While the Royal Netherlands Navy was established with the foundation of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815, its origins reach back to 8 January 1488, when Archduke Maximilian of Austria issued an ordinance establishing the Admiralty of the Netherlands. This act gave the Dutch naval force official legal status and makes it today the world's third-oldest navy. In the period between 1573 and 1597, maritime cooperation between the Dutch cities grew, with five Admiralty Boards being established in the coastal provinces. However, this collaboration was not a success and rivalry and discord occurred regularly, despite the Dutch Provinces becoming a unified state in 1579. From 1597 onward, the Admiralty Boards equipped their own ships under the authority of the States General, the central federal assembly and governing body of the Dutch Republic from 1588 to 1795. Over the next 200 years, the disjointed organisation of Dutch naval power would prove fatal to the efficient running of the naval enterprise.
During the Eighty Years' War (1568-1648), the Dutch Admiralties often used armed merchant ships. In those days, attacks aimed to board enemy ships in order to settle naval battles. The war ended in 1648 with the international recognition of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces as an independent nation. The armed merchant ships were not up to the task of fighting the English during the First Anglo-Dutch War (1652-1654) and the States General decided to build dedicated warships. Commander-in-Chief Maarten Harpertsz Tromp adopted the British line-of-battle, placing the two fleets on an equal footing. The decision to build dedicated warships was also motivated by the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665-1667). The most popular type of warship was the ship-of-the-line, with 50 to 100 guns mounted on various decks. Another popular warship type was the fast frigate with a single deck of guns.
During the Third Anglo-Dutch War (1672-1674), the Dutch Republic was besieged by England, France, the Bishop of Munster and the Elector of Cologne. Stadtholder William III and Admiral Michiel de Ruyter only just managed to save the Republic from total defeat. In 1674, the United Kingdom and the Dutch Republic formed an alliance that eventually led to the crowning of William III as King of England on 23 February 1689. On 22 April 1676, Michiel de Ruyter was mortally wounded during a naval battle between the combined Spanish-Dutch and French fleets. Only in 1678 did the Republic conclude peace with France.
The end of the Third Anglo-Dutch War and the subsequent peace with the United Kingdom meant that a strong Dutch fleet was no longer needed. This decision brought an end to the pioneering shipbuilding activities of the Dutch in the 17th century and removed the Dutch navy's chances of flourishing. By the time the War of the Spanish Succession ended in 1713, the Dutch fleet had lost almost half its strength. After 1775, tensions again rose between the United Kingdom and the Republic, culminating in the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War in 1780. The war's most significant naval battle, the Battle of Dogger Bank, was inconclusive, though both England and the Republic proclaimed victory.
In January 1795, the Dutch Republic was invaded by French revolutionary forces supported by a domestic uprising of Dutch patriots. The Republic collapsed and was replaced by the Batavian Republic, which united the five Admiralty Boards into one. Great Britain declared war on the Batavian Republic and in 1797, during the battle of Camperdown, the Dutch fleet suffered a humiliating defeat. This defeat brought an end to the Netherlands' status as a significant maritime power. In 1806, the Netherlands fell under Napoleonic French rule, with the former Republican Navy being reduced to a third-rate naval force.
On 30 November 1813, William I, son of the last Stadtholder William V, came ashore in Scheveningen. With their strong allegiance to the House of Orange, virtually every man in the Dutch navy supported William I. In 1815, the Congress of Vienna which convened to reorganise Europe and establish a lasting peace after the defeat of Napoleon, agreed to the union of the Southern Netherlands with the former Republic of the Seven Provinces. William I would reign as king over what was subsequently known as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands.
