The Type 704A Rhön class tankers are replenishment oiler used by the German Navy to provide underway replenishment for its ships at sea.
Ships of the class
A 1442 Spessart
A 1443 Rhön
Originally the ships were built for Libya as Okene (Rhön) and Okapi (Spessart). Rhön and Spessart are names of forests (small mountain ranges) in Germany.
Spessart was originally built for civilian service by Kröger of Rendsburg in 1974. On 5 September 1977 she was commissioned into the Deutsche Marine, based at Keil.
On 29 March 2009, as she was taking part in Operation Atalanta, Spessart was attacked by a 7-man pirate boat. In addition to the regular 40-man civilian crew, Spessart carried a 12-man security detail which exchanged small arm fire with the pirates, and repelled the assault. The frigates HrMs De Zeven Provinciën, HS Psara, SPS Victoria and the USS Boxer intervened and captured the pirates after a few hours of chase.
Fgs Rhön is seen here arriving at Leith
