Johan De Witt News

Damen Shipyards Den Helder (DSDH) and the Netherlands’ Defense Material Organization (DMO) procurement agency have signed a contract for the design, build and delivery of a prototype Expeditionary Survey Boat (ESB).The craft will be optimized for rapid environmental assessments and hydrographic surveys in harbors, river mouths, shallow waters, coastal areas and shipping channels.The craft will be manned by four persons; two to crew the boat and two technicians to operate the hydrographic equipment, and will be able to spend up over 60 hours continuously at sea at her survey speed of 5 knots.

The Defense Materiel Organization (DMO), part of the Dutch Ministry of Defense, has contracted Alewijnse Marine to participate in the mid-life upgrade of N.R.P. Bartolomeu Dias (F333) and N.R.P. Don Francisco de Almeida (F334). Originally built for the Royal Netherlands Navy (RNLN) in the early 1990s, the two Multipurpose (M) frigates were sold to the Portuguese Navy in 2006.Alewijnse has been contracted for the design, construction, assembly and commissioning of the multi-function consoles…

In an official handover ceremony at the Den Helder Naval Base, the Royal Netherlands Navy took formal delivery of three Damen ASD 2810 Hybrid tugs. In addition to providing an increase in ship handling capacity, the new vessels are also installed with hybrid propulsion systems. This will contribute to Dutch Ministry of Defence ambitions regarding sustainable operations of the Navy. The acquisition of the three Damen tugs is part of the Royal Netherlands Navy’s ongoing fleet renewal programme. The hybrid vessels, named Noordzee, Waddenzee and Zuiderzee, can sail under diesel-direct, diesel-electric or fully-electric power. This will result in a significant increase in fuel efficiency and reduction of exhaust emissions.

The Defense Material Organization has awarded three contracts to Goltens Worldwide’s Green Technologies business unit for the engineering and turnkey installation of sixteen Optimarin Ballast Systems (OBS) on 10 Naval vessels. An official signing ceremony was held May 25 at the Defense Material Organization in The Hague whereby Captain RNLN J. F. Kwak, Head Projects Procurement Division, officially signed the contract on behalf of the Ministry of Defense. M. C. Jeronimus, Vice President of Goltens Europe, signed on behalf of Goltens Green Technologies.

The first of a series of three ASD TUGs 2810 Hybrid was navigated into the Den Helder harbor by the Royal Netherlands Navy (RNLN) on Saturday, February 20. This hybrid tug that bears the name Noordzee is almost 29 meters long and is the first standard hybrid tug supplied by Damen that the RNLN will employ. At this time, the RNLN has four conventional tugs in Den Helder at its disposal. However, these older vessels do not have sufficient power to tug new ships such as the HNLMS Karel Doorman, HNLMS Rotterdam and the HNLMS Johan de Witt.

On Friday, April 10, the Seychelles Coast Guard, Air Force, Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA), Seychelles Maritime Safety Administration (SMSA) carried out a comprehensive search and rescue (SAR)exercise in the Seychelles. The Maritime Police Patrol Unit (MPPU) as well as other authorities participated as observers. The exercise was conducted together with EUCAP Nestor and the EU Naval Force Somalia – Operation Atalanta represented by the Dutch Flagship Johan de Witt, on board the Swedish Force Commander Rear Admiral Jonas Haggren.

As part of the European Union’s efforts to enhance regional states’ maritime security capabilities in the Horn of Africa, on March 15 EUCAP Nestor gave six Nissan 4×4 vehicles, as well as IT and communications equipment, to the Coast Guard of the Federal Government of Somalia in Mogadishu. The EU Naval Force flagship, HNLMS Johan de Witt, helped to deliver two of the vehicles by sea via their Landing Craft Utility vehicles and EUTM staff assisted the teams on the ground. The handover of the vehicles and equipment took place during a ceremony at the EUCAP Nestor compound in Mogadishu…

On Wednesday, May 21 at Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding (DSNS) Yard in Vlissingen Oost, the Netherlands, an evacuation test deployment of a Liferaft Systems Australia (LSA) 20m MES and 100-person capacity self-righting liferaft was conducted from the new Royal Netherlands Navy Joint Support Ship, HLNMS Karel Doorman. The deployment exercise involved the evacuation of 100 Royal Netherlands Navy personnel. The simulated evacuation training exercise was timed and the full 100 person complement was evacuated in less than 5 minutes.

An International Marine Task Force comprised of U.S., U.K., Dutch and Spanish Marine units disembarked from the Royal Netherlands Navy landing platform dock HNLMS Rotterdam (L800) after concluding a comprehensive set of security-enhancing activities as part of Africa Partnership Station (APS), Nov. 10. Over the course of three months, Rotterdam conducted five capability-enhancing engagements in support of the APS program in Senegal, Ghana, Benin, Nigeria and Cameroon. Rotterdam Sailors, Dutch mobile training teams and the International Marine Task Force worked with more than 1,087 maritime professionals in skills ranging from amphibious training, port security, and martial arts to fishery conferences, coxswain training and maritime law.

The Combined Maritime Forces operation was co-ordinated from the British Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel 'Fort Victoria' with support from Australian ship HMAS Melbourne, South Korean destroyer ROKS Wang Geon, European Union flagship HNLMS Johan de Witt and a Seychelles-based maritime patrol aircraft from Luxembourg. The task force had been searching for the pirates since they attacked and exchanged gunfire with the supertanker ‘Island Splendor’ on Friday, 11 October 2013. Three days later a Spanish fishing vessel was also attacked by what was suspected to be the same pirates.

