WThe Action of 3 March 2009 took place when the German Bremen-class frigate Rheinland-Pfalz chased and captured a pirate skiff in the Gulf of Aden, after the persons on board the small vessel fired at and attempted to stop the German-owned tanker MV Courier. The operation marked the first time that the German Navy captured a hostile vessel at sea since World War II.
WThe Action of 7 September 2009 took place when the German frigate Brandenburg, taking part of Operation Atalanta, chased and captured a pirate skiff south of Mukalla, in the Gulf of Aden, after suspicious activity was spotted on the small vessel by the frigate's helicopter during a reconnaissance mission. The boat was disabled by gunfire, and one suspect from her crew was killed. Four individuals were captured and weaponry confiscated and eventually destroyed.
WThe Action of 5 April 2010 was an action by the Royal Netherlands Navy to free the container ship MV Taipan that had been taken by Somali pirates. It occurred during the European Union's Operation Atalanta.
WThe Bombardment of Almería was a naval action which took place on 31 May 1937, during the Spanish Civil War. The Kriegsmarine bombed the city of Almería in retaliation for a Republican air attack on the German cruiser Deutschland.
WThe Battle of Eckernförde was a Danish naval assault on Schleswig. The Danes were defeated and two of their ships were lost with the surviving crew being detained.
WThe Battle of Havana on 9 November 1870 was an indecisive single ship action between the German gunboat Meteor and the French aviso Bouvet off the coast of Havana, Cuba during the Franco-Prussian War. The battle was the only naval engagement of the war, and showed the inability of either navy to gain a decisive advantage over the other. The Franco-Prussian War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the various states of the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 January 1871, the conflict was caused by Prussian ambitions to expand German unification and French fears of the shift in the European balance of power that would result if the Prussians succeeded. A series of swift Prussian and German victories in eastern France, culminating in the Siege of Metz and the Battle of Sedan, saw French Emperor Napoleon III captured and the army of the Second Empire decisively defeated. A Government of National Defence declared the Third French Republic in Paris on 4 September and continued the war.
WThe first Battle of Heligoland took place on 4 June 1849 during the First Schleswig War and pitted the fledgling Reichsflotte against the Royal Danish Navy, which had blocked German naval trade in North Sea and Baltic Sea since early 1848. The outcome was inconclusive, with no casualties, and the blockade went on. It remained the only battle of the German fleet.
WThe Bombardment of Fort San Carlos occurred during the Venezuelan Crisis on January 17, 1903, when two warships of the Imperial German Navy tried to penetrate into Lake Maracaibo but were repulsed by the garrison of Fort San Carlos de la Barra after a brief exchange of fire.