German Warship Plays Darth Vader's Anthem From Star Wars In Central London | WATCH

The German corvette FGS Braunschweig has arrives in London on Friday, Aug. 16, 2024. (German Embassy London via AP)

Germany’s navy played “Imperial March” and “London Calling” from its warship in London. No deeper message, just the commander’s music choice, says the navy

Germany’s navy says there was “no deeper message” in the choice to blast the famed Imperial March — Darth Vader’s theme song in the iconic “Star Wars” films — from one of its warships.

As the German warship cruised down the River Thames through London this week, a bystander captured the spectacle Monday on video, which quickly went viral on social media.

The German navy said the warship was in the area for training and dropped anchor in London for a normal supply stop. “The commander can choose the music freely,” the navy said in a statement Thursday. “The choice of music has no deeper message.”

Other video recorded the warship, the Braunschweig, playing “London Calling,” the 1979 hit from British rock band The Clash, upon its arrival in London. The song’s title is drawn from the BBC World Service station identification in World War II and its lyrics include the lines, “London calling to the zombies of death/Quit holding out and draw another breath.”

The Braunschweig is named for a city in Germany’s Lower Saxony — an area far, far away from the United Kingdom — and part of the country’s newest class of ocean-going corvettes.

For its departure, a tugboat pulled the warship down the river near Tower Bridge as sailors — without any lightsabers, sadly — stood on the deck. This trip was the Braunschweig’s second to the British capital, the Germany Embassy in London wrote on the social media platform X.

The warship’s commander “is a big ‘Star Wars’ fan and an admirer of the legendary musical scores of John Williams,” the embassy said in a statement. “He chooses a different Williams tune whenever his ship is visiting a foreign harbor.”

(With agency inputs)