Navy

Illustration of a round bagde with a griffin in its middle.

Operations staff DEU MARFORGerman Maritime Forces

The German Maritime Forces Staff plans and prepares multinational maritime operations and exercises.

Mission

“German Maritime Forces”, or in its NATONorth Atlantic Treaty Organization abbreviation simply DEU MARFORGerman Maritime Forces, is a military command and operational staff. Its personnel plan, support, and lead multi-national maritime exercises and operations. In times of crisis, NATONorth Atlantic Treaty Organization or the EUEuropean Union, for example, can activate the staff as maritime headquarters to lead national naval units.

DEU MARFORGerman Maritime Forces is therefore a further contribution by Germany specifically to national and collective defence. Allies such as the United Kingdom, France, and Italy also have comparable headquarters.

A flexibly deployable headquarters

The staff is an integral part of the new Naval Command Centre in Rostock. Just under 100 soldiers form its core, 25 of whom are multi-national exchange and liaison officers. Their work processes and procedures are certified according to NATONorth Atlantic Treaty Organization standards, and their daily working language is English. All this makes DEU MARFORGerman Maritime Forces unique within the German Navy. If the task force is activated for a specific task in a crisis, it is reinforced by experts from both the Bundeswehr and partner nations.

DEU MARFORGerman Maritime Forces has three main tasks: first, to plan military operations in detail; second, to command warships, combat aircraft and helicopters; third, to compile and update a comprehensive situation picture. Secondary functions include organising the supply of subordinate units as well as the involvement with a public information campaign. The staff can perform all of these tasks in whole or in part out of a fixed infrastructure on land or on board German or allied warships.

Core staff for Commander Task Force Baltic

Since 1 October 2024 the German Navy respectively DEU MARFORGerman Maritime Forces has taken over the NATONorth Atlantic Treaty Organization function of Commander Task Force Baltic, or CTFCommander Task Force Baltic for short, for the Baltic Sea region. DEU MARFORGerman Maritime Forces personnel serves as its core staff due to their multinational composition and experience as well as their regional expertise.

This tactical level headquarters, made available to NATONorth Atlantic Treaty Organization, has the following main tasks:

in the event of a crisis or conflict, to lead naval forces in the Baltic Sea region, to plan maritime operations in selected operational areas,
to coordinate maritime activities of the Alliance‘s partners in the Baltic Sea region
as well as to produce a comprehensive maritime situational picture respectively a so-called recognized maritime picture providing it to all partners.

Impressions

Leading large-scale, multinational naval exercises is part of DEU MARFORGerman Maritime Forces’s core mission. Here (from left to right) a Swedish and a German corvette and a French frigate during exercise Northern Coasts 2019 in the Baltic Sea.
Bundeswehr
Situation briefing of staff from different navies during Northern Coasts 2019. Working at DEU MARFORGerman Maritime Forces creates mutual understanding and trains transnational cooperation for emergencies.
Bundeswehr/Björn Wilke
DEU MARFORGerman Maritime Forces organises complex exercise scenarios down to the last detail. For example, so-called action drills during Northern Coasts 2019 with a target display aircraft simulating an attacker, ...
Bundeswehr/Marcel Kröncke
... or with simulated hits on warships, to which the teams in the fire and damage control centres on board have to react correctly.
Bundeswehr/Marcel Kröncke
The staff's planning also includes highly complex amphibious exercises. Here, a mine-clearance diver from the German Navy’s naval infantry battalion defuses a simulated explosive device on a beach before soldiers arrive there from sea.
Bundeswehr/Björn Wilke
International staff are key at DEU MARFORGerman Maritime Forces in view of such demanding projects. Here, a liaison officer from the British Royal Navy on the operations staff
Bundeswehr/Marcel Kröncke
DEU MARFORGerman Maritime Forces insignia: The griffin shows attachment to the location of the headquarters, the Hanseatic city of Rostock. Feather and trident symbolise the work in a naval staff. Two stars signalise: a Rear Admiral commands this staff.
Bundeswehr/Björn Wilke