Alster (A 50)
The Alster (A 50) is a so-called fleet service boat of the class 423 (Oste class) of the German Navy. The fleet service ships is Enlightenment ships which are equipped for this purpose with various sensors.
The Alster is subject, as part of the former submarine flotilla in Eckernforde, today Flotilla 1 in Kiel. Apart from the Alster maintains the German Navy nor the sister boats Oste (A 52) and Oker (A 53). With its operating range of over 5000 nautical miles, the lake is designed for extended reconnaissance missions.
It is the successor of the same fleet service boat 1960-1988 used with the same description.
Equipment
Exact data on the on-board devices are not known. According to website of the Federal Ministry of Defence, it should be either electromagnetic, hydroacoustic and electro-optical devices in strategic crisis areas to obtain information. For the operation of the early warning, communication and education facilities up to 40 specialists may be shipped in from all branches of the armed forces depends on job. The ships of the Oste class can both operate on their own as well as in action and communication network with other units and departments of German and international armed forces.
Inserts
The boats of the class 423 were originally built to educate Soviet ships in the Baltic Sea, particularly in the maritime area of the Warsaw Pact.
Balkans
After 1990, the Alster were also used for reconnaissance tasks outside the Baltic Sea, for example, from 1999 to clarify the Balkans in the Mediterranean.
Lebanon
From summer 2006, the Alster was used for reconnaissance prior to Lebanon. It is believed that it is - has supported units of the UNIFIL deployment of the German Navy by providing information of air and Seebewegungen - to be included without explicit mandate in the Bundestag. According to Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung, it fell under the areas covered by the UN mandate 400 support staff. She was in October 2006, the subject of diplomatic disagreements between Israel and the Federal Republic of Germany due to an incident with Israeli fighter aircraft of the type F - 16th
On the morning of October 24, 2006 at 10:11 clock the incident about 50 nautical miles ( about 90 kilometers ) off the Lebanese coast took place in international waters at the height of the Lebanese- Israeli border and the Israeli town of Rosh Hanikra. First media reports of six Israeli F -16, which had flown low over a German ship UNIFIL fleet and two untargeted shots were released into the air and dropped several infrared decoys. In this case there had been no military action and no one was injured. This was confirmed on 25 October, the spokesman for the German Ministry of Defense.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said initially that a German helicopter had lifted off from the Alster Lake, which is said to have allegedly found at the relevant time in Israeli waters and the flight had not been discussed with the Israeli army. Then the F-16 pilots had tried to force the helicopter to return and landing. They also confirmed the delivery of shots, but denied the use of light signals. However, the Alster has on board no landing facilities for helicopters; Moreover, there was the helicopter, according to the Ministry of Defence, the time in question 70 km away from the Alster. It is unclear whether the helicopter had a switched on IFF system.
On 27 October 2006, the Israeli air force corrected this statement and stated that the incident occurred in the helicopter on another ship and the Alster had really been in international waters. However, in the region were Israeli training flights often and the incident had taken place in this context.
This was only known that the ship concerned is not - as announced first - a part of the UNIFIL fleet, but the intelligence ship Alster was, which was located on a non- publicly announced on-site use. This placed Franz Josef Jung in the criticism of the parliamentary opposition, which demanded a full explanation and a release of video recordings that had been made by crew members of the Alster with high quality lenses from the incident and are currently being held by the Department of Defense under wraps.
German naval officers gave the news agency ddp anonymously an assessment, in which they accused Israel to have been displeased with the use of the Alster due to their potential espionage activities, although the use of reconnaissance ship Israel was explicitly communicated. The incident should therefore represent a kind of demonstration of power: "The Israelis wanted to show us a rake. "
According to reports of the Focus on October 28, 2006 is in the event that had the Israeli army spokeswoman described at first, but was actually involved a German UNIFIL vessel. It was the helicopter in which the Commodore Andreas Krause had found, has been targeted by the fire control radar of the jets, which is usually the last step before an attack.
The Bild am Sonntag reported on 29 October 2006 that have again a similar situation occurred on the night of October 27. Again, a helicopter of the German UNIFIL fleet was beset by an Israeli F -16 fighter aircraft. This was confirmed by the Federal Ministry of Defence.
Franz Josef Jung traveled from 3 to 5 November 2006, after Israel, to clarify open questions about these incidents and to optimize the coordination between the German Navy and the Israeli Air Force.
Mediterranean 2011-2012
On 5 November 2011, the Alster from Eckernförde embarked on a secret mission on hold in the Mediterranean Sea. With 85 -man crew, the mission was planned under Captain Maik bolt until March 2012 and was dubbed a national reconnaissance mission. The fleet service boats gather with the help of acoustic and optical sensors information that they pass on to the Strategic Reconnaissance Command.
At Christmas 2011, the Alster moored in the port of Larnaca in Cyprus. The Mediterranean cruises intended to monitor ship traffic in the wake of NATO 's Operation Active Endeavour or the UN mission UNIFIL. A national reconnaissance mission had not yet given it by then.
The Alster was threatened, according to the Mirror in December 2011 in the eastern Mediterranean by the Syrian Navy. A Syrian warship was the end of December his cannon on the boat fleet service directed, as this was 15 nautical miles off the coast road. Since this is not an armed operation, the Alster was without knowledge of the Bundestag before Syria. The defense Political spokesperson for the Greens parliamentary group, Omid Nouri Pour, practiced after becoming aware of the incident criticism of the secrecy of the insert. In any case, the Parliament must be informed, he told the Mirror.