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FGS Mölders (D 186)

The Federal German Ship MÖLDERS is one of three CHARLES F. ADAMS - class guided missile destroyers built for the former West German Navy. Since US-built ships for foreign Navies usually also get a hull number within the class to which they belong, the MÖLDERS got the US hull number DDG 29. The three German ships also received several modifications compared to their US counterparts.

FGS MÖLDERS was homeported in Kiel, Germany, and was a frequent participant of NATO Fleets like STANAVFORLANT and STANAVFORMED. Today, she is preserved at the German Naval Museum in Wilhelmshaven, Germany, (photo above) and is open to the public. Click here for a photo tour of the preserved MÖLDERS.

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FGS MÖLDERS History:

FGS MÖLDERS (D 186) originated in the Federal Republic of Germany's effort during the 1960s to equip the Bundesmarine with modern guided missile warships capable of operating within integrated NATO formations. The Federal German government ordered the ship on April 1, 1965, as the second of three modified CHARLES F. ADAMS-class guided missile destroyers to be constructed in the United States for German service. Bath Iron Works at Bath, Maine, laid her keel on April 12, 1966, under the construction designation DDG 29. The German ships incorporated a number of differences from the United States Navy's CHARLES F. ADAMS-class, particularly in their communications equipment, electronics, internal arrangements, crew accommodation and the external design of their combined mast-and-funnel structures. In German service the three vessels initially formed Class 103 and consisted of LÜTJENS, MÖLDERS and ROMMEL.

The ship was launched and christened at Bath on April 13, 1968. Her sponsor was Anna Maria Mölders, the mother of Colonel Werner Mölders, after whom the destroyer was named. Fitting-out continued at Bath during the following year. The first builder's sea trial took place on August 5, 1969, and formal acceptance trials followed from August 18 to August 20, 1969. During September, the ship transferred from Bath to Boston. FGS MÖLDERS was commissioned at Boston on September 20, 1969, under Fregattenkapitän Günter Fromm and was assigned to the 1st Destroyer Squadron, based at Kiel. She received the pennant number D 186 and initially used the international radio call sign DBYC.

At the time of her entry into service, FGS MÖLDERS was one of the Bundesmarine's most capable air-defence ships. Her principal role was to protect naval formations and the reinforcement routes across the North Atlantic against aircraft and guided missiles, while her guns, sonar, anti-submarine weapons and torpedoes also allowed her to engage surface ships and submarines. The original principal armament comprised two single 127-millimetre Mk 42 dual-purpose gun mountings, one Mk 13 guided-missile launcher for the Tartar surface-to-air missile system, an eight-cell anti-submarine rocket launcher and two triple 324-millimetre torpedo-tube mountings. The ship carried an extensive suite of surveillance, fire-control and navigation radars, together with hull-mounted sonar and the command and communications equipment needed to operate as part of a larger naval formation. Her guided missile system was intended primarily for the air defence of the formation rather than only for the protection of the destroyer herself.

After commissioning, FGS MÖLDERS remained at the Boston Naval Shipyard while completion work, corrections and acceptance activities continued. She made her first sea sortie as a commissioned warship on October 30, 1969. During November and December, she conducted her first replenishment-at-sea exercise with the American fleet oiler USS CHUKAWAN (AO 100). The forward and after 127-millimetre guns were fired for the first time in Chesapeake Bay, guided missiles were loaded at Yorktown, Virginia, and the ship proceeded to the Caribbean for missile firings at the United States Navy range near Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico. These activities formed part of the prolonged acceptance and work-up programme required before the destroyer could transfer to Germany and begin regular service with the Bundesmarine.

