For far too long, naval shipbuilding in the Netherlands has been running at a low ebb. For many naval personnel it must have been frustrating to see the country selling off some of its finest naval vessels for a song. But those now serving in the Royal Netherlands Navy can look forward to the arrival of an almost entirely new and larger fleet. Much of it is, unfortunately, still only on paper, as the designs are still being finalised or even in the early stage of defining the requirements for newbuilds.
The first addition has already arrived, however: the CSS Den Helder, which naturally could not be left out of this navy special. Also on the way is the first of a new generation of mine countermeasure vessels, built at a Naval Group yard in France. Bruno Bouckaert has written an interesting article about this. As for the second French project – the new Orka-class submarines – there is little we can report, which is understandable given the sensitivity of the programme.
What we can report on are the new Anti-Submarine Warfare Frigates from our own national shipbuilder. Damen Naval is determined to once again deliver high-quality ships that can stand alongside those being built by the British, French, Italians, Spanish, Germans and Americans – the few remaining frigate builders within NATO. Damen Naval, known as the Royal Schelde Group until 2000, is also the builder of the current M-frigates and the Air Defence and Command Frigates.
The successor to the M-frigate may well be the last traditional surface warship. COMMIT (the Netherlands Defence Materiel Organisation) is drawing key lessons from the war in Ukraine, in which Ukrainians managed to sink much of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet using drones. The new Royal Netherlands Navy fleet must provide an answer to such emerging threats.
Transition to unmanned
We are in a transition towards increasing use of unmanned systems, as Michel Janssen of COMMIT pointed out at the Tideman Symposium in Amsterdam on 7 February. This issue outlines what that transition involves and the challenges it brings. In that respect, I believe this edition offers plenty of worthwhile articles to read.
And with that, I have completed my task as editor-in-chief. After more than eight and a half years leading the editorial team of this magazine, I am stepping down as editor-in-chief, although I will continue as a contributor for the time being.
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The articles in SWZ|Maritime’s September issue
In addition to the regular sections such as Dutch news, Global news, KNVTS, Book reviews and Mars Report, the articles in the September issue are:
