Der Oker!

This is coolbert:

Der Oker!

Oker a German warship [Armament: None] currently sailing the waters of the eastern Mediterranean, and that vessel PROVIDING THE MOST COMPLETE AND UP-TO-DATE INTELLIGENCE ON THE SITUATION VIS-A-VIS THE SYRIAN AND THE USE OF CHEMICAL MUNITIONS?

So we may reasonably infer based on a series  of reports as originally seen at Freeper.

Oker and those ships of  the Type 423 class:

"Type 423 Oste class are purpose built SIGINT/ELINT and reconnaissance ships of the German Navy. Officially designated as fleet service ships . . . Accommodation for the crew was designed to civil [civilian] standards, and the Oste class offers much more comfort for the crew than other ships in the German Navy."

An Oste class vessel obviously in a tropical port and not the Baltic!

Oker at various moments working for [?]:

* The German Navy.
* NATO.
* BND. 

That BND the German intelligence agency originally called the Gehlen Organization.

As seen in Freeper:

1. "Report Claims Syrian Troops Used Chemical Weapons Without Assad’s Approval"

"German surveillance suggests chemical attack unauthorized"

"Government forces in Syria may have launched the chemical weapons attack that reportedly killed more than a thousand civilians last month before receiving a go-ahead from President Bashar Assad.
. . . a German spy ship intercepted repeated communications from forces loyal to Assad asking for permission to use chemical weapons"

2. "Syria chemical weapons attack not ordered by Assad, says German press"

"Bild am Sonntag cites high-level German surveillance source suggesting Syrian president was not personally behind attacks"

"President Bashar al-Assad did not personally order last month's chemical weapons attack near Damascus . . . The intelligence findings were based on phone calls intercepted by a German surveillance ship operated by the BND, the German intelligence service, and deployed off the Syrian coast"

3. "Citing German Intelligence || Syrian forces may have used gas w/o Assad's permission"

"Commanders had been urging Assad for authorization to use chemical weapons for more than four months but hadn't received it, Bild reports based on intercepted radio messages..."

"This could mean that Assad may not have approved the attack close to Damascus on August 21..."

"Bild said the radio transmission was intercepted by a German naval reconnaissance vessel, the Oker, sailing close to the Syrian coast."

German law as I understand it precludes [except for the NATO mission in Afghan] the use of  military personnel outside the borders of Germany proper. EXCEPT for intelligence gathering missions perhaps?

coolbert.