From June to November 2015 Schleswig-Holstein was deployed with the EU Navfor Med mission in the Mediterranean, assisting in rescuing migrants from shipwrecks and other dangerous situations. On 22 July she rescued 111 people. On 24 August a pregnant Somali woman rescued from a refugee boat by gave birth to a child aboard the ship, the first to ever be born aboard a ship of the German Navy. At the suggestion of the attending medical personnel, the child was named Sophia. This was a name associated with German naval ships named Schleswig-Holstein, as the earlier destroyer Schleswig-Holstein had used the radio call sign "Sophie X". This was itself a reference to the early battleship , which had been dedicated to Princess Louise Sophie of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, as have later ships of the name. EUNAVFORMED was subsequently renamed "Operation Sophia", after the baby born aboard Schleswig-Holstein. After participating in the rescue of a total of 4,224 shipwrecked refugees Schleswig-Holstein returned to her home port of Wilhelmshaven on 9 November 2015.