FGS MÖLDERS reached Kiel for the first time in June 1970. Her arrival completed the transition from the American construction and training phase to operational service with the German fleet. During July and August she participated in German Navy public events at Wilhelmshaven. From August into September she took part in German destroyer training, the NATO exercise Black Bird and the major exercise Northern Wedding. Northern Wedding practised the movement and protection of allied naval and reinforcement forces in the North Atlantic, Norwegian Sea and waters surrounding the British Isles. These areas were central to Nato strategy because troops, aircraft, equipment and supplies from North America would have had to cross sea routes threatened by Soviet submarines, long-range aircraft and surface forces in the event of a European conflict.

During October and November 1970, FGS MÖLDERS underwent Basic Operational Sea Training at Portland, England. The programme exposed the ship and crew to demanding operational scenarios involving air defence, anti-submarine warfare, navigation, communications, damage control and sustained operations under simulated wartime conditions. A repair period at Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft in Kiel followed during November. After leaving the yard, the destroyer resumed individual ship training.

In March 1971, FGS MÖLDERS participated in the exercise Sunny Seas, including a port visit to Lisbon, and also took part in German fleet exercises. A period at Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft followed during the spring. The destroyer returned to sea for the exercise Wellenreiter in June. Fregattenkapitän Ernst-Ludwig Wetters succeeded Fregattenkapitän Günter Fromm as commanding officer on June 3, 1971. During July and August the ship carried out individual training in the North Sea, and from August into September she operated in formation with her sister ships LÜTJENS and ROMMEL. Maintenance at the Kiel Naval Arsenal followed in September.

From October through December 1971, FGS MÖLDERS conducted an extended overseas training cruise. The itinerary included Ponta Delgada in the Azores, Mayport in Florida, Roosevelt Roads, St. Croix, San Juan and Norfolk. The cruise combined long-distance navigation, weapons training, replenishment, formation manoeuvres and the use of American naval facilities and Caribbean training areas. Such deployments also familiarized the crew with operating far from the home base and with the procedures needed to obtain fuel, ammunition, provisions and technical support from allied ports.

Unplanned repair work occupied January 1972, followed by individual training in February. FGS MÖLDERS participated in another fleet exercise in March and operated in Norwegian waters during April and May. Further fleet training followed in June, after which the ship entered Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft for maintenance from June through August. Fregattenkapitän Dieter Ehrhardt assumed command on September 9, 1972, before being succeeded by Fregattenkapitän Hans-Joachim Mann at the beginning of October.

From September through December 1972, the destroyer undertook another extended Atlantic and Caribbean training cruise. Her ports included Brest, Bermuda, Norfolk, Mayport, Roosevelt Roads, Guantanamo Bay, Port of Spain in Trinidad, Mindelo in the Cape Verde Islands and Lisbon. The cruise again combined weapons training and formation operations with long-distance navigation and the use of allied support facilities. On completing the voyage, FGS MÖLDERS entered Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft in December.

The yard period continued into January 1973. In February, the ship conducted individual training and participated in the exercise BIT 73. Guided missile firing was carried out near Brest in March. On April 9, 1973, the ship and her crew received Bundesmarine awards connected with their performance in guided missile and weapons training. Further fleet exercises followed in May. Maintenance at the Kiel Naval Arsenal occupied August and September, and FGS MÖLDERS entered a longer overhaul at Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft in October. This work continued through the end of the year.

FGS MÖLDERS remained at Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft from January through May 1974. After completing the overhaul, she undertook Basic Operational Sea Training at Portland during June and July. From August through October she conducted overseas training cruise 118/74. The itinerary included Brest, Ponta Delgada, Norfolk, Guantanamo Bay, San Juan, Roosevelt Roads and Las Palmas. The recurring use of American and Caribbean naval facilities reflected both the availability of suitable guided missile and gunnery ranges and the importance of maintaining operational compatibility with the United States Navy.

Maintenance at the Kiel Naval Arsenal followed in October and November 1974. In December, the destroyer joined the Standing Naval Force Atlantic, NATO's permanently available multinational Atlantic squadron. The force maintained a visible allied presence, practised common procedures and provided Nato with a formation capable of responding rapidly to changing political or military circumstances. During this assignment, FGS MÖLDERS visited Zeebrugge and operated in waters around Scotland, including the Firth of Clyde area.

