Rheinmetall has celebrated its emergence as a major naval platform provider with a christening ceremony for the K130-class corvette Lübeck in Hamburg.
Rheinmetall had a new kind of event to celebrate on 29 April 2026: the christening of its first ship. Lübeck, the last of a second batch of five K130-class corvettes for the Germany Navy, was christened at a ceremony in Hamburg at the shipyard of Blohm+Voss (B+V), which Rheinmetall acquired with the completion of its purchase of Naval Vessels Lürssen (NVL) on 1 March 2026.
Tim Wagner, CEO of Rheinmetall’s Naval Systems division, was quoted in a Rheinmetall press release as stating, “With the christening of the final corvette of the second batch, we have reached an important stage in the overall project. Our focus now turns to the upcoming milestones, which will culminate this year with the delivery to our customer of the two corvettes Emden and Köln.”
As the first of Germany’s second batch of K130-class corvettes, Köln was officially commissioned on 19 September 2025, while Emden, the second vessel of the second batch, has yet to be commissioned and is in the final stages of construction and testing.
In February 2026 the German authorities arrested two B+V workers, a Romanian and a Greek, for the suspected sabotage of Emden while the ship was under construction in Hamburg in late 2024/early 2025. The workers are accusing of dumping steel pellets into the corvette’s engine block, puncturing freshwater lines, removing fuel tank caps and compromising the vessel’s onboard electronics. The workers are also accused of previous acts of sabotage at the B+V yard, with German officials pointing the finger at Russia as the director of their attacks.
The German Navy commissioned the construction of the second batch of K130-class corvettes in September 2017 from the K130 consortium (ARGE K130), which is led by what is now Rheinmetall’s Naval Systems division in co-operation with ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) and German Naval Yards Kiel. The corvettes are specifically designed for coastal operations and are particularly suitable for reconnaissance and anti-surface warfare operations in the North Sea and Baltic Sea.
Rheinmetall’s Naval Systems division comprises the four highly specialised shipyards in northern Germany acquired when Rheinmetall bought NVL: Blohm+Voss and Norderwerft in Hamburg, Peene-Werft in Wolgast and Neue Jadewerft in Wilhelmshaven.
As well as the second batch of five K130-class corvettes, the division is currently responsible for building two new replenishment oilers and three new intelligence vessels for the German Navy. The division has also been commissioned to examine the takeover of the German programme to build six new Class 126 frigates as general contractor, with the expectation being that this project will move forward under Rheinmetall’s leadership.
Rheinmetall’s emergence as a naval platform provider is part of a major strategic expansion of the company in the defence market in the wake of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Beyond the naval domain the company has combined with Finnish synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite manufacturer and operator ICEYE to form the joint venture Rheinmetall ICEYE Space Solutions; formed American Rheinmetall in the United States after completing the takeover of US company Loc Performance Products in December 2024; expanded its industrial capacity with new factories across Europe, especially regarding the manufacture of armoured vehicles and munitions; returned large-calibre gun manufacturing to the UK with its UK Gun Hall project in Telford; and expanded its capabilities regarding air defence systems and autonomous operations.
In Romania, for example, where Rheinmetall is setting up a production line to manufacture the KF41 Lynx infantry fighting vehicle for the Romanian Land Forces, the company has secured half of the country’s proposed spending under the EU’s ‘Security Action for Europe’ (SAFE) programme, amounting to revenues of almost EUR 5 billion.
