page_title: Allied Forces Baltic Approaches
section_title: Commander German North Sea Subarea
hierarchical_section_title: Allied Forces Baltic Approaches / Organization 1989 / Commander, Allied Naval Forces Baltic Approaches / Commander German North Sea Subarea
caption_attribution_description: English: A port bow view of the West German destroyer FGS HESSEN (D-184) underway during NATO exercise Northern Wedding '86.
context_page_description: Allied Forces Baltic Approaches was a Principal Subordinate Command of the NATO Military Command Structure, with responsibility for the Baltic Sea area. It was in existence from 1962 to 2002 and consisted of the Danish Armed Forces, units of the West German Bundeswehr and allied wartime reinforcements.
  The NATO command Baltic Approaches was created on 8 January 1962, with headquarters in Karup, Denmark. It was created at Germany's urging, in order to end the previous separation of the German naval forces between the NATO commands Northern Europe and Central Europe. After the changes in the international security situation in 1990, the command was restructured in 1993 and deactivated in 2002.
  The area of responsibility of BALTAP comprised the territory of Denmark, the German states Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein and the eastern North Sea, the Baltic approaches with Skagerrak, Kattegat, the Danish straits, and the Baltic Sea. One peculiarity was the responsibility for air defence over the German part of the BALTAP area. Until 1990, the western Allies were responsible for air defence over the whole Federal Republic of Germany on the basis of the occupation statute.
context_section_description: The Commander German North Sea Subarea (GERNORSEA) was the commanding Flottillenadmiral (equivalent to a US Navy Rear admiral (Lower Half)) of the West-German Navy's fleet in the North Sea. In peacetime he was subordinate to the vice admiral commanding West-German Navy's Fleet Command, but in case of war he command a parallel command under NAVBALTAP. In peacetime the command was based in Wilhelmshaven, but would have moved to an underground command center in Wilhelmshaven-Sengwarden in case of war.
  While German naval forces in Baltic Sea were tasked with preventing Warsaw Pact naval forces from passing through the Danish straits, the North Sea fleet was to patrol the German Bight and protect allied reinforcements and shipping heading for German ports. To GERNORSEA's East Allied Command Channel's BENECHAN command was tasked with patrolling the Western half of the Southern North Sea, while to North Allied Forces Northern Europe's SONOR command was patrolling the Southern Norwegian coast. Unlike in the Baltic Sea most vessels of GERNORSEA were destroyers and frigates. The main bases in the North Sea were Naval Base Wilhelmshaven and Naval Base Cuxhaven.
  At the beginning of 1989 the Commander German North Sea Subarea would have commanded the following ships in wartime:
  Commander German North Sea Subarea in Sengwarden
  Destroyer Flotilla in Wilhelmshaven
  2nd Destroyer Squadron in Wilhelmshaven with Hamburg-class destroyers
  D181 Hamburg
  D182 Schleswig-Holstein
  D183 Bayern
  D184 Hessen
  2nd Frigate Squadron in Wilhelmshaven, between 1988 and 1990 the squadron replaced its Köln-class frigates with Bremen-class frigates
  F211 Köln
  F212 Karlsruhe
  F213 Augsburg, commissioned October 1989
  F214 Lübeck, fitting out, commissioned March 1990
  F225 Braunschweig, last Köln-class frigate in service, decommissioned July 1989
  4th Frigate Squadron in Wilhelmshaven with Bremen-class frigates
  F207 Bremen
  F208 Niedersachsen
  F209 Rheinland-Pfalz
  F210 Emden
  Mine Countermeasures Flotilla in Wilhelmshaven
  4th Minesweeping Squadron in Wilhelmshaven with Lindau-class minehunters
  M1070 Göttingen
  M1071 Koblenz
  M1072 Lindau
  M1074 Tübingen
  M1075 Wetzlar
  M1077 Weilheim
  M1078 Cuxhaven
  M1080 Marburg
  M1084 Flensburg
  M1085 Minden
  M1086 Fulda
  M1087 Völklingen
  6th Minesweeping Squadron in Wilhelmshaven with 351-class minesweepers (improved Lindau-class minesweepers)
  M1073 Schleswig
  M1076 Paderborn
  M1079 Düren
  M1081 Konstanz
  M1082 Wolfsburg
  M1083 Ulm
  A68 Werra, 401A-class supply and support tender
  A1410 Walther Von Ledebur, mine diver support vessel
  Supply Flotilla in Cuxhaven
  2nd Supply Squadron in Wilhelmshaven, in wartime two additional two fuel transport ships and nine hospital ships would be activated from the Navy's reserve.
  A1413 Freiburg, 701E-class supply ship
  A1414 Glücksburg, 701C-class supply ship
  A1416 Nienburg, 701A-class supply ship
  A1426 Tegernsee, 703-class fuel transport ship
  A1427 Westensee, 703-class fuel transport ship
  A1429 Eifel, 766-class fuel transport ship
  A1436 Odenwald, 760-class ammunition transport ship
  A1443 Rhön, 704A-class fuel transport ship
  A1451 Wangerooge, 722C-class ocean going tug
  A1457 Helgoland, 720A-class salvage tug
  Y848 Wotan, maintenance ship
caption: Hamburg-class destroyer D184 Hessen during NATO exercise Northern Wedding '86.
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