The destroyer participated in another fleet exercise in February 1975. Fregattenkapitän Sigurd Hess had assumed command on January 31, 1975. Individual training occupied April and May, and FGS MÖLDERS returned to the Brest area for guided missile firing in June. In July, she participated in a German Navy public event off Timmendorfer Strand. Individual training resumed in August, followed by the exercises Bright Horizon and Botany Bay from August into September. During October, the ship carried out naval gunfire training at Cape Wrath in northern Scotland. She entered Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft later that month and remained there through December.

The yard period continued during January and February 1976. Sea trials and operational training at Portland followed in March. During April and May, FGS MÖLDERS conducted formation training and again participated in Bright Horizon. Individual training continued in June. From August through December she undertook overseas training cruise 114/76. After visiting Brest and Ponta Delgada, the destroyer crossed the Atlantic to Norfolk and New York. Her subsequent itinerary included San Juan, Roosevelt Roads, Fort Lauderdale, the Andros Island training area, Mayport, Guantanamo Bay, St. Thomas and Bridgetown. The deployment included surveillance exercises, air-defence training, replenishment, live weapons work and extended operations far from Germany.

In February and March 1977, FGS MÖLDERS conducted a Mediterranean training cruise with visits to Brest, Toulon and Valencia. On March 2, 1977, at 12:41, an aerial target drone struck the port side of the destroyer near the after funnel. The collision caused damage requiring an extended repair period. From March onward, the ship remained largely unavailable while repairs were combined with preparations for the first major modernization of the German CHARLES F. ADAMS-class destroyers. Fregattenkapitän Günther Pirschl assumed command on October 1, 1977.

The formal modernization of FGS MÖLDERS to the Class 103A standard extended from November 1977 into April 1978. The original Tartar guided missile system was modified to employ the Standard Missile, while associated fire-control and electronic equipment was renewed. The two 127-millimetre Mk 42 Mod 7 gun mountings were upgraded to the Mod 10 standard. The boiler plant was also converted from heavy fuel oil to lighter distillate fuel. These changes improved the reliability and logistical supportability of the propulsion plant and extended the operational value of the ship's air-defence system.

Following completion of the modernization, FGS MÖLDERS resumed individual work-up training in April 1978. She participated in the exercises Delphin and Bright Horizon in May, appeared at a German Navy public event off Damp during July, conducted individual training during August and September and joined the exercise Botany Bay in September. Depot-level maintenance at Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft occupied October through December.

Maintenance continued into January 1979 and was followed by individual training. From March through June, FGS MÖLDERS conducted overseas training cruise 106/79. The ship called at Brest and Ponta Delgada before crossing the Atlantic to Bermuda, Norfolk, Fort Lauderdale, Guantanamo Bay, Roosevelt Roads, San Juan and Portland. An unplanned period at Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft followed during July and August. After returning to service, she conducted individual training and participated in Desex 3/79 during August.

The exercises Botany Bay and Ocean Safari followed in September and October 1979. Ocean Safari was a large Nato maritime exercise intended to test allied command arrangements, convoy protection, anti-submarine warfare, air defence and the movement of naval forces across the North Atlantic. FGS MÖLDERS subsequently participated in Desex 4/79 during October and November and completed the year with firing exercises in the North Sea.

Individual training and participation in a Joint Maritime Course occupied January and February 1980. FGS MÖLDERS joined fleet exercise 801 in March and then entered Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft for an intermediate maintenance period extending from April through October. Fregattenkapitän Dieter Czerny assumed command on October 1, 1980. Following the yard period, the destroyer conducted individual and weapons training during October and November and completed further range-calibration and sensor-evaluation work in December.

