NATO Near Defenseless, Entire German Sub Fleet Down Entire German Sub Fleet Down
Germany, a key NATO ally, should have one of the best submarine fleets in the entire world, but none of them work right now.
According to the Russian news outlet RT, Germany is equipped with six cutting edge Type 212A submarines, yet none of them are functioning.
Here’s what happened:
Five submarines had already been out of order earlier this year.
In October, the last of the submarines was stationed off the Norwegian coast when the rudder hit a rock and sustained serious damage.
According to The Associated Press, Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen explained it as “obviously not a good situation.”
Defense News reported that the submarines might not be ready again until mid-2018.
Since the end of the Cold War, Germany does not keep parts for its submarines in reserve, so that has created extensive delays.
Germany needs to act quickly. These submarines are especially important to Germany’s self defense and, more importantly from an American point of view, to the country’s fulfilling its obligations to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
The Type 212A submarines have hydrogen fuel cells in pace of diesel fuel that allows them to remain underwater for two weeks without every resurfacing.
That is extremely important. The longer a submarine is able to stay under the water, the more effective it can be.
While the temporary submarine outage spells bad news for Germany, it also is dangerous for NATO.
NATO is supposed to be an international defense made up of 29 countries.