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 the Kurds of Iraq established a mission in Berlin, establishing direct contacts with the German government. Furthermore, the mission had to coordinate humanitarian and development aid from Germany to the Kurdish region, and informed the German public and media about the general situation in Kurdistan. To combat Islamic State's advance into Northern parts of Iraq, the German government decided to aid the Kurdish soldiers (Peshmerga) militarily. Steinmeier stated that: "We cannot on the one hand praise the Kurdish security forces, pat them on the back for fighting ISIS on behalf of all of us, then when they ask for help