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| The museum's first gallery covers the period from 1488 to 1815. Although the Marinemuseum's founders decided in 1962 to focus on the history of the Royal Netherlands Navy, which was not formally established until 1815, this gallery addressing pre-1815 Dutch naval history provides useful background and context. |
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| The displays in the 1488-1815 gallery focus on the recurring themes of 'floating castles' (warships), naval heroes, and sea battles during this period. Items seen here include portraits of William I, King of the Netherlands (1772-1843), and Baron Pieter Melvill van Carnbee (1743-1826), a Dutch naval officer who distinguished himself in battles against the British (1781) and French (1793-94) and eventually rose to the rank of Vice-Admiral. |
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| A 1:55 scale model of a coastal defence vessel armed with 10 cannons, circa 1650. |
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| A four-pound cast iron cannonball from the Dutch ship Brederode, flagship of Vice-Admiral Witte Cornelisz de With during the Battle of the Sound, 8 November 1658. Danish authorities recovered this cannonball from the wreck of the Brederode, which sank in the Øresund, just north of Copenhagen. The cannonball was presented to the Royal Netherlands Navy in 1958, during the 300th anniversary commemoration of the Battle of the Sound. |
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| A bronze bust of Lieutenant-Admiral Maarten Tromp (1598-1653). Tromp served in the navy of the Dutch States General between 1607 and 1653 and fought Dunkirk privateers and the Spanish and English fleets during that period. In 1637, Tromp was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the fleet. In this capacity, he achieved several victories, including those over the Spanish fleet off the Downs (1639) and over the English fleet off Dungeness (1652). After that last naval battle, Tromp was said to have tied a broom to the mast to indicate that he had 'swept the sea clean of the enemy'. Tromp died on 10 August 1653, during the Battle of Terheide. |
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| A plaster cast of the face of Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter (1607-1676), Lieutenant-Admiral of the Dutch fleet. De Ruyter was fatally wounded by a cannonball during the April 1676 Battle of Augusta, off Sicily, while fighting a French fleet. He died a week later and is buried in the mausoleum in the Nieuwe Kerk (New Church) in Amsterdam. |
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| On the left is a painting of Johan Evertsen (1600-1666), Lieutenant-Admiral of Zeeland. Evertsen distinguished himself in the battles of the Slaak (1632), Dungeness (1652), Terheide (1653), and the Sound (1659). In 1666, Evertsen played a prominent role during the Battle of Lowestoft, where he had to take command and was killed during the Two Days' Battle in the same year. On the right is a painting of Lieutenant-Admiral Michiel de Ruyter by Izaak Schouman, a drawing teacher at the Royal Military Academy (KMA) in Breda. The Royal Netherlands Navy commissioned Schouman to paint 17th century naval heroes, including this one of de Ruyter. |
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| A painting showing Michiel de Ruyter on his way to his flagship, De Zeven Provinciën, in advance of his June 1667 raid on the Medway in England. This daring raid saw a Dutch fleet sail up the Thames, burning English ships and capturing the English flagship, Royal Charles. De Ruyter was ill during the first phase and barely participated in the operation, but was fully present and shared in the glorious reception in the fatherland. |
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| A painting, entitled 'The Battle of Texel, 1673', by Jan de Quelery. The canvas depicts the intense fighting during the final naval battle of the Third Anglo-Dutch War, in which the Dutch fleet, led by Admiral Michiel de Ruyter, defeated the combined English and French fleets on 21 August 1673. The battle occurred off the Dutch island of Texel, located in the North Sea, north of Den Helder. |
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| A painting of the Battle of Camperdown, 11 October 1797, showing the 56-gun Dutch ship Delft exchanging fire with the 64-gun British ship HMS Monmouth. In the background is the heavily damaged 56-gun Dutch ship Alkmaar. The painting depicts the situation shortly before Delft surrendered and was taken as a prize by the British; Alkmaar was similarly captured as a prize. Occurring during the First Coalition War (1792-1797), the Battle of Camperdown was fought between a Dutch fleet under Vice-Admiral Jan Willem de Winter (1761-1812) and a British fleet under Admiral Adam Duncan (1731-1804). |
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| A 1:55 scale model of the Alkmaar, a frigate of the Admiralty of Amsterdam, circa 1630. Armed with 24 guns, this type of frigate was intended to be a response to the fast Dunkirk privateer ships that, following the end of the Twelve Years' Truce (1609-1621), once again attacked Dutch merchant ships in large numbers. |
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| A 1:50 scale model of the Chattam, a three-decked, 90-gun ship of the line built in Rotterdam and launched on 24 May 1799. Chattam was transferred to the French navy in July 1810 and renamed Le Chatham, reverting to Dutch service under her original name in August 1814. One of the last ships of the line to serve in the Dutch navy, Chattam was broken up at Vlissingen in 1823. |
Gallery 2: 1815-1874The Congress of Vienna (1814-1815) laid the foundations for a new balance of power in Europe. A strong and independent United Kingdom of the Netherlands under the House of Orange was intended to curb the expansionist ambitions of countries such as France. The British Empire attached so much importance to this containment policy that the Netherlands regained the colonies occupied during the French period.
