As the news magazine "The Mirror" Following the evaluation of a confidential audit report, the German Federal Audit Office "holds the Ministry of Defence jointly responsible for the cost explosion in the repair of the training sailing ship 'Gorch Fock'." According to the report, the ship had not been adequately "examined and assessed in advance".
This is still a rather friendly way of putting it if the described failures in the planning and approval phase are confirmed. Among other things
- no economic feasibility study of the repair was carried out;
- a report by the average officer was ignored, which certified serious deficiencies as early as 2011 - including such severe corrosion damage that there had already been "a not insignificant risk to the ship and crew" for several years;
- the shipbuilding inspection due every five years had not been carried out correctly;
- a possibly more favourable solution in the form of a new build had not even been discussed;
- Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) was pressured into continuing the increasingly expensive repairs with deliberately false figures and cost estimates, which she approved twice, in January 2017 and March 2018.
To summarise: The omissions and accusations are now "intensifying into a tangible affair", as Der Spiegel writes. "Chaotic conditions" prevailed in the ministry.
The training sailing ship was supposed to have been in the shipyard for repairs for a few months in 2016 at an estimated cost of 10 million euros. It has now been in the dock for almost three years, with the space alone costing taxpayers 10,000 euros a day, according to media reports. The costs have risen rapidly over time and were last estimated at 135 million euros.
Last December, shortly after an employee of the Naval Arsenal responsible for cost control accused himself of corruption, von der Leyen imposed a payment freeze and work has been suspended ever since. The Federal Ministry of Defence is due to make a decision in January as to whether it will be resumed at all.
