German warship floats on the Thames while playing the Darth Vader theme

The FGS Brunswick is a German naval corvette designed for stealthy littoral (coastal) operations, but the Brunswick The crew ditched stealth altogether as it sailed across the Thames this week on a training mission to London. Instead, the ship brought out its enlisted men to stand on deck in light blue shirts and dark pants as the boat played a recording of “The Imperial March (Darth Vader’s Theme)” by Star Wars as it floated in front of Tower Bridge.

Eight decades after Londoners experienced the German “blitz” of World War II and spent years waiting for a German naval invasion that never came, playing the theme song of the Star Wars movie’s big bad was certainly a bold choice. But a German Navy spokesperson assured the BBC that the music had “no deeper message” and added that it was not some kind of commentary from the German naval staff. Rather, the ship’s commander “can choose the music freely.”

This little show showed two things. First, assuming it was in fact a joke, it debunked the old stereotype that Germans have no sense of humour, a stereotype that has given rise to real BBC headlines such as “Why people think Germans aren’t funny”.

Second, it reminds us that people of my generation, the ones who grew up watching the original (and best!) Star Wars trilogy, are now the ones running the world and its weapons systems. And we bring our musical tastes with us, even if they come from a galaxy far, far away.

Listing image by Lucasfilm / ILMxLAB