FGS MÖLDERS began 1981 with individual training and underwent Basic Operational Sea Training at Portland during January and February. In March, she participated in fleet exercise 811 together with German units including HESSEN, LÜBECK and Z5. During the same period the destroyer was employed in observing the large Warsaw Pact exercise Sojus 81. Surveillance of Warsaw Pact naval activity was a regular Cold War task and provided NATO with information about the readiness, operating procedures and capabilities of Soviet and allied forces near the Baltic approaches and northern European waters.

From April through June 1981, FGS MÖLDERS conducted training cruise 108/81, visiting Brest, Lisbon, Toulon and Hull. She participated in a German Navy public event at Damp in August and then joined Desex 3/81 and Magic Sword from August into September. On December 1, 1981, the ship's international radio call sign was changed from DBYC to DRAF.

Individual training continued during January and February 1982. From February into March, FGS MÖLDERS undertook training cruise 103/82, including visits to Brest, Toulon and Malaga. In April, she entered a second major modernization, which brought her to the Class 103B standard. The work continued throughout the remainder of 1982 and into January 1983. The Class 103B modernization included renewal and rearrangement of radar, fire-control, communications and electronic installations. An additional deckhouse was constructed on the signal deck to accommodate new equipment. The programme was intended to maintain compatibility with evolving NATO command and surveillance systems and to improve the ship's ability to respond to increasingly sophisticated aircraft, missile and electronic-warfare threats.

The Class 103B conversion was completed in January 1983. Because the ship spent most of the preceding year in the yard and required subsequent acceptance and work-up activity, her recorded sea mileage during 1983 was considerably lower than during a normal operational year. Fregattenkapitän Fritz Noble succeeded Fregattenkapitän Dieter Czerny as commanding officer on October 1, 1983. The limited operational programme of 1983 was followed by a progressive return to regular service during 1984.

During April and May 1984, FGS MÖLDERS conducted training and measurement work in the Baltic Sea. In May and June, she operated in Norwegian waters for trials and evaluations and subsequently participated in a German Navy public event at Wilhelmshaven. Individual training followed during July and August. A short unplanned yard period became necessary in August, after which the destroyer began training cruise 115/84.

From late summer through December 1984, FGS MÖLDERS visited Brest, Ponta Delgada, Bermuda, Roosevelt Roads, Mayport, St. Croix, Guantanamo Bay and Kingston. The cruise restored long-range operational proficiency following the extensive modernization and allowed the renewed sensors and fire-control equipment to be evaluated during sustained operations in different climatic and operating conditions.

From January through March 1985, FGS MÖLDERS conducted training cruise 102/85 in the Mediterranean. Her ports included Toulon, Alexandria, Palermo and Cadiz, followed by a call at Wilhelmshaven. During April and May, she took part in training cruise 116/85 with visits to Copenhagen, the Norwegian naval base at Haakonsvern and Hamburg. Command-staff and fleet exercises followed during May and June.

Fregattenkapitän Horst Rehse assumed command on August 23, 1985. The ship conducted individual training during August and participated in another German Navy public event at Damp. In September, she joined Botany Bay, operated through the Scapa Flow area and participated in Ocean Safari 85, followed by a call at Cherbourg. During October, she took part in Baltops 85. One of the other prominent participants was the American battleship USS IOWA (BB 61). The exercise tested multinational naval operations in the Baltic approaches, which remained one of the most closely contested maritime regions between NATO and the Warsaw Pact. Further individual training followed in November, and FGS MÖLDERS entered Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft for intermediate maintenance in December.

The yard period continued from January through March 1986. In April, FGS MÖLDERS sailed for sensor-calibration work in Norway, but damage to the port propeller required repairs at Blohm + Voss in Hamburg. Damage-control training at Neustadt and individual work-up followed during May and June. From June through August, she completed another period of Basic Operational Sea Training at Portland.

