Royal Netherlands Navy

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Image:Naval Jack of the Netherlands.svg

The Koninklijke Marine (Royal Netherlands Navy ) is the navy of the Netherlands.

By decree of Maximillian of Austria, on 8th of January 1488, the present Royal Netherlands Navy was formed. However, it was Royal only at the establishement of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815.

This date is not to be mistaken with the founding date of the Royal Netherlands Marine Corps, a part of the Royal Netherlands Navy, which was founded on 10 December, 1665, as the "Regiment de Marine", following a concept resolution by Johan de Witt and Michiel de Ruyter which was presented to the parliament (Staten-Generaal) of the United Provinces in August 1665.

The names of the ships of the Royal Netherlands Navy are prefixed with Hr.Ms. (Her Majesty's or Hare Majesteit's in Dutch) or for historical ships, Zr.Ms (His Majesty's or Zijne Majesteit's). Both prefixes are commonly translated into English as HNLMS.

It's a widespread idea among the Netherlands Navy that the highest rank, a full Admiral (admiraal in Dutch, equivalent to Field-Marshal or Fleet Admiral), is reserved for a royal prince or even the king. However, there is no law to formally support this. In fact the rank was officially abandoned in 1956, though not formally abolished. The Royal connection appeared presumably in the 19th century when 2 royal princes held the rank.

The famous Michiel de Ruyter was a lieutenant-admiral (4 star). The last lieutenant-admirals promoted served during the Second World War. Since then only a few navy officers hold the rank when appointed Chief of Defence Staff, a function which circulates between the Navy, Air Force and Army (Army and Air Force officers will become full Generals when being appointed to CDS). The rank of vice-admiral (3 star) is the most senior rank in use by commanding admirals in the RNLN.

1 Historic ships
2 Current structure
3 Tomahawks
4 See also
5 External link

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Historic ships

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Current structure

The constituent parts of the Royal Netherlands Navy are:

Naval squadron
- 10 Frigates:
  - 4 De Zeven Provinciën class frigates (LCF, officially classified as frigates but in size and role they are destroyers)
  - 6 "Karel Doorman" M-Frigates (8 originally: 2 allready sold to Chile, contract for selling 2 more to Belgium signed late 2005)
- 1 Rotterdam Class LPD Amphibious Transport Ships (one in service and one "Johan de Witt" building, due to enter service in 2007).
- 2 Replenishment Ships .
Submarine service
- 4 "Walrus" Class Diesel/electric submarines.
- One torpedo recovery ship.
Mine Detection and Clearing Service
- 10 "Alkmaar" Class Mine hunters (10 remain in service, 3 to be converted to control vessels for mine-sweep drones, 14 of them will be acquired)
- Four diving support vessels.
Hydrographical Survey
- Two hydrographical survey ships.
Other ships
- Two training ships (1 sailing)
- Five large tugs.
- Seven harbour tugs.
- Seventeen landing craft (Used by the Netherlands Marine Corps.)
- One logistic support vessel for the Netherlands Antilles
- One inshore tanker
- Three patrol cutters for the Netherlands Antilles

Netherlands Marine Corps
- 4 infantry batallions (2 active, 1 reserve, 1 partially active), 1 logistics, 1 amphibious and 1 support battallion

Naval Air Service
- 2 helicopter squadrons (21 helicopters, Westland Lynx)

Coast Guard (Although the Coast Guard is not part of the Navy, it is under its operational control.)

Future changes according to plans of the Dutch Secretary of Defense as of October 14th 2005:
- - 4 Corvettes/Patrol boats
- - 30 (max.)Tomahawk block IV (TacTom) cruise missiles for 2 LCF Destroyers
- - NH-90 helicopter
- - Selling 4 M-Class frigates (2 to Belgium allready apporved)
- - Improved chances to Walrus Class submarines, ro replace the anti-submarine warfare capabilities of the M-Class frigates
- - New improved replenishment ship/helicopter carrier to replace Zuiderkruis
- - Upgrading LCF Destroyers for Theatre Ballistic Missile Defense

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Tomahawks

On October 14, 2005, the government of the Netherlands decided to buy 30 Tomahawks from Raytheon. The Netherlands will be the third country to use the Tomahawk Block IV cruise missile.

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