Hamburg (D181) was the lead ship of the Hamburg-class destroyer of the German Navy.

They were specifically designed to operate in the Baltic Sea, where armament and speed is more important than seaworthiness.

Stülcken was rather inexperienced with naval shipbuilding, but got the order, since the shipyards traditionally building warships for the German navies like Blohm + Voss, Howaldtswerke or Lürssen were all occupied constructing commercial vessels.

The other STANAVFORLANT ships at that time were HMS Dido, Almirante Pereira da Silva, Hamburg, HNLMS Isaac Sweers and HMCS Assiniboine.

[2] In July 1981, Hamburg participated in the 25th anniversary celebration of German naval aviation training in Pensacola, United States.