In August 1986, the destroyer joined the Standing Naval Force Atlantic for an assignment lasting until December. During this deployment, she visited Stavanger, Amsterdam, Wilhelmshaven, Bremerhaven, Rosyth, Narvik and Liverpool. Fregattenkapitän Gerhard Martin Eichhorst assumed command on October 1, 1986, while the ship was serving with the multinational formation.

FGS MÖLDERS conducted individual training in January 1987 but required an unplanned period at Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft during February and March. She returned to individual training in April and then began training cruise 111/87, which continued into June. The itinerary included Roosevelt Roads, Baltimore, Norfolk, Bermuda and Ponta Delgada. Another unplanned yard period followed during July and August. After participating in a German Navy public event at Travemünde, she joined Ocean Safari and Botany Bay during August and September.

A planned training period in the eastern Baltic during October 1987 had to be abandoned after diesel fuel contaminated the ship's drinking-water system. From October through December, the destroyer operated in the Mediterranean during training cruise 134/87 and with the Naval On-Call Force Mediterranean. This multinational formation was the predecessor of the permanently established NATO Mediterranean standing naval force of the post-Cold War period. Port visits included Cagliari, Barcelona, Toulon, Palermo, Taranto, Palma de Mallorca and Lisbon.

On December 15, 1987, while FGS MÖLDERS was returning through the English Channel, a serious fire broke out in the galley. The fire spread through cable routes and ventilation ducts into adjoining and upper compartments. Affected areas included the anti-submarine rocket workshop, sections of the ship's computer installation, the operations centre and radio spaces. The location of the fire within the ship and its spread through technical conduits made the firefighting operation particularly difficult. Other ships in the formation provided assistance while the crew worked to contain the fire. Despite the extensive damage, the destroyer remained capable of proceeding under her own power and entered Kiel on December 18, 1987.

The consequences of the fire dominated the following two years. FGS MÖLDERS spent all of 1988 under repair at Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft and recorded no operational sea mileage during the year. Fregattenkapitän Hartmut Trimpler assumed command in September 1988. Restoration continued through the first months of 1989 and ultimately cost approximately 86 million Deutsche Mark. The decision to restore the ship reflected both the value still assigned to her air-defence and command capabilities and the absence of an immediately available replacement.

By May 1989, FGS MÖLDERS had begun trials and antenna measurements. Radar-system testing followed in July, while sonar trials, individual training and further acceptance work were conducted in October. She entered dry dock at Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft during October and November, resumed individual training in November and completed additional calibration work in Norway during December. This sequence marked the gradual return of the destroyer to operational status after almost two years of repair and testing.

In January 1990, FGS MÖLDERS conducted individual and damage-control training at Neustadt. From February through June, she undertook training cruise 106/90, one of the most extensive deployments of her later career. Calls included Wilhelmshaven, Ponta Delgada, Guantanamo Bay, Montego Bay, Norfolk, Yorktown, Fort-de-France, Roosevelt Roads, St. Thomas, San Juan, Baltimore, Bermuda and Lisbon.

The ship returned to northern European waters during a period of rapid political change. The political and military structures of the Warsaw Pact were disintegrating, German reunification took effect on October 3, 1990, and the strategic assumptions under which the destroyer had been designed were changing fundamentally. Fregattenkapitän Hubertus von Puttkamer assumed command at the beginning of October. During October and November, FGS MÖLDERS participated in Joint Maritime Course 903.

From January through March 1991, the ship participated in training cruise 104/91 and Desex 1/91, including visits to Lisbon and Cagliari. The cruise became connected with the international response to the Gulf crisis. Iraq had invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990, and the subsequent United Nations-authorized coalition concentrated substantial naval and air forces in and around the Persian Gulf. On January 21, 1991, Germany dispatched a naval formation to reinforce NATO's maritime presence in the Mediterranean during the Gulf War. The group consisted of the destroyers SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN and MÖLDERS, the frigates KÖLN and AUGSBURG and the support vessels GLÜCKSBURG and EIFEL. The deployment was generally referred to in German naval accounts as Operation Southern Guard. Its tasks included training, surveillance, presence and reassurance in the Mediterranean while naval forces from other NATO countries were committed to operations farther east. FGS MÖLDERS visited Souda Bay, Augusta and Palermo during the deployment and returned in March after the main combat operations against Iraq had ended. Operation Southern Guard was separate from Operation Südflanke, the subsequent German mine-countermeasures deployment to the Persian Gulf. FGS MÖLDERS did not participate in the latter operation.

