The „Gorch Fock“, pride of the German Navy and constant problem ship at the same time, will most likely never leave their dock again. There, the three-master is more or less disassembled into its individual parts for refurbishment, which may never be completed. More and more problems appeared, the costs exploded, there is no more money, but another scandal.
The sail training ship for the training of budding officers and NCOs was put into service in 1958, after almost six decades at sea, it should be overhauled from 2015. The German „mirror“ reminded a few days ago that at that time for just over four months time and about ten million budget had been estimated. „More than three years later, the ship is now completely disassembled in the yard.“
Meanwhile, the cost has risen to about 135 million euros, cause is „serious mismanagement“. The center of criticism is the Ministry of Defense under Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) – once again. Reason is currently a confidential report of the Federal Court of Audit (Bundesrechnungshof, BRH) in Bonn, in which this „Spiegel“ Bundeswehr and Ministry of Defense is responsible for the debacle.
Essentially this means that the rehabilitation was started virtually haphazardly. „Before the start of the work, it was not clear whether the repair of the ‚Gorch Fock‘ was economically worthwhile overall,“ the German news magazine quoted. The „Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung“ („FAZ“) wrote something less prosaic about „cascades of tölpischer shipyard employees“, false reports and officers with validity.
The project manager had long wanted to pull the ripcord, after all, cost each day in the dock about 10,000 euros, wrote the „mirror“. However, the defense minister had watched and did not react. Now „the sinfully expensive repair“ of the ship becomes „a tangible affair“. Lastly, there was a danger to the life and limb of the crew on the three-master, according to the BRH. Now the alternative to the renovation scrapping, even the conversion of the „Gorch Fock II“ – that’s the correct name – would cost too much money, it was said at the end of the week in German comments. „The old sailor is currently experiencing perhaps his worst storm on land.“
„Storms“ and negative headlines
In the figurative sense, the three-master has already weathered storms. In 2010, a 25-year-old junior officer died during a port stay in Brazil during a fall from high altitude from the rigging (the system of masts and ropes of a sailing ship). Subsequently, more cadets did not want to climb on poles or go off board, in the media was the talk of a „mutiny“.
A commission of inquiry was set up, the training company was interrupted. The tragic incident was not the first one on the ship. Several people died on the deck due to accidents or were injured. In 2008, an 18-year-old cadet had gone overboard and drowned. The first death on board had occurred in 1959.
Reports about alcohol and harassment
From the end of 2010, the „Gorch Fock II“ was not only because of the fatal accident and the „mutiny“ (the military criminal law was no) in the headlines. After the media became aware of the ship, young soldiers talked about alcohol excesses among the regulars, unworthy initiation rituals, harassment, and sexual harassment. The crew resisted the allegations.
The then Minister of Defense Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg (CSU), later resigned because of the plagiarism scandal around his dissertation, was report back, the allegations were largely in the sand, investigations of the judiciary were set. Under a new commander and Guttenberg successor Thomas de Maiziere (CDU), the training company was finally resumed.
„End of a Seafaring“
Recently, allegations of corruption have surfaced in connection with the repair of the ship or the award of the contract. Von der Leyen imposed a payment stop. Finally, in the FAZ, entitled „End of a Seafaring“ on Friday, nobody really knew „whether the ‚Gorch Fock‘ will ever leave the shipyard in a floating state or as a disassembled wreck.“
The „Gorch Fock II“ is the successor to the 1933 built „Gorch Fock I“, which is located after its sinking by the own crew at the end of the Second World War and salvage velvet history as a Soviet ship today as a museum ship in Stralsund. Named are both ships after the German writer Gorch Fock (actually Johann Wilhelm Kinau), they were built by the
The „Gorch Fock II“ with home port Kiel is nearly 90 meters long and twelve meters wide, the masts are up to 45 meters high. The entire crew includes 200 men and women, trained on the ship officers and NCOs. Over the past six decades, the ship has covered more than 750,000 nautical miles (nearly 1.4 million kilometers), equivalent to just under 35 laps around the globe. About 15,000 men and women sailed on the ship, leaving for the 168th and last training voyage in 2015.
