Royal Netherlands Navy in transition ROYAL NETHERLANDS NAVY
T
HE Royal Netherlands Navy is undergoing major changes whose ripples are being felt
around the world, and reaching as far south as Chile, and as far east as Pakistan. Like every other navy, the Dutch are facing
the twin problems of changing roles and restricted budgets. A naval force designed for anti-air warfare (AAW), anti-submarine warfare (ASW), intended to escort convoys across the Atlantic to European ports, and to ensure their entry through a modern mine countermeasures force, is being replaced by an expeditionary force concept designed to operate in the littoral. The Royal Netherlands Navy’s second major
amphibious warfare vessel, HrMS Johan de Witt, was handed over by the Royal Schelde yard on 9 March, having suffered an electrical problem affecting the propulsion system. This has now been rectified and the 16,680tonne ship will soon be available to transport a Marine battalion, supported by up to four medium lift helicopters and four landing craft. The littoral operations requirement has
also helped shape upgrading of the mine countermeasures force, and the force of Tripartite mine hunters (in partnership with the Belgian Navy) is being upgraded, the first two ships HrMs Urk and HrMs Maassluis having returned to service during the spring. Germany's Atlas Elektronik is the prime
contractor and is providing a new command- and-control system with Thales Underwater Systems hull-mounted sonar, and a self- propelled variable depth sonar fitted to a Saab Underwater Systems Double Eagle Mk II. The Poisson Auto Propulse (PAP) mine-disposal vehicles have been replaced with the Atlas Elektronik Seafox mine identification and disposal systems, and the last of the modernised vessels will join the fleet in mid-2009. The Royal Netherlands Navy has also
received four De Zeven Provinciën class destroyers, officially frigates, which have a potential ballistic missile defence capability. They can certainly track tactical ballistic missiles, and two will receive Tomahawk land-attack weapons. It is likely that all their 5inch (127mm) guns will receive Oto Melara's extended range ammunition around the end of the decade. A service life extension programme for its
Walrus class submarines with upgrading of the Thales Underwater Systems' Eledone Octopus medium frequency sonar will get underway by adding a frequency analysis system, replacing the DUUX 5 passive ranging and intercept sonar, and adding a mine avoidance sonar. The work is to start in April 2008 and will last three years, and it is also possible the SEWACO
The Dutch frigate HMS Van Amstel (F-831) sits anchored off the Mississippi coast, while assisting with Hurricane Katrina relief efforts along the Gulf Coast. The Dutch sent a number of ships to assist joint US military forces in the area.
The Royal Netherlands Navy air defence and command ship Tromp has a crew of approximately
HNLMS Zuiderkruis (A 832) performs an underway replenishment with HNLMS Van Nes (F 833) while participating in the Dutch-led exercise Joint Caribe Lion 2006 off the coast of Curacao.
54 WARSHIP TECHNOLOGY MAY 2007
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