On October 2, 2013, eleven pirates were convicted in the Seychelles Supreme Court of committing acts of piracy and operating a pirate vessel from May 7-11, 2012. Their sentences ranged from 18 months to 16 years. The pirates had been apprehended by the Royal Netherlands Navy frigate, HNLMS Van Amstel, on May 11, 2012, after the warship’s Lynx helicopter sighted a suspicious fishing dhow towing two skiffs, 400 nautical miles off the Somali coast. When the warship’s boarding team approached the dhow…

On 26 September, the Seychelles Peoples Defense Force, Coast Guard and Air Force, together with the EU Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) Somalia Operation Atalanta and EUCAP Nestor, carried out a search and rescue exercise in Seychelles waters. The operation was coordinated centrally by the Seychelles Coast Guard Maritime Operation Center and held in conjunction with the port visit of the Dutch EU NAVFOR flagship, HNLMS Johan de Witt, to the Seychelles. The EUCAP Nestor team in the Seychelles worked closely with the Coast Guard on the exercise and facilitated the liaison with EU NAVFOR.

On 4 September 2013, off the coast of Mogadishu, the EU Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) Atalanta hosted the President of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, on board the Dutch EU NAVFOR flagship, HNLMS Johan de Witt. The President, his Ministers and security commanders met with EU Special Envoy to Somalia, Michele Cervone d’Urso, the EU Naval Force Operation Commander, Rear Admiral Bob Tarrant and Head of Mission of EU Capacity Building Mission (EUCAP) Nestor, Etienne de Poncins. It was discussed how the different EU instruments can support the development of a comprehensive Somali Maritime Strategy.

The Dutch Landing Platform Dock 'HNLMS Johan de Witt' has joined the EU Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) Somalia – Operation Atalanta. For the next 4 months, Johan de Witt will be the EU Naval Force flagship, hosting the Force Commander, Commodore Peter Lenselink, and his multinational staff on board. HNLMS Johan de Witt is a Landing Platform Dock, 176.5 metres in length and 16,948 tonnes displacement. She can accommodate up to 600 persons and has many different assets, teams and capabilities on board…

Hatenboer-Water has received an order for a ‘GloEn-Patrol™ Ballast Water Treatment System.’ Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding (The Netherlands/Vlissingen), the company building the Dutch Royal Navy’s Joint Support Ship (JSS), entrusted the order to Hatenboer-Water. The ship is to take to the seas in 2014. In addition to the ballast water treatment, Hatenboer-Water is also taking responsibility for this logistical support ship’s drinking water supply; the complete drinking water production, the distribution and the after-treatment to ensure the quality of the water.

On June 2, at 10:10 local time, the hijacked Libyan owned merchant vessel Rim reported that the crew had successfully retaken control of the ship. One of the crew members was seriously injured during the incident. The incident took place south east of Garacad, off Somalia’s northern coastline. The closest EU NAVFOR warship, the SPS Victoria, was immediately tasked by the Force Commander Jan Thörnqvist, to meet up with MV Rim in order give medical assistance. SPS Victoria launched her helicopter immediately.

EU NAVFOR HNLMS Johan de Witt has effectively blocked known pirate camp on the Somali coast from access to the open sea. As an amphibious ship, HNLMS Johan de Witt is able, from a dock within the ship, to launch a number of smaller vessels, LCVPs (Landing craft for vehicle and personnel transport), that can provide a blockading role on selected known pirate areas of the Somali coast. Under orders from the Swedish EU NAVFOR Force Headquarters Ship Carlskrona, the warship Johan…

The morning May 7, the EU NAVFOR Swedish Maritime Patrol Aircraft detected another Pirate Action Group (PAG), in the middle of Somali Basin. EU NAVFOR Netherlands warship Johan de Witt, only 30 Nautical Miles from the position, was sent to intercept the suspected pirates by the Force Commander Jan Thörnqvist onboard the Flag ship HSwMS Carlskrona. In mid-afternoon, HNLMS Johan de Witt found the PAG, consisting of one Whaler and two skiffs with a total of 11suspected pirates. During the approach, the suspected pirates were appeared to be trowing their weapons overboard.

Schottel ended the year 2003 with record sales. With 550 employees worldwide, the company continued the previous year’s trend, achieving sales in the new systems and service sectors totalling 90 million euro (2002: 81 million). Sales for the group were thus increased by 11%, and once again exports accounted for some 80% of the total. The extremely satisfactory volume of incoming orders in the last 12 months, amounting to some 88 million euro, means that 42 million euro of orders are on hand for the year 2004. Of particular significance are the latest worldwide sales successes in the areas of tug propulsion systems, offshore supply vessels, cruise ships, research vessels, ferries and military vessels.

On 28th January 2005 the Dutch Chief of Staff, General Dick L. Berlijn, has officially opened the newly covered Dock 2 of Royal Schelde at the shipbuilding location in Vlissingen-East. The existing dock has been covered to facilitate building of large ships unhindered by weather. The first ship which will be completed in the new hall will be the second Landing Platform Dock (LPD), “Johan de Witt” for the Royal Netherlands Navy. The hall is 260 meter long, nearly 50 meter wide and 50 meter high, making it the largest covered dock in The Netherlands. The dock is 215 meter long, 13 meter deep and nearly 30 meter wide. The dock will not only accommodate newly built vessels, but also conversions of existing ones. The covering of the dock required an investment of close to 18 million euro.