Royal Netherlands Navy


The Royal Netherlands Navy is the naval force of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Its origins date back to the Eighty Years' War, the war of independence from the House of Habsburg who ruled over the Habsburg Netherlands.
During the 17th century, the navy of the Dutch Republic was the most powerful naval force in the world and played an active role in the Anglo-Dutch Wars, the Franco-Dutch War, and wars against Spain and several other European powers. The Batavian Navy of the later Batavian Republic and Kingdom of Holland played an active role in the Napoleonic Wars, though mostly dominated by French interests.
After the establishment of the modern Kingdom of the Netherlands, it served an important role in protecting Dutch colonial rule, especially in Southeast Asia, and would play a minor role in World War II, especially against the Imperial Japanese Navy. Since World War II, the Royal Netherlands Navy has taken part in expeditionary peacekeeping operations.

Bases

The main naval base is located at Den Helder, North Holland.
Secondary naval bases are located at Amsterdam, Vlissingen, Texel, and Willemstad. Netherlands Marine Corps barracks are found in Rotterdam, Doorn, Suffisant on Curaçao, and Savaneta on Aruba.

Officer training

Officers of the Nederland Navy are trained at the Koninklijk Instituut voor de Marine, which is part of the Nederlandse Defensie Academie in Den Helder.
Around 100–150 people start training every year.

Ship prefixes

An international prefix for ships of the Royal Netherlands Navy is HNLMS. The Netherlands navy itself uses the prefixes Zr.Ms. when a king is on the throne, and Hr.Ms. when there is a queen. This happens automatically at the moment of inauguration.

History

The modern Netherlands Navy dates its founding to a "statute of admiralty" issued by Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I on 8 January 1488. Naval historians trace the origins of an independent Dutch navy to the early stages of the Eighty Years' War while the formation of a "national" navy is dated to the establishment of the Dutch Republic in 1597.

Netherlands Golden Age

The Netherlands navy was involved in several wars against other European powers from the late 16th century, initially for independence against Spain in European waters, later for shipping lanes, trade and colonies in many parts of the world, notably in four Anglo-Dutch wars against England. During the 17th century the Dutch navy was one of the most powerful navies in the world. As an organization, the navy of the Dutch Republic consisted of five separate admiralties, each with its own ships, personnel, shipyards, command structures and revenues.

World War II

At the start of WW2 the Dutch had five cruisers, eight destroyers, 24 submarines, and smaller vessels, along with 50 obsolete aircraft.
During the Second World War, the Dutch navy was based in Allied countries after the Netherlands was conquered by Nazi Germany in a matter of days: the Dutch navy had its headquarters in London, England, and smaller units in Ceylon and Western Australia.
Around the world Dutch naval units were responsible for transporting troops, for example during Operation Dynamo at Dunkirk and on D-Day, they escorted convoys and attacked enemy targets. During the war the navy suffered heavy losses, especially in defending the Dutch East Indies, most notably the Battle of the Java Sea in which the commander, Dutchman Karel Doorman, went down with his fleet along with 1,000 of the ships' crew. Two Dutch light cruisers and one destroyer leader and three destroyers that were under construction were captured in their shipyard by Nazi Germany.
During the relentless Japanese offensive of February through April 1942 in the Dutch East Indies, the Dutch navy in Asia was virtually annihilated, and it sustained losses of a total of 20 ships and 2,500 sailors killed. The Dutch navy had suffered from years of underfunding and came ill-prepared to face an enemy with more and heavier ships with better weapons, including the Long Lance-torpedo, with which the cruiser sank the light cruiser.
A small force of submarines based in Western Australia sank more Japanese ships in the first weeks after Japan joined the war than the entire British and American navies together during the same period, an exploit which earned Admiral Helfrich the nickname "Ship-a-day Helfrich". The aggressive pace of operations against the Japanese was a contributing factor to both the heavy losses sustained and the greater number of successes scored as compared to the British and Americans in the region.
Both British and American forces believed that the Dutch admiral in charge of the joint-Allied force was being far too aggressive. Later in the war, a few Dutch submarines scored some remarkable hits, including one on a Kriegsmarine U-boat in the Mediterranean Sea, which was sunk by.

Netherlands New Guinea

After the war, the relations between the Netherlands and its colonies changed dramatically. The establishment of the Republic of Indonesia, two days after the Japanese surrender, thwarted the Dutch plans for restoring colonial authority. After four years of war the Netherlands acknowledged the independence of Indonesia.
Part of the Dutch Navy was next stationed in Netherlands New Guinea until that, too, was turned over to the Indonesian government in 1962. This followed a campaign of infiltrations by the Indonesian National Armed Forces, supported by modern equipment from the Soviet Union, that was nevertheless successfully repulsed by the Dutch navy. These infiltrations took place after the order of President Sukarno to integrate the territory as an Indonesian province.