The Treaty of Vienna, signed on 30 May 1814, allocated a relatively large number of ships to the Netherlands. By the next year, 24 ships-of-the-line, 14 frigates, and a large number of sailing gunboats formed the core of the Dutch navy. However, these ships were built rapidly and suffered from poor quality construction due to the use of non-Scandanavian timber. (Between 1793 and 1815, it had gradually become impossible to trade with the Scandinavian countries and, as a result, the Dutch shipbuilding industry was dependent on domestic timber of inferior quality.) The result of this shoddy construction was that the Dutch fleet suffered a number of naval disasters between 1815 and 1830. By 1820, only nine ships-of-the-line and 10 frigates remained in service. Organisationally, the Royal Netherlands Navy at this time became centralised. However, austerity was the order of the day and the navy's annual budget amounted to only six million guilders. This paltry amount had to cover the expense of maintaining a large number of ships and eight naval ports.
On 27 August 1816, a combined Anglo-Dutch naval squadron bombarded Algiers in response to acts of piracy against European trading vessels. These acts by Algerian privateers were sanctioned by their leader, who demanded 'presents' from trading nations in exchange for unimpeded navigation through the Mediterranean. Ships of nations refusing to comply with this demand were boarded and the crew members enslaved in Algerian stone quarries. After nine hours of naval bombardment, the ruler of Algiers backed down, freeing more than 1,200 European slaves.
Until the mid-1800s, the Royal Netherlands Navy's poor care of its nautical instruments led to many problems for commanding officers, who were challenged to determine their position at sea and the course to be set. The navy lacked a systematic examination of instruments until Professor F. Kaiser was appointed as 'Verifier of the State's Marine Instruments' in 1858. His task was to purchase, repair, and improve compasses, sextants, and telescopes, and later also rangefinders, periscopes, and other marine instruments. One of the problems that needed to be overcome was the effect of a ship's iron hull on the magnetic compasses used for navigation.
While screw-propelled steamships proved successful in the Dutch East Indies, the ideal type of ship for use in European waters presented a challenge. Initially, the defence of harbors and inlets was entrusted to anchored blockships or floating batteries. These were old wooden ships-of-the-line and large frigates that had been stripped of their upper decks, fitted with a heavy deck, heavily armed with cannons, and covered with armor plates. In the 1870s, the so-called Armour Commission investigated the armouring of ships in general. With its recommendation to limit the role of the navy to the direct defence of the coast, the Fortress Act of 1874 was passed in parliament. Going forward, the emphasis was placed on armoured steamships and British and Dutch shipyards produced ram turret ships, monitors, and steam-powered gunboats for the Royal Netherlands Navy.
In July 1863, the steam-powered corvette HNLMS Medusa sailed through the Straits of Shimonoseki separating the Japanese islands of Honshu and Kyushu in order to reach the Japanese inland sea. In a fit of xenophobia, the Prince of Nagato, a local Japanese warlord, began shooting at the ship, killing or wounding several of Medusa's crew. Despite this, Medusa forced her way through. The next year, an international naval squadron, including Dutch ships, forcibly opened up the blocked sailing route. After heavy bombardment, the Prince of Nagato admitted defeat.
In 1871, Great Britain allowed the Netherlands greater freedom to trade in North Sumatra (Aceh), making it possible to root out piracy in that region. However, as negotiations with the local sultan on ending piracy did not succeed, the government of the Dutch East Indies decided to take military action. The Royal Netherlands Navy's role in this action was to provide gunfire support to the army, disembark landing divisions from the ships, and deploy two companies of marines. The Sultan's headquarters was captured, but the war was not yet over and most of the navy in the Dutch East Indies was used to enforce a trading blockade on the coast of Aceh. The conflict would continue for another 30 years.
