ROYAL NETHERLANDS NAVY


VIII combat management system may be upgraded under a later contract. The Dutch have already bought the Weir, Strachan & Henshaw/RFD Beaufort Integrated Submarine Escape Capability (ISEC) under a £1.5 million ($1.93 million) contract, a system that features a containerised life raft within the casing. The Defence Ministry in The Netherlands


has awarded contracts worth €500 million (US$643 million) for a joint logistic support vessel (JLSV) and four offshore patrol vessels (OPVs). These were a political compromise between the government, which wishes to cut defence costs by reducing the fleet and lengthening orders, and the opposition, which wished to maintain a national shipbuilding capability. When the government decided to reduce the frigate force and to postpone replacement of four frigates for 10 years, the OPV plan was created and the JLSV was brought forward. The JLSV will replace the 33-year-


old underway replenishment ship HrMS Zuiderkruis which will not meet new international regulations designed to prevent pollution. She is scheduled to be paid off in 2012 but the Royal Netherlands Navy will receive a more versatile replacement around 2011. The new ship will probably be about 15,000tonnes and will combine underway replenishment with a strategic transport role. This will mean a roll-on/roll-off capability, heavy cranes, an elevator, and helicopter landing spots. The OPVs, officially Patrouilleschepen,


will be 90m ocean-going ships capable of low to medium intensity operations, with deliveries from 2010. They will have a combat management system, a medium-calibre gun, and will be able to operate a medium-size helicopter. They will have a crew of about 50 and will be able to embark up to 40 troops or environmental specialists. However, the newbuild programme on which


the Royal Netherlands Navy has embarked has actually accelerated the reduction of the fleet. The mine countermeasures force has been reduced by a third and the five surplus ships have been sold to Latvia. On 7 February HrMs Dordrecht arrived


in Belgium's Zeebrugge Naval Base for an overhaul before being transferred as LVNS Namejs. She will be handed over to the Latvian Navy at the end of December, her sister ship HrMS Harlinen being renamed LVNS Imanta on 7 March. Also being transferred are HrMs Scheveningen, which will become LVNS Viesturs, HrMs Delfzijl, and HrMs Alkmaar. The last two will also be overhauled at Zeebrugge. The Netherlands sold off its Kortenaer class


general purpose frigates in the 1980s and 1990s and are now disposing of the Karel Doormans. The close relationship between the Netherlands and Brussels is also reflected in the sale of two of these frigates to Belgium with the first, HrMS Karel Doorman, being handed over on 28 March to become the BNS Léopold I. A second frigate, HrMs Willem van der Zaan, will follow in March 2008 and be renamed BNS Louise-Marie. Portugal will buy the HrMS Van Nes and Van Galen, which will be transferred


WARSHIP TECHNOLOGY MAY 2007


The submarine HNLMS Dolfijn (S 808) conducts a low-pressure blow during pre-underway checks in Taranto Naval Base Mar Grande.


in November 2008 and November 2009 respectively for some €248 million ($319 million), following the implementation of a modernisation package. They will replace the 40-year-old Commandante João Belo class frigates. Chile has acquired two more of the class, HrMS Abraham van der Hulst becoming ARC Almirante Blanco Encalada, while HrMS Tjerk Hiddes was transferred in April to become ARC Almirante Riveros, both ships possibly being transferred without their electronic warfare systems and Goalkeeper close-in weapon system. Chile also acquired the two Jacob van


Heemskerck class frigates which have command facilities for a task group commander and his staff. The Dutch Jacob van Heemskerck became the ARC Almirante Latorre in December 2005, while HrMS Witte de Witt became Capitán Prat and arrived in Chile in October 2006. The last two Karel Doormans, HrMS Van


Speijk and Van Amstel will be modified for littoral operations under a €50 million ($68 million) programme. Their sensors, communications, combat management, and ship monitoring systems will all be upgraded when the first ship is modernised, between August 2009 and August 2010. The second will be upgraded from February 2011 to January 2012. Meanwhile, six of the 10 the Kortenaers sold to Greece between 1980 and 2003 are being


upgraded. They are receiving new sensors and combat management systems as well as a new electronic warfare system, but plans to replace the Seasparrow surface-to-air missiles with Evolved Seasparrow have been postponed indefinitely. The first upgraded ship, HS Kountouritis, returned to the Greek Navy in September 2006, followed by HS Adrias in November. HS Navarinon and Limnos are currently being upgraded, and the programme will conclude in 2009 with delivery of HS Aegeon. There is an option to upgrade another two


ships, and Pakistan has expressed considerable interest in acquiring any Kortenaers which Athens did not wish to upgrade. An outline agreement is reported but Greek indecision has apparently led to a hiatus, however, Islamabad may get another source of these excellent ships. The United Arab Emirates acquired HrMS Abraham Crijnssen and Piet Heyn in the late 1990s and they became Abu Dhabi and Al Emirat respectively, but with limited resources and six Al Baynunah corvettes coming into service from 2008, the two frigates are up for disposal and Islamabad is likely to be the favourite to acquire them. As the Dutch have shown, solving the


problems of one navy can prove a major benefit for another. The reduction of the Royal Netherlands Navy has helped half-a- dozen navies around the world in a cascade effect.


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