German Navy runs short of ammunition

Gluecksburg,Germany - The German Navy admitted Friday it is running short of ammunition, especially for sidearms. "We can't relieve it short term," said a spokesman at Gluecksburg naval base on the Baltic coast. "This year will be difficult for us."

A newspaper, the Kieler Nachrichten, said the navy was short of 9- millimetre cartridges for the Heckler & Koch P8 pistols used by frogmen and other naval special forces units. It still has plenty of shells, missile and torpedoes for its ships.

The spokesman said the German armed forces had been using up a lot of the cartridges in fighting in Afghanistan. Sailors seconded to Afghanistan had also fired off a big number of bullets during target practice with rifles and pistols.

He said the army and air force often donated their annual surplus to the navy, but the other forces had had nothing left over in 2009.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/302747,german-navy-runs-short-of-ammunition.html.