Individual training occupied May and June 1991. During June, the destroyer participated in a command-staff exercise and in Northstar. Further individual training followed in October, during a period that also included a visit by the Federal President to the German Navy. FGS MÖLDERS completed the year by participating in Joint Maritime Course 913 during November.

From January through March 1992, FGS MÖLDERS participated in Desex 1/92. The cruise took her to Souda Bay, Piraeus, Varna, Istanbul, Barcelona and Liverpool. The visit to Varna reflected the opening of former Warsaw Pact ports and the expansion of naval contacts between Germany and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe following the end of the Cold War. During the Mediterranean phase of the deployment in January 1992, FGS MÖLDERS intercepted the German merchant ship GODEWIND, which was carrying T-72 tanks whose export had been judged illegal. The frigate BREMEN subsequently escorted GODEWIND to Cartagena. The incident represented an early example of the German Navy undertaking a maritime interception and law-enforcement task that differed considerably from the conventional fleet warfare for which the destroyer had originally been designed.

FGS MÖLDERS participated in fleet exercise 921 and the United States-led Baltops exercise during May and June 1992. During June, she served as fleet flagship for Kiel Week. Individual training in the Baltic followed during August and included an anchorage off the Naval Academy at Mürwik. Maintenance at the Kiel Naval Arsenal took place in September. The destroyer entered Lloyd Werft at Bremerhaven during October and November and conducted functional and shaft trials after leaving the yard.

Further modernization of weapons and electronic equipment began during 1993. The work included preparations for the integration of the Rolling Airframe Missile close-range defence system (RAM). This weapon was intended to improve the ship's ability to defend herself against low-flying anti-ship missiles and aircraft that had penetrated the engagement zone of the longer-range Standard Missile system. Fregattenkapitän Peter Heinzmann assumed command in October 1993. Operational activity remained limited while the new equipment was installed and prepared for trials.

FGS MÖLDERS resumed individual training in January 1994 and conducted formal acceptance activities during February and March. From April through May, she operated in Norwegian waters for sensor and range-calibration work. Sea trials of the Rolling Airframe Missile installation followed during May and June. In June, the destroyer again served as fleet flagship during Kiel Week. Individual training and participation in harbour events at Rostock took place in August, followed by damage-control training at Neustadt from August into September. From October through November the ship completed another period of Basic Operational Sea Training at Portland.

Integration and testing of the Rolling Airframe Missile system extended across the 1993-1995 period. By the beginning of 1995, the destroyer's close-range defensive configuration included two Rolling Airframe Missile launchers, two six-barrel chaff-launcher mountings and two 20-millimetre automatic cannon. These additions reflected the growing importance of defence against sea-skimming guided missiles, small surface threats and attacks at ranges too short for the ship's original area-defence missile system.

Navigation training and naval gunfire instruction occupied February 1995. During March, FGS MÖLDERS conducted damage-control training at Neustadt and anti-submarine warfare training at Eckernförde. From May through September, she participated in Operation Sharp Guard, the NATO and Western European Union operation enforcing the United Nations maritime embargo against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the conflicts that followed the dissolution of Yugoslavia.

Warships assigned to Sharp Guard monitored merchant shipping in the Adriatic and surrounding waters and could stop, inspect or divert vessels suspected of carrying prohibited cargo. During the deployment, FGS MÖLDERS conducted chaff-system firing in the Bay of Biscay and participated in operational training at Portland before or in connection with her movement to the area of operations. Her port visits included Palma de Mallorca, Ancona, Trieste, Corfu and Patras.

