German Navy ship blasts ear-piercing Darth Vader theme on Thames as chit-chat of 'hidden meaning' spreads

A German Navy ship gagged pedestrians after it made its way up the Thames in London blasting Star Wars music on Wednesday morning.

The ship, which was spotted passing the Tower Bridge, was filmed playing the Imperial March theme song from the iconic science fiction franchise. Sailors could be seen on the ship's deck, observing the onlookers .

According to the BBC , the ship found itself in London for training and to fill up on some supplies. A spokesperson for the German Navy told the publication that the music didn't have any "deeper message" beyond it being fun and a cutesy way to bring cheer to Londoners on a dreary, overcast day.

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At 69 degrees Fahrenheit, the skies were partly cloudy over the U.K.'s capital city for most of the day, keeping the air a bit chilly — a small hint of almost autumnal weather as summer nears the end.

"The commander can choose the music freely," the German Navy spokesperson told the BBC. The Imperial March is commonly associated with Darth Vader, one of the series' main characters and the main villain of the first movies — which take place after the newer, early 2000s movies.

A video shot by an onlooker shows as many as a couple of dozen sailors standing against the ship's railing, looking out at the land on either side of the river. The Tower Bridge, near where the ship was first spotted playing the Imperial March, can briefly be seen in the background — the iconic landmark towers over the river.

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The video also shows some stunned pedestrians looking out at the ship from the other side of the river, stopping at the railing by the river's edge to see what was occurring.

The massive ship, which appears to be a battleship or other type of cruiser, is being led by a small tugboat up the Thames to where it was slated to dock and stock up on supplies. It wasn't clear what kind of training exercises the ship was destined to undergo nor whether they would be conducted in tandem with the British Royal Navy.

"Dude... what a legend!" Lebanese radio DJ Frankie Beats wrote on X, along with a breaking news message about the ship and the same video published by the BBC.