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| The 1815-1874 gallery. As the 19th century progressed, the Royal Netherlands Navy's fleet underwent an immense transformation driven by technological change. Wooden sailing ships gave way to iron-hulled, steam-driven ships sporting heavier guns. In 1826, the navy bought the Curaçao, a steamship propelled by paddlewheels. After it was discovered that paddlewheels were far too vulnerable to gunfire, screw propellers soon replaced the paddlewheels on warships. The first screw-propelled steamship was taken into service in 1847. With an excellent record of service in the Dutch East Indies, this type of ship used sails to exploit available wind and reduce the use of precious coal, employing auxiliary steam power only during activities in the vast Indonesian archipelago itself. By the second half of the 19th century, sailing ships had virtually disappeared, with a few exceptions for training vessels, guard ships, or floating batteries. |
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| A scale model of the brig HNLMS Irene. Originally built for the British Royal Navy in 1806 and named Grasshopper, the ship surrendered to the Dutch at Den Helder in 1811 after becoming trapped. Subsequently, she served the navy of the Kingdom of Holland, the French Imperial Navy, and the Royal Netherlands Navy. In Royal Netherlands Navy service, Irene escorted merchant ships to the Dutch Caribbean in 1815-16 and served off Spain and in the Mediterranean in 1816-18. Sent to the Dutch East Indies in 1819, the ship remained on the station until 1821. Returning to the Netherlands in 1821, Irene was broken up in Vlissingen the next year. |
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| A 1:50 scale model of the ironclad ram turret ship HNLMS Prins Hendrik der Nederlanden. The first armoured ship of the Royal Netherlands Navy, Prins Hendrik der Nederlanden was laid down in Birkenhead, England in 1865 and launched on 9 October 1866. Although intended for service in the Dutch East Indies, she did not depart until 10 years later. In 1894, Prins Hendrik der Nederlanden participated in the Lombok Expedition that led to the complete colonisation of Bali and Lombok in Indonesia. In her later years, the ship served as an ammunition hulk in Surabaya and was decommissioned in 1905 before being scrapped in 1925. |
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| An 1866 painting of HNLMS Prins Hendrik der Nederlanden. The painting shows how the ship's rigging was lowered in order to fire the turreted guns. |
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| A display of heavy artillery in use aboard Dutch naval ships in the period 1815-1874. Between 1550 and 1860, ships were armed with muzzle-loading guns. Smoothbore gun barrels required round balls, as projectiles that were not round spun off course. By cutting spiral-shaped grooves into the barrel, an elongated projectile would be spun rapidly on its axis, thus providing stability in its trajectory and increasing accuracy and the likelihood of penetration of the target. Muzzle-loading guns had to be loaded inboard and then run back out the gunport to fire, a time-consuming process. As soon as it became possible after 1850 to seal the breech of the gun in a gas-proof manner, breech-loading guns became popular. Breech loading guns were much faster to operate. Mounting guns on deck instead of between decks made it necessary to protect the gun crews by mounting the guns in turrets or placing them behind a shield or barbette. Revolving gun turrets were a revolution in that the field of fire was greatly enlarged, making it possible to fire in a circle without first turning the entire ship. On the floor in the middle of the display is a 190mm bronze mortar on a wooden sled. Firing a shell on a curving trajectory, such mortars were particularly effective against entrenched enemy troops at close range; the shells had a hard metal casing with an explosive core, detonated by a fuze at the moment when it could inflict the most damage. Mortars were carried aboard ships intended for coastal bombardments, as well as by naval landing divisions for shelling enemy positions beyond the range of a ship's guns. Mounted on the wall are 19th century tools for loading and cleaning muzzle-loading cannons. |
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| A 120mm bronze howitzer with screw elevation on a sled, manufactured by J.J. Maritz in The Hague, 1853. A howitzer fires artillery shells in a curved trajectory, plunging fire onto targets behind cover. With its curved trajectory, a howitzer could fire over friendly troops during a naval landing on an enemy coast. |
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| A painting of the corvette HNLMS Medusa at anchor. Lieutenant Commander Jonkheer Frederik de Casembroot (1817-1895) was captain of the ship. |
