Sea Warriors (I)

Paradigm

According to the Navy, the Baltic Sea maneuvers ("Northern Coasts), which began October 12, and are due to end this week, correspond to the "currently most probable parameters" of future combat situations.[1] They are training for combat "in coastal waters." The fictional pretext for the exercise operations are armed conflicts on land. This is why the naval exercise includes both the Air Force and the Special Forces Commando (KSK). Units from eight EU countries are participating.[2] The command is in the hands of the German Fleet Command in Glueckburg, which is also designated to carry out this function in a crisis situation. It is also on hand to become the naval command center for future EU military interventions. The current focus of the training are naval operations with air support. "Northern Coasts" is due to be repeated annually and rehearse special combat techniques.

Sea Base

According to the Bundeswehr, the "Northern Coast" parameters are paradigmatic for future combat missions. "Two-thirds of the world's populations live within 60 km of the coast" writes the navy, therefore it would be sensible, in many cases of "international crisis management and conflict prevention," to militarily approach from the sea.[3] This is seen as advantageous because, besides more flexibility in displacement possibilities, operational bases at sea are easier than land bases to defend against attack. Because the high seas are outside the jurisdiction of individual states, it is possible to make a smooth transition from a threatening, aggressive posture to actual combat. "Already, as a prelude to an intervention, the Navy can demonstrate determination and presence at sea." After all, sea-launched combat (conceptional title; "Sea Base"), allows "sustained" operations off-shore from alien coasts, explained the Inspector General of the German Navy, Vice Admiral Wolfgang E. Nolting. On a panel of experts at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) Nolting explained, October 9, that the new concept calls for new military means (the units on land will be guided from the base at sea), enhanced logistics (the re-supply must be by sea) and additional weapons ("the effect from the sea onto the land").[4]

Practical Test

Concrete causes for intervention have been semi-publicly discussed for some time. Among them are interventions for the protection of oil production facilities near the coastline and of pipelines in loyal nations. NATO has already entered negotiations with several oil companies. (german-foreign-policy.com reported.[5]) The German Navy has already carried out practical tests, exceeding the level of artificial maneuvers, while remaining below the threshold of combat with live ammunition. "We obtained precious experience with the logistical and medical support during the humanitarian aid rendered to Sumatra," explained the Bundeswehr in reference to the alleged Tsunami aid intervention in 2005. "This joint armed forces aid operation is an excellent example of sea base possibilities."[6]

Main Fields of Intervention

Sea-launched combat missions against land-based targets and providing military escort for German transport vessels on the high seas are the German Navy's two main fields of intervention. Both are complementary to one another: if the attacks are meant to impose access to regions with needed raw materials, then the military escort of the vessels insures the transport of this plundered wealth.

Precaution

As Vice Admiral Nolting recently emphasized at the DGAP, "the security of maritime links (...) is not taken for granted in many parts of the world (for example, in the Straits of Malacca)."[7] The threat of piracy on maritime transport is already driving insurance rates up and making the cost of shipping cargo more expensive, thereby threatening competitiveness. Therefore, according to Nolting, it is "urgent that precautions be taken," Germany, as a "trading nation" must "particularly keep an eye on the maritime aspects."

Maritime Trade

Nolting is taking into account the needs of the booming German export industry, which has to ship its products abroad and acquire raw materials from abroad for their production. Last year this world champion in exports set a new record with a total volume of imports and exports at 976.9 tons at a composite value of 1,634.6 billion Euros. Around one-fifth of all foreign trade (190.6 m. tons) was processed through German seaports. To this must be added the incalculable, but high percent of trade that is processed in foreign ports and shipped further over inland waterways, by route, rail or pipeline.[8] Approx. half of Germany's crude oil acquisition arrives by way of Marseilles, Genoa, Trieste, Antwerp, Rotterdam and the ports along the Rhine River. Thirty percent more German export goods pass through Rotterdam than through the harbor in Hamburg, in spite of the fact that Hamburg handles two-thirds of the German maritime cargo transfer. If maritime transport is endangered, a large portion of the composite volume of German trade is also endangered.

Europe Asia

In recent years, trade with booming nations in East and Southeast Asia has become more significant. This is particularly profitable "for the German merchant marine, not just because of its participation in direct maritime trade between Germany and other countries, but also because of the so called cross-trade between third states," as pointed out in the German Armed Forces' Fleet Command's annual report.[9] The Europe-Asia trade relation, being operated through Germany's two large seaports, is, according to the Fleet Command, "actually one of the largest trade axes". This is becoming "particularly clear with the increase in the volume of freight transport" between these German seaports and Asia, increasing from approx. 4.5 billion Euros in 1995 to more than 15 billion Euros in 2005, according to the Fleet Command.

Number One

Last but not least, this is due to the fact that Germany's merchant marine ranks third on a global scale. "The German merchant fleet ranks third, in the number of 3105 German owned ships and first in the number of container ships with 1408 units", states the Fleet Command, with an eye on the military aspects. With their 1.408 container ships, German ship owners and shipping companies own "more than a third (36,2%) of the world's container transport capacity (3.881) managing 36,1% (46,3 Mio. DWT) of the global tonnage."[10]

Above Average

The importance of maritime trade for the German economy could explain why, since 2002, the government has been establishing the Navy's global deployment. German war ships are controlling a maritime area ten times larger than Germany, from the entrance of the Persian Golf (the "Strait of Hormuz") and the entrance of the Red Sea ("Bab el Mandab" near Dijbuti) – a route of great importance for the trade with East and Southeast Asia. German naval units are stationed along the Lebanese coast and at times navigate into larger areas of the Mediterranean, as part of NATO's Active Endeavor operations. As Inspector-General of the Navy, Wolfgang Nolting, explains, naval forces "with approx. 10% of the soldiers of the national armed forces (...) have to manage approx. 17% of the deployments",[11] without yet including future operations in accordance to the "Sea Base" concept.

[1] Über NORTHERN COASTS; www.marine.de
[2] An Northern Coasts nehmen Einheiten aus Dänemark, Deutschland, Finnland, Frankreich, Großbritannien, Lettland, Polen und Schweden teil.
[3] Basis See; www.marine.de
[4] Maritime Abhängigkeit Deutschlands in Handel und Sicherheit steigt an; www.dgap.org
[5] see also Around Africa
[6] Basis See; www.marine.de. See also Long Term Operation and Aufklärung
[7] Maritime Abhängigkeit Deutschlands in Handel und Sicherheit steigt an; www.dgap.org
[8], [9], [10] Flottenkommando: Jahresbericht 2007. Fakten und Zahlen zur maritimen Abhängigkeit der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
[11] Maritime Abhängigkeit Deutschlands in Handel und Sicherheit steigt an; www.dgap.org