Officially designated as fleet service ships, the three vessels of the Type 423 Oste class are purpose built SIGINT/ELINT and reconnaissance ships of the German Navy. They replaced the Type 422 class.
Accommodation for the crew was designed to civil standards, and the Oste class offers much more comfort for the crew than other ships in the German Navy.
Ships of the class
A 50 Alster
A 52 Oste
A 53 Oker
The ships were built at Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft in Flensburg.
All ships are currently based in Eckernförde and belong to the 1st submarine squadron stationed in Eckernförde. The vessels got the same name and pennant numbers as the three Type 422 class vessels they replaced. To avoid the confusion, the ship names are sometimes suffixed with II.
The Oker is an intelligence ship of the German Navy. She is the lead ship of the German Navy's Type 423.
The Oker is meant as a reconnaissance ship, with a wide array of modern elektromagnetic, hydroacoustic and electro-optic sensors for strategic intelligence gathering. She can be used as an advanced warning unit. The design was originally intended to gather data on Soviet ships.
The Oker is seen here departing Faslane