Fregattenkapitän Frank Signus assumed command in September 1995. From October through December, FGS MÖLDERS undertook Desex 951, visiting Ponta Delgada, Pointe-a-Pitre in Guadeloupe, Willemstad in Curacao and Roosevelt Roads. The cruise provided another period of long-range weapons, navigation and formation training soon after the Adriatic deployment.

FGS MÖLDERS entered an extended shipyard period in March 1996 and remained under maintenance through the end of the year. The yard work continued during January 1997. She returned to individual training in February and conducted sensor-calibration and individual ship evaluation work during the same month. Damage-control training at Neustadt followed in March. Basic Operational Sea Training at Plymouth occupied May and June.

From September through December 1997, the destroyer served with the Standing Naval Force Atlantic. This assignment returned her to a permanently available multinational NATO formation and required sustained interoperability with allied ships, aircraft, command organizations and logistic-support systems. Fregattenkapitän Dirk Alex Koch assumed command in January 1998. During February and March, FGS MÖLDERS participated in Joint Maritime Course 981 and the large exercise Strong Resolve. The exercise tested NATO's ability to manage more than one regional crisis and to deploy multinational forces in the changed post-Cold War security environment. During June, the destroyer took part in a German command-staff exercise and in Baltops 98.

From August through December 1998, FGS MÖLDERS served with the Standing Naval Force Mediterranean. The deployment took place while NATO remained closely engaged with instability in the Balkans and maintained a continuous multinational naval presence in the Mediterranean and Adriatic regions. After individual training in the western Baltic during February 1999, FGS MÖLDERS departed on Desex 991 in March. The deployment continued until May and included visits to Fort-de-France, San Juan, New Orleans, Norfolk and Madeira. Weapons exercises were conducted in the Puerto Rico operating area. At Norfolk, the destroyer represented Germany during events associated with the NATO Azalea Festival. She returned to Kiel on May 29, 1999. In June, the ship entered Lloyd Werft at Bremerhaven for a major yard period that continued through the end of the year.

FGS MÖLDERS remained at Lloyd Werft from January through April 2000. Fregattenkapitän Joachim Rühle assumed command in April. After leaving the yard, the ship conducted individual training in the Skagerrak during May and June, visited Kristiansand and completed damage-control training at Neustadt. She also participated in a German Navy public event at Kiel. From June through October 2000, the destroyer underwent a prolonged operational work-up centred on Plymouth. The extensive training was required to restore full operational certification following the long shipyard period and included air-defence, anti-submarine, navigation, communications and damage-control scenarios.

Individual ship training in the Baltic followed during January 2001. From January through April, FGS MÖLDERS undertook Desex 2001, visiting Oranjestad in Aruba, Roosevelt Roads, San Juan, Savannah and Santa Cruz de Tenerife. During June, she participated in a command-staff exercise in Kiel Bay and served as the German Navy's host ship during Kiel Week. In June and July, she appeared at events marking an anniversary of the Kiel Canal at Brunsbüttel and at harbour events in Hamburg. The destroyer also participated in the Hanse Sail at Rostock-Warnemünde during August.

Fregattenkapitän Michael Gemein became the ship's final commanding officer in June 2001. During October and November, FGS MÖLDERS participated in a Joint Maritime Course in Scottish waters.

The terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001, caused another major change in the strategic environment in which the destroyer operated. NATO invoked the collective-defence provisions of Article 5 for the first time and expanded its maritime surveillance and security activities in the Mediterranean. German warships were among the vessels contributing to this increased allied naval presence.

From March until November 2002, FGS MÖLDERS deployed with the Standing Naval Force Mediterranean and remained away from Kiel for approximately seven and a half months. The deployment took place within NATO's expanded Mediterranean maritime-security posture following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The ship's itinerary included Gibraltar, Souda Bay on Crete, Aksaz in Turkey, Cartagena, Barcelona, Algiers, Rota, Constanta in Romania, a second visit to Aksaz and a call at Antalya.

