Walrus-class submarine


The Walrus-class submarine is the only submarine class currently in operation in the Royal Netherlands Navy. The boats have been in service since 1990 and are all named after sea mammals.

History

In 1974, the Royal Netherlands Navy announced, through the defensenote 1974, that it wanted to replace the aging s. Since the 1960s, the Royal Netherlands Navy had been conducting studies and research into what kind of submarines they wanted to build to replace the older ‘’Dolfijn’’. This research initiative concluded that the Netherlands should build conventional diesel-electric submarines, as nuclear submarines were costly and could only be constructed, crewed, and maintained by countries with major navies such as the United States, France and the United Kingdom. Nonetheless, even with the diesel-electric submarine, the Dutch government also wanted to see if they could try to work together with international allies for the construction to avoid greater costs.
Between 1975 and 1978, the design of the Walrus-class was for the most part completed, and included many improvements which would result in new, state-of-the-art submarines that would mark a significant improvement over previous submarines used by the Royal Netherlands Navy. For example, a special kind of French-produced steel was used to construct the hull of the Walrus-class submarines; this steel proved to be more elastic, allowing the submarines of the class to dive deeper than previous submarines. Furthermore, there was a focus put on automation that was aimed at decreasing the manpower needed to operate the submarine while at the same time making them more effective against threats.
On 19 June 1979, Minister of Defense Willem Scholten signed a contract worth 425 million guilders with the Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij to build 2 submarines to replace the Dolfijn-class submarines, with the construction of the second boat to be started in the following year. Soon, RDM noticed that the new submarines could not be built the same way as the s; it had to use new techniques to build the submarines. Furthermore, the design was constantly modified to incorporate new developments in the submarine world, which led to issues during the building process and slowed the construction process. Nonetheless, construction continued and on 11 October 1979, was laid down. Two years later, on 24 September 1981, was also laid down.
To everyone's surprise, on 19 February 1983, the parent company of RDM, the shipbuilding company Rijn-Schelde-Verolme, went bankrupt even after the Den Uyl cabinet provided 2.2 billion guilders in state aid. This was problematic because the construction of the Walrus-class submarines were far from completion. To make sure the construction of the submarines was continued, RDM was re-established as an independent company. Furthermore, the Royal Netherlands Navy ordered an additional two submarines of the Walrus-class earlier than planned to help RDM financially. However, at this time the Walrus-class submarines were still plagued with many problems.
New problems arose on 14 August 1986, when the command center of Walrus caught fire, while it was still on a scaffold in the yard. The fire lasted about five hours and resulted in immense damage to the submarine; the command center was completely burned out, including all the recently-installed equipment. Some equipment could be rescued, but most had to be replaced. This delayed the construction of the submarines once again. The costs of the resulting damage was 225 million guilders, however, the damage was fully covered by insurance. The exact location, origin and cause of the fire was never found out. Presumably, the fire was caused in the vicinity of the corporals and men's washroom by a defect in the electrical work lighting. The damaged submarine was repaired, and in 1987, it was reported that these repairs had been completed. Due to the fire, the construction of Walrus was so delayed that the second submarine, with construction number 349, was put into service as the first submarine of the Walrus-class with the name HNLMS Zeeleeuw. HNLMS Walrus was put into service two years later. The two other boats were put into service as and. The delays also meant that, and of the Dolfijn-class had to remain in service longer than planned. All the problems, delays and rising costs were eventually dubbed by the Dutch national parliament as the Walrus-affair. Nonetheless, at the time of their commissioning, the Walrus-class submarines were considered to be one of the most modern and advanced conventional submarines that were operational at the time.

