German frigate Bayern off the Lebanese coast. "Bayern" rescued 14 crew members. On 18 July 2011 "Bayern" left Wilhelmshaven to join Operation Atalanta, the anti-piracy mission off the Horn of Africa. She arrived on station on 13 August, with Thomas Jugel taking over command of the taskforce, with "Bayern" as his flagship. "Bayern" was deployed in support of the operation until 6 December, and then returned to Wilhelmshaven, arriving on 22 December 2011. Her next deployment was as flagship of Thorsten Kähler, commander of Standing NATO Maritime Group 2. This lasted until 1 June 2012, after which she took part in exercises, and
Germany–Kurdistan Region relations Erbil and stated that Germany would continue to support the Kurdish soldiers, and German soldiers commenced the training of Kurdish soldiers in October that year. In January 2015, Defence Minister von der Leyen visited Kurdistan Region again and visited a camp where German soldiers trained Kurdish soldiers, where she commented the training and reassured that Germany would support Kurdistan further. During the Munich Security Conference in February 2015, Barzani met with Merkel and German Defence Minister von der Leyen to discuss the military aid for the Kurdish soldiers. On May 2015, Germany chose to send 500 more MILAN anti-tank guided