Mission IRINI – German soldiers in action off the Libyan coast.

We come on board two days before the Bundeswehr’s task force supplier BONN leaves the port of Catania (Sicily). My cameraman Silas Koch and I. For eight days we accompany the German Navy’s largest task force supplier towards the Libyan coast for ZDF.

The Bundeswehr’s mission: As part of the European Union, IRINI’s core mission is to implement the UN arms embargo through aircraft, satellites and ships. Stopping and searching suspicious ships is part of this core mission. But it’s not that easy to implement. If the captain of the respective ship does not allow the search, there is only a so-called “friendly approach”. A friendly contact with an exchange of gifts, information about the crew and any cargo.

On the second day of this mission we encounter a suspicious merchant ship. A practiced and highly professional procedure quickly takes place on board the BONN. The captain of the strange ship allows them to come on board briefly. The task force supplier with 220 soldiers lays into the wind parallel to the foreign merchant ship. A so-called boarding team from the BW, supported by a Lithuanian team, travels towards the ship in speedboats. The soldiers are well equipped to be able to act even in the event of danger. After checking the loading documents and the crew’s personal details, everything seems to be in order. The boarding team is not allowed to move freely throughout the ship.

The BONN (A1413), the largest of the BW’s three Berlin-class task force suppliers with a length of 174 m, has a helipad and a fully equipped medical station, continues on its way. The visit by the fleet admiral by helicopter is part of everyday soldier life, as are the many exercises on board. Because in an emergency, the team must be able to control everything perfectly. The task force supplier has tons of material, food and fuel on board to supply other ships that support this IRINI mission. The so-called RAS process is used to refuel a ship on the open sea.

The highly motivated team led by Commander Eike Deußen checks other ships on their journey along the Libyan coast. After six days we arrive back in Sicily, this time in Augusta. On this inspection trip we did not find any ships that violated the arms embargo.