Design

The Walrus-class submarines are unusual in that instead of a cross-shaped assembly of stern diving planes and rudders, they mount four combined rudders and diving planes in an "X" configuration. This tail configuration was first tested in 1960 on the United States Navy's, and has since been used by the Walrus class, all Swedish Navy submarines since the, the Royal Australian Navy's, the German Navy Type 212A and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force's. The X configuration is a complex system and therefore not in use by a lot of navies around the world.
The submarines of the Walrus-class are invisible when submerged, silent and therefore difficult to detect by ships, planes and other submarines once they go into hiding. This makes the boats very suitable for the combating surface vessels and submarines, the protection of own units, information gathering, and early warning, and supporting of special operations. The submarines can also be used to enforce international sanctions, as they did during the Yugoslav Wars.
The Walrus-class submarines were specifically designed for hunting Russian submarines during the Cold War. However, they only became operational after the Cold War had ended. Nonetheless, they have provided excellent services in various international conflict situations in which the deployment of the Royal Netherlands Navy was requested. Since the Dutch submarines have acquired a good reputation they are often part of international exercises, taking part in mock battles.

Operational history

After the Cold War, the subs have been tasked for many highly confidential intelligence gathering operations in the Northern Atlantic, Mediterranean Yugoslavian region, Iran, Iraq and the Caribbean often on request of Allies, including the United States.
In June 2010, the Netherlands agreed to deploy one submarine to help combat piracy in the waters off Somalia.
In November 2016, the Russian Navy claimed to have chased off a Walrus-class vessel from a battle group that included the.

Submarine command course

The Walrus-class submarines are used for the Submarine Command Course for both national and international candidates selecting and training future commanders of conventional submarines and is highly rated and has an exceptional reputation. The Royal Netherlands Navy provides this course after the British Royal Navy phased out their conventional submarines.

Upgrade program

In 2007, the Dutch cabinet approved an upgrade of the four operational submarines and recruitment of additional crew to improve overall operational availability. The upgrades were focused on near-shore operations and integration with new weapons,and include:
In 2013, the contract for the Walrus-class Conservation Program was signed. The program covers the preservation of the pressure skin, the replacement of the sonar, navigation periscope and GIPSY combat system, improved communication systems and adaptations to a number of platform systems. All four boats must be modernized in 2019. With the conservation program, boats can be kept operational until mid-2025. The costs of upgrading the four submarines are estimated to be 94 million euro's. The first boat to be upgraded was, followed by, and. The upgrade of Zeeleeuw took longer than expected, initially to be done by 2015, it eventually took till 2016 before the submarine was ready for service again. Currently, Dolfijn is being upgraded at the Den Helder naval base. The Dutch navy has also begun to prepare for the replacement of the Walrus-class submarines.

Replacement

In November 2014, the Dutch Minister of Defence announced plans to replace the Walrus-class submarines in 2025. By 2017, there is still no political agreement on the amount of new submarines to be ordered; nor the type and tasks it should be able to perform. However, it seems certain that they will be replaced, since the alleged Russian threat was regarded an incentive to invest in a new class. The Minister of Defence, however, delayed the replacement by two years until 2027. Roughly, there are two groups in the Dutch parliament – one in favor of replacing the Walrus-class by an equally capable class of large, expeditionary, diesel-electric sub, and the other in favor of choosing a cheaper solution of smaller diesel-electrics, similar to Swedish and German submarines. It is unknown where the new boats will most likely be built; since the Dutch RDM yard that constructed the Walrus-class is no longer in operation. The Defensenote of March 2018 revealed that the Dutch government is still planning to replace the Walrus-class submarines in the future. The budget allocated at this time for the new submarines is more than 2.5 billion euros. Additional information on how to proceed with the replacement will come at the end of 2018, when the Dutch Minister of Defence, Ank Bijleveld, will send a so-called B-letter to the Dutch parliament. Minister Bijleveld also underlined in an interview that the new submarines should have the same niche capabilities as the current Walrus-class submarines. This means that they have to be able to operate, and gather intelligence, in both shallow water close to the coast and in deep water in the ocean.

Contenders

The Ministry of Defence has shortlisted three bidders:
Spain's Navantia was not accepted as a bidder.

Ships in class

All boats were built by the Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij.
ShipHull numberLaid downLaunchedCommissionedStatus
HNLMS S80211 October 197928 October 1985
13 September 1989 		25 March 1992In service
HNLMS S80324 September 198120 June 198725 April 1990In service
HNLMS S80812 June 198625 April 199029 January 1993In service
HNLMS S81014 April 198825 April 19925 July 1994In service

General characteristics