German tanker Spessart explained

Spessart (A1442) is the second ship of the s of the German Navy. She was commissioned at Kiel, Germany on 5 September 1977.

Construction and career

Spessart was originally built for civilian service by Kröger of Rendsburg in 1974. On 5 September 1977 she was commissioned into the German Navy, based at Kiel, Germany.^[1]

On 29 March 2009, as she was taking part in Operation Atalanta, Spessart was attacked by a 7-man pirate boat.^{[2] [3]} In addition to the regular 40-man civilian crew, Spessart carried a 12-man security detail which exchanged small arm fire with the pirates, and repelled the assault.^[4] The intervened, along with vessels from several other navies:,,, and . The pirates were captured after a chase lasting a few hours.

Notes and References

1. Web site: FGS Spessart . NATO . 25 March 2010 . 22 May 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090522061735/http://www.snmg1.nato.int/SNMG1_ficheiros/Page2000.htm . dead .
2. Web site: Erreur fatale: les pirates attaquent un navire... d'Atalanta! . French . Bruxelles 2 . Gros-Verheyde . Nicolas . 30 March 2009 . 18 November 2014.
3. Web site: GULF OF ADEN: Pirates fire on German ship, leading to five-hour chase . Babylon & Beyond . Los Angeles Times . Perry . Tony . 30 March 2009 . 18 November 2014.
4. Web site: Deutsche Marine setzt Angreifer vor Somalia fest . Franffurter Allgemeine . German . 31 March 2009 . 18 November 2014.