Saturday, January 5, 2008

EAV Tour 2008


"EAV" is the German Training Cruise Flotilla, setting out yearly to train new officer cadets. This year - leaving Germany on January 15th - the cruise will go a bit further than usual. The EAV for 2008 consists of the Type 124 frigate FGS Hamburg (F 220), Type 122 frigate FGS Köln (F 211), and the Type 702 AOR FGS Berlin (A 1411).

The tour, this year, will first set out for Accra, Ghana to the Gulf of Guinea - where the African Partnership Station Initiative is active - then go on towards South Africa.

Around Namibia, the flotilla will meet up with the ammunition RAS ship FGS Westerwald (A 1435), and will enter the month-long maneuver series "Good Hope III" along with German airforce units and the South-African Navy and Airforce off the coast of South Africa. The German airforce units includes aircraft from Recon Wing 51, the Luftwaffe Tornado wing tasked with Naval Strike missions, and "Good Hope III" will primarily focus on air-defence scenarios and joint operations.

After a visit Port Louis, Mauritius, the flotilla then continues on to Kochi in India, where further joint maneuvers will be held with the Indian Navy to "strengthen the ties between the German and Indian Navies".

The flotilla will then traverse the Fifth Fleet AoR, with a visit to Oman, and transfer to the Mediterranean through Suez. In the Mediterranean, in a sort of tradition for the EAV, a further two weeks of joint maneuvers with the French Marine Nationale are scheduled, before the ships return to Germany with some side visits to Spain, the UK and Ireland.

The whole cruise will take about 6 months.

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