darwin from Fremantle.