A recent visit by a number of ships of the German Navy is followed up today by another German Navy ship, the frigate Sachsen.

The ship is a Sachsen-class frigate and part of the Germany air defence systems, its state of the art technologies supposedly include the ability to detect stealth aircraft and stealth .

The ships of the Sachsen class are 143 m (469 ft) long overall with a beam of 17.44 m (57.2 ft) and a draft of 5 m (16 ft). The frigates have a crew of 38 officers, 64 petty officers, and 140 enlisted sailors.  The ships can remain at sea for 21 days at a time

These ships are heavily armed for  anti-air warfare role with  a large number of missile available. There are also torpedoes for use against submarines.Sachsen is equipped with a flight deck and hangar that can accommodate two Super Lynx or NH90 helicopters.

The F219 Sachsen was built at the Blohm + Voss shipyard  and launched in 2001 and was commissioned  in  2003.

The Sachen has been involved in a number of anti terrorist and anti piracy patrols around the world.

It is not known why the ship is visiting London at this time, but there seems to be a number of functions. It is likely the ship will be leaving dock at the weekend.