The German naval frigate Hessen has set sail on an EU military mission to secure merchant shipping in the Red Sea against attacks by Houthi militants in Yemen. The warship, with a crew of about 240 sailors on board, left the German Navy’s largest base in Wilhelmshaven on the North Sea coast on Thursday morning. “This is the most serious deployment of a German naval unit for many decades.” Jan Christian Kaack, the inspector of the German Navy, said. “There is no unit in the German Navy that is better prepared, better trained and better equipped for this.” Multiple sources in Brussels told dpa o…