Royal Netherlands Navy

Redlands18

Well-Known Member
I see the Netherlands is approved for its 8 Cell mk41 VLS. Are these for new ships or upgrading existing? It seems there are conflicting reports.

Dutch Defence reaches agreement with Damen for ASW frigates (swzmaritime.nl)
The Netherlands and Belgium are acquiring 2 Damen designed ASW Frigates each to replace the 4 M Class currently in service, as a joint project. All 4 are to be built under one project in Romania starting in 2025, I would say these are for at least the Dutch ships, whether the Belgian ships would require a separate FMS, I have no idea. Given its 8x8 VLS for primarily 6400t ASW Frigates though.
 

Sandhi Yudha

Well-Known Member
Dutch Defence reaches agreement with Damen for ASW frigates (swzmaritime.nl)
The Netherlands and Belgium are acquiring 2 Damen designed ASW Frigates each to replace the 4 M Class currently in service, as a joint project. All 4 are to be built under one project in Romania starting in 2025, I would say these are for at least the Dutch ships, whether the Belgian ships would require a separate FMS, I have no idea. Given its 8x8 VLS for primarily 6400t ASW Frigates though.

|"Zoals verwacht gaat het om acht modules van de MK 41 van Lockheed Martin; voor ieder schip twee. En omdat iedere acht cellen heeft, krijgt ieder schip zestien cellen."|

So according to this website this acquisition is also for the two Belgium frigates.
 

Ananda

The Bunker Group

Further news on the ASWF frigates, as Naval News put article on final contract being signed by both Dutch and Belgium defense minister. Also in contract Dutch agree to spend Euro 355 Mio on Belgium defense industry, as seems as compensation for Dutch having more industrial share in the contract.

Naval news also put add information that the contract also open option for third Dutch Frigate.
 

Sandhi Yudha

Well-Known Member
Yes, the third is under option, but for now the plan is that only two frigates will be build for the Netherlands. The contract will be signed on 29 juni on board the Zr.Ms. Karel Doorman, but the ship will be soon out of service for a year. The transformators of the propulsion system have technical problems, repair is not possible so they have to be replaced, which is a complicated operation.
 

Sandhi Yudha

Well-Known Member
The first of ordered OTO Melara 127 mm guns is arrived and installed on the Zr.Ms Evertsen.



De Ministerie van Defensie has ordered four OTO Melara 76mm Sovraponte naval guns for the four new anti-submarine warfare (ASW) frigates. These ships arr under construction for the Belgium and Netherlands navies and will replace the Karel Doormanklasse M-fregatten. OTO Melara will also provide a spare system. This gun will be fitted accordingly as a replacement for the systems undergoing major maintenance.

In addition, the contract includes an option for the delivery of 3 more Sovraponte naval gun systems. These are for Zr.Ms.Karel Doorman and Zr.Ms John de Witt, respectively. These guns will be used to replace the current Goalkeeper close-in weapon systems. The third gun will be used aboard the new supply ship which will get the name Den Helder. This ship will be launched in 2025. The gun will be mounted later.

The turrets are from a new stealthy design and look similar to the turrets of the 40 mm naval guns from the same manufacturer.

 
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Sandhi Yudha

Well-Known Member
The Luchtverdedigings- en CommandoFregat Zr.Ms.De Ruyter F804 will sail next year to the Pacific Ocean to test fire a Tomahawk cruise missile, as first naval ship from the Netherlands.
It was confirmed this year that the Netherlands would get the Tomahawk cruise missile, but until now it is unclear from which variant amd how many.
 

Sandhi Yudha

Well-Known Member
The Zr.Ms Walrus S802 will be definitively retired on thursday 12 Oktober 2023, after more than 31 years of service. Zr.Ms Walrus was commissioned in 1992, but it is to be expected that we have to wait for more than 10 years for the replacement.


Update:
So, Zr.Ms.Walrus is officially decommissioned now after 31 years of service. The submarine will be used for spare parts for the remaining 3 boats.
 
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Sandhi Yudha

Well-Known Member
The development of the LCF/Zevenprovinciënklasse (and F-124 Sachsenklasse) will continue without German involvement. Differences in priorities, like the German wish to use the AEGIS and Hensoldt systems instead of HSA systems and the MEKO platform to speed up the development and construction has led to this.
 