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| A painting of the corvette HNLMS Medusa under sail. The Medusa was a steam-powered corvette launched in Amsterdam in 1854 and decommissioned in 1866. |
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| A brass bridge compass. The magnetic compass was fitted inside the brass housing, with the cylindrical projections on either side being the 'compensation devices'. Once naval ships began to be constructed from iron, it became apparent that the iron influenced the magnetic field aboard the ship. As a result, the magnetic compass showed deviations. By placing metal rods and spheres next to and behind the compass, the ship's magnetism was compensated for. |
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| A portrait of Lieutenant Gerardus Johannes de Jonckheere (1830-1908), depicted wearing a full dress uniform. He is standing at the railing of a naval ship, with a telescope in his right hand and a model 1843 naval sabre on his left hip. |
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| The gangway boards from the first-class screw steamship HNLMS Koningin Emma der Nederlanden, commissioned in January 1879. Gangway boards were part of a ship's ornamentation in the 19th century. These boards were placed on the gangway, often during official occasions, when the ship was alongside the quay. Gangway boards were often richly decorated, with these ones bearing the national coat of arms of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. |
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| The 1815-1874 gallery, with models of some of the Royal Netherlands Navy's notable steam-powered warships and portraits of ships and famous Dutch naval leaders hanging on the walls. |
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| An 1849 portrait of Vice-Admiral Julius Constantijn Rijk (1787-1854). Depicted here in the ceremonial uniform of a vice-admiral in 1849, Rijk had a distinguished naval career. He was interested in shipbuilding and hydrography and served as Minister of the Navy from 1843 to 1849. Under Rijk's command, the Dutch navy underwent a large-scale reorganisation. Among other awards, Rijk received the Military Order of William and the Order of the Netherlands Lion. |
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| A 1:100 scale model of the iron-hulled turret ram ship HNLMS Koning der Nederlanden, the largest ship operated by the Royal Netherlands Navy in the 19th century. Displacing 5,400 metric tons, the ship was armed with two 11-inch muzzle-loading rifled guns in turrets, four 5-inch breech-loading guns, and six 1.5-inch Hotchkiss five-barreled revolving guns. The ship represented a compromise between the requirements for armor, artillery, and steam power and the dimensions of the North Holland Canal. Built at the Royal Shipyard in Amsterdam between 1871 and 1874, Koning der Nederlanden was intended for the Dutch East Indies naval forces, under the authority of the Ministry of the Colonies. After the end of her seagoing service there, Koning der Nederlanden was used for many years as an accommodation vessel and training ship. On 2 March 1942, Koning der Nederlanden was scuttled by her crew in Surabaya in the Dutch East Indies to prevent her capture by invading Japanese forces. |
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| A 1:100 scale model of the Royal paddle steamer Valk, 1883. The Valk was a first-class paddle steamer operated by the Royal Netherlands Navy that served the Royal Household. In 1883, the ship was refitted with a two-masted rig after being converted into a Royal yacht. She was withdrawn from service in 1898. |
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| A 1:100 scale model of the first class screw steamship HNLMS Atjeh. The Atjeh, commissioned in 1877, was of composite construction, being built of iron and clad in wood. The ship had excellent sailing qualities and was therefore ideally suited to maintain service to the Dutch East Indies. Under sail, Atjeh's telescopic funnels could be lowered and the propeller retracted. Like many other ships of this era, the Atjeh also ended its career as an accommodation and training ship in 1922. |
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| A 1:50 scale model of the fourth-class screw steamship HNLMS Java. Commissioned in 1886, Java was of composite construction, being built of iron and clad in wood. She was sent to the Dutch East Indies in 1886 to serve as a station ship and in 1904 was decommissioned and transferred to the Government Navy (GM), a civilian administrative organisation that fell under the authority of the Ministry of the Colonies in the Dutch East Indies. |
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| This display case holds various navigational instruments, including a sextant; an octant; a chronometer; a pair of pocket binoculars; an hourglass in a brass case used to measure the ship's speed; and a magnetic compass |
