The keel of the second new fuel supply vessel (MBV) for the German Navy has been laid at the Neptun shipyard in Rostock. The naval tankers are being built in cooperation between Lürssen and Meyer.
With the keel laying of the second naval fuel supply vessel (MBV), the project team reached the next milestone in the shipbuilding project today, just a few weeks after the start of firing. At the festive climax of the ceremony, shipbuilders hammered the keel laying plate between the keel block girder and the steel section weighing more than 150 tons. [ds_preview]
The 173 m long Class 707 naval units are being built in Rostock at the Neptun shipyard, which belongs to the Meyer Group. They will also be commissioned and tested from here. With a displacement of 20,000 tons and a cargo volume of almost 13,000 m³ of diesel fuel, the double-hull tankers allow up to three parallel refuelling operations at sea.
The new naval tankers also have numerous modular container bays, for transporting food and spare parts. To support rescue operations efficiently, there is also direct access from the flight deck to the infirmary.
The new ships will replace the previous Rhön-class units in the Bundeswehr.
The two new supply ships for the German Navy will be built under the leadership of Naval Vessels Lürssen (NVL), the naval shipbuilding arm of Lürssen, in cooperation with the Meyer Group. As a system integrator, the NVL Group is also responsible for project management, the naval-specific parts of the platform and deployment system “as well as extensive services for the production of the supply maturity, which ensure the successful operability of the ships in the logistics system of the Bundeswehr”, as it says.
“Following the successful start of production of both fuel supply vessels and the keel laying of the first ship in August 2023, we can once again celebrate this traditional ceremony for the second ship on schedule today. Like their deserving predecessors, the new naval fuel supply vessels will ensure the endurance of maritime task forces on the high seas and thus make a significant contribution to national and alliance defence,” said Flotilla Admiral Andreas Czerwinski, Head of the Maritime Division of the Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw).