Sandhi Yudha

Well-Known Member
The Dutch have the Damen F126 design which they might be able to use as a baseline.
It is indeed very likely that Koninklijke Schelde (Damen) will use that design for the new frigate program, or at least it will have some F-126 DNA. Maybe a little bit reduced in size and displacement and full of HSA stuff.
 

kato

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
The Dutch have the Damen F126 design which they might be able to use as a baseline.
I'd have to search a bit, but i think i remember that as part of the contract the rights to the design lay with (were sold to) the German government.
 

Sandhi Yudha

Well-Known Member
An official launch ceremony for Vlissingen (M840), the first new mine-countermeasures vessel (MCMV) on order for the Koninklijke Marine, was held at Piriou's shipyard in Concarneau, France, on 19 October.

The Vlissingen is not built in Vlissingen, but at least it has HSA systems in board. The vessel is scheduled to be delivered to the KM in mid-2025.




Update: here we have a video of the launch.
 
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Sandhi Yudha

Well-Known Member
"No guts, no Hollands Glorie!"

So the Dutch government wants to recover the shipbuildingindustry in the Netherlands. They have come with a plan of 25 points to improve and strengthen this industry to old times of glory and they want invest €60 million in the next two years to support this program.

With this they hope the Netherlands will be less dependent from other countries and will build again naval ships in its own shipyards. A little bit late, but "beter laat dan nooit".
 

John Fedup

The Bunker Group
"No guts, no Hollands Glorie!"

So the Dutch government wants to recover the shipbuildingindustry in the Netherlands. They have come with a plan of 25 points to improve and strengthen this industry to old times of glory and they want invest €60 million in the next two years to support this program.

With this they hope the Netherlands will be less dependent from other countries and will build again naval ships in its own shipyards. A little bit late, but "beter laat dan nooit".
They have several yards building large yachts so their ship building industry isn’t totally absent. If you want a large sailing yacht, Royal Huisman is hard to beat. Another yard built the monster sailing yacht Jeff Bezos just took delivery of. No tax payer dollars involved either.
 

Meriv90

Active Member
I don't have my thesis with its maps at hand. But the renewable sector in the North Sea is going to push local shipbuilding significantly.

For that reason also shipbuilding in Germany is moving away from shipbuilding to the energy sector that have way bigger margins of profits.

I hope after the energy sector deep sea fish farming is next (Vard had some nice designs if I remember correctly).

 

Meriv90

Active Member

This map is indicative of the amount of projects in the north sea.


And from this EU report you can see how remunerative is the energy off-shore sector.



I'm posting Germany and not Netherlands because the Netherlands don't have the GVA from it.
 

Sandhi Yudha

Well-Known Member
An interesting article for the Dutch members of Defencetalk. A little bit too late, because the elections are already behind us, but this article was only posted on 21 November.

Here we can read that the left political parties like PvdA, SP, Groen Links en Bij1 love to take decisions against the navy/defence. Frans Timmermans from the PvdA was the one who decided to get rid of the P-3 Orions, and he demanded even that the Onderzeebootdienst had to be disbanded.

It seems to be that the PVV from Geert Wilders will get the most votes in the election this month, it is not really clear which direction they choose, probably in favor of defence, more or less.
|"De PVV zegt voorstander te zijn van een stevige krijgsmacht, maar zwijgt over investeringen."|





Something else, the Zr.Ms.Holland is on her way to the eastern part of the Mediterranean. It is not clear yet what the tasks of the ship will be, but the current destination is Cyprus.
 
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Ananda

The Bunker Group

Xavier video from NEDS 2023 shown SAAB-DAMEN C71 submarine. Base and enlarge design from Swedish ones. Damen ASW Frigate and their project for German F126, LHD for Dutch and UK and Multipurpose Ship for Portuguese.

F126 being around 10000 ton really emphasis more on modularity. Still question for me, as it is reducing their own inherent VLS capacities.
 

John Fedup

The Bunker Group
Some more information on the Saab-Damen sub offering for the Netherlands. Same displacement as the SK design. Both projects are potential candidates for the RCN. No idea how a future government will fund the RCN for 12 boats. Potential bidders should assume 4-6....maybe! The Saab-Damen design for Netherlands will competitive since it is a EU offering. Haven't heard much about the Germans are offering, perhaps a similar design that Germany and Norway are buying?

Saab - Damen Offering C718 Submarine to the Netherlands - Naval News
 
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