FGS MÖLDERS was at Barcelona during a NATO port visit on May 4, 2002. During the deployment she participated in Dynamic Mix, a large multinational exercise in the Mediterranean, and in Cooperative Partner activities associated with the visit to Constanta. The Black Sea phase reflected NATO's expanding cooperation with the navies of Central and Eastern Europe. The wider deployment made use of the destroyer's radar surveillance capability, command facilities, endurance and ability to operate as part of a multinational naval group.

The 2002 deployment was the longest and most heavily travelled operational period of the ship's final years. FGS MÖLDERS covered approximately 41,853 nautical miles during the year, the highest annual total recorded during her service. She returned to Kiel on November 9, 2002. Preparations for the end of her active service began immediately. On November 20, 2002, FGS MÖLDERS made her final voyage, a family cruise in Kiel Fjord. She was removed from operational readiness on November 21, ending active seagoing employment after more than thirty-three years.

By the beginning of the twenty-first century, maintaining the ships of Class 103B had become increasingly difficult and expensive. Spare parts for systems designed during the 1960s were scarce, the steam propulsion plant required a large engineering complement, and fuel and personnel requirements were high in comparison with newer frigates. The air-defence, surveillance and command functions once concentrated in ships such as FGS MÖLDERS were increasingly being assumed by modern warships equipped with more economical propulsion systems, integrated combat-management systems and smaller crews.

In February 2003, the demilitarized FGS MÖLDERS was towed through the Kiel Canal to Wilhelmshaven. She was formally decommissioned there on May 28, 2003. Her commissioned service had lasted 33 years and 245 days. Seventeen commanding officers had served aboard her, and approximately 14,000 naval personnel had been assigned to the ship during the course of her career. Her recorded total distance amounted to approximately 675,045.6 nautical miles, equivalent to more than thirty circuits of the Earth at the equator.

After decommissioning, FGS MÖLDERS was transferred to the collection of the Bundeswehr's Wehrtechnische Studiensammlung at Koblenz and subsequently placed on permanent loan with the Deutsches Marinemuseum at Wilhelmshaven. Preservation required the removal or demilitarization of sensitive and operational equipment, preparation of the hull for permanent mooring and the conversion of parts of the interior for safe public access.

FGS MÖLDERS opened to the public as a museum ship on June 24, 2005. She has since formed the largest floating exhibit of the Deutsches Marinemuseum. The preserved destroyer represents several successive phases of German naval history. Her original configuration reflects the rearmament and alliance integration of the Federal Republic during the Cold War. Her repeated participation in North Atlantic exercises illustrates NATO planning for the protection of reinforcement routes between North America and Europe. Her Mediterranean, Atlantic, Caribbean and American training cruises document the Bundesmarine's reliance on multinational training, allied ports and overseas weapons ranges. Her later operations reflect the transition from preparation for a major conventional conflict to maritime surveillance, embargo enforcement, interception duties, multinational partnership exercises and the broader maritime-security tasks that followed the end of the Cold War. As a preserved steam-powered guided-missile destroyer, FGS MÖLDERS also provides a physical record of the machinery spaces, operations rooms, weapons installations, command positions and living conditions in which several generations of German sailors served during nearly thirty-four years of commissioned service.

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FGS MÖLDERS Image Gallery:

The photos below were taken by me when the MÖLDERS was in Kiel, Germany, during the Kiel Week 2001 on June 16, 2001.

FGS MÖLDERS was a slightly modified CHARLES F. ADAMS - class guided missile destroyer once built for the former West German Navy. After more than 33 years of service the ship was decommissioned on May 28, 2003, and today she's preserved at the German Naval Museum in Wilhelmshaven, Germany. The photos below were taken by me on March 27, 2007, during a visit aboard the MÖLDERS.

			Click here for more Photos.

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