NATO cooperation

With the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, the military focus was on the army and air force; it was not until the Korean War that the navy got more recognition. The government allowed the creation of a balanced fleet consisting of two naval squadrons. Apart from the aircraft carrier the Dutch navy consisted of two light cruisers, 12 destroyers, eight submarines, six frigates, and a considerable number of minesweepers.
As a member of NATO, the Netherlands developed its security policy in close cooperation with other members. The establishment of the Warsaw pact in 1955 intensified the arms race between West and East. Technical innovations rapidly emerged, the introduction of radar and sonar were followed by nuclear weapon systems and long-range missiles. The geopolitical situation allowed for a fixed military strategy. Beginning in 1965, the Dutch Navy joined certain permanent NATO squadrons like the Standing Naval Force Atlantic.

Current structure

The constituent parts of the Royal Netherlands Navy are:

Naval squadron

Contains all surface combatants, replenishment ships, and amphibious support ships.

Submarine service

Contains the submarines and a support vessel.

Mine Detection and Clearing Service

Contains various minehunters.

Hydrographic Survey

The Dutch Hydrographic Service is responsible for relevant hydrographic surveys..

Naval aviation

Although the Netherlands Coastguard is not an official part of the Navy, it is under its operational control. Also the Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard is under the operational control of the Navy and is commanded by the commander of the Navy in the Caribbean.

Equipment

Ships

The Royal Netherlands Navy currently operates 7 main classes of vessels:
Type shipDefensenote 1974Defensenote 1984Priority Document 1993Navy study 2005Economize 2011Defensenote 2018
LC frigates444
M frigates488222
GW frigates222
L frigates122
S frigates12106
MLM frigates6
Frigates252218666
Patrol ships444
Submarine664444
Supply ships22211
LPD1222
JSS111
Minehunters1515151066
Minesweepers1111
Total ships595640282324
LRMP Aircraft211313
Helicopters363020202020
Total aircraft574333202020

* The Royal Netherlands Navy classifies the De Zeven Provinciën-class as frigates, but internationally they are most comparable to destroyers platform for Sea Based Anti-Ballistic Missile defence

Naval aviation – maritime helicopters

In 2012 an Apache attack helicopter from the Royal Netherlands Air Force made a deck landing on board for the first time as part of an initial study into the possibilities for wider use of the helicopters as these will be upgraded to the AH-64E standard which has specific features for maritime operations.
The Dutch amphibious support ship and the HNLMS Karel Doorman JSS are designed to handle Royal Netherlands Air Force CH-47F Chinook helicopters but still require additional anti corrosion measures.

Unmanned vehicles

In 2019 the fleet of the Royal Netherlands Navy consists of these ships:
ClassPhotoTypeNumberDatesDetails
Submarine41994Multi-purpose diesel-electric powered hunter-killer submarines for deep ocean, brown water & special forces operations. SLEP 2015–2019, will be replaced by 4 new subs from 2027 onwards.
Frigate42002Mainly anti-air warfare with BMD capability, ASW and with extensive command & communication facilities.
Frigate219948 initially built for the Royal Netherlands Navy, pairs of ships subsequently sold to the Belgian, Portuguese and Chilean navies. Belgian and Dutch M-Class frigates recently received extensive upgrades such as an extended helicopter deck and new advanced sensors and improvements in stealthiness. Will be replaced in 2028-29.
Offshore patrol vessel42011Ocean patrols
Alkmaar classMinehunter61989Initial class of 15 ships, will be replaced starting 2027
Joint logistic support ship12014Combined amphibious operations/seabased helicopter platform & fleet replenishing, capable of supporting CH-47/AH-64/NH-90 operations
Rotterdam classLanding platform dock21998/2007Troop & equipment transport, helicopter platform with command & communication & hospital facilities
Cerberus classDiving support vessel41992Multi-purpose diving support vessels & harbour protection
Soemba classDiving support vessel11989Multi-purpose diving support vessels & harbour protection
Pelikaan classMulti-purpose logistic support vessel12006Multi-purpose logistic & amphibious support vessel based in Dutch Caribbean
Mercuur classSubmarine support vessel11987Submarine support vessel & MCM command, upgraded in 2017
Snellius classHydrographic survey vessel22004Multi-purpose hydrographic survey vessel

The total tonnage will be approx. 140,000 tonnes. Next to these ships a lot of other smaller vessels remain in the navy.
With these changes the Royal Netherlands Navy will have 10 large oceangoing vessels ranging from medium/low to high combat action ships. The renewed Dutch Navy will be a green-water navy, having enough frigates and auxiliaries to operate far out at sea, while depending on land-based air support, and, with the large amphibious squadron, they will have significant brown-water navy capabilities.

Future changes

In January 2020 women were allowed to join submarine crews in the Royal Netherlands Navy for the first time.
In April 2018, the Dutch Government approved a multi-year investment program and allocated funds for the 2018–2030 period, including;
Together with the United States and several other NATO members, the Dutch Navy is testing and updating its ships for Tactical ballistic missile defense capability. Although tests conducted concerning the capability of the APAR have been very successful, in 2018 the Dutch Government approved plans to acquire the SM-3 missiles for integration into the existing weapon suite of the LCF frigates. The four LCF ships will be fitted out with eight SM-3 missiles each through Foreign Military Sales.

Gallery

Historic ships

Surviving historic ships

Ranks and insignia

Officers

Enlisted ranks