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| A bronze muzzle-loading, 8-pounder field gun manufactured around 1850 by Friedrich Krupp of Essen, Germany and captured during the forcing of the Strait of Shimonoseki (Japan), September 1864. On 5-6 September 1864, an international naval squadron comprising American, British, French, and Dutch ships ended the the blockade of the shipping route through the Strait of Shimonoseki that had been imposed by the xenophobic Prince of Nagato. Sixty-two guns were seized during the operation, including this one. While the gun itself was manufactured by Krupp in Germany, the Japanese-made carriage features Japanese characters beneath the iron fittings on the wheels. |
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| A display of items commemorating Lieutenant Jan Carel Josephus van Speyk, captain of Gunboat No. 2, who sacrificed himself and most of his crew to keep his vessel from falling into the hands of the rebellious Flemings. The Flemings of the Southern Netherlands rebelled in August 1830 in a bid to gain independence from the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Scheldt Naval Force deployed by Dutch King William I bombarded the Flemish city of Antwerp in October 1830, leading to a truce. The naval force remained stationed off Antwerp and, on 5 February 1831, Gunboat No. 2 broke free of her moorings and was in danger of drifting ashore and falling into the hands of the Flemings. Lieutenant Van Speyk, who had earlier said he would never allow his ship to be captured by the enemy, set fire to his gunpowder supplies. The resulting explosion killed Van Speyk, most of his crew, and dozens of Flemish attackers. Van Speyk was venerated as a national hero in the Netherlands, his image appearing on a wide range of items, including the commemorative medals, doorknob, plates, cups and saucers, cigar cases, and spoons displayed here. The display also contains a pistol with an inscription indicating it was presented to Van Speyk in 1828 for demonstrated courage and good judgment; it is a composite pistol originally manufactured in Utrecht in the second half of the 1700s, with the decorations and inscription added in 1828. |
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| A model of Gunboat No. 2. Gunboats were deployed in places that larger ships, such as cruisers, could not access. These types of ships had a shallow draft, allowing them to sail close to the coast. Moreover, as the deployment of larger ships was very costly, smaller ships were often preferred. |
Gallery 3: 1874-1940
In the period 1874 to 1940, the Royal Netherlands Navy attracted media attention, sometimes for an exceptional achievement but sometimes for less savoury reasons. In 1900, as war raged between British forces and Boer rebels in South Africa, Dutch Queen Wilhelmina, motivated by sympathy for the Boers' struggle for independence, directed HNLMS Geldeerland to retrieve South African president Paul Kruger, who was on the run. This attracted much media attention, as did the epic 1934-35 voyage by submarine HNLMS K XVII from Den Helder to Surabaya in the Dutch East Indies. This was the first time a submarine had made such a long journey without an escort and useful gravity experiments were conducted during the voyage by Dr. F.A. Vening Meinesz.
Far-reaching technological and social changes at the end of the 19th century also affected naval personnel and, as the navy demanded more and more of them, some sailors began to question the severe working conditions aboard ship. Meanwhile, the Aceh War that had begun in 1871 continued and the First World War broke out. After the First World War, relations between the Dutch naval leadership and the rank and file sailors remained strained. A dark page in Dutch naval history was the 1933 mutiny on the coastal defence ship HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën in the Dutch East Indies. To quash the mutiny, the naval leadership ordered that an aerial bomb be dropped on the ship, resulting in the death or injury of several mutineers; most of the surviving crewmen were punished for either taking part in the mutiny or insufficiently resisting the mutineers. A purge of disgruntled naval personnel was subsequently carried out and it would take another World War to restore the bond of trust between officers and ratings.
In the field of naval shipbuilding, it was not until around 1900 that a certain degree of standardisation of ship types emerged, driven by Britain's launch of the revolutionary battleship HMS Dreadnought. Although the Netherlands applied various technical innovations in the shipbuilding industry, it was forced to abandon its highest ambitions due to financial and manpower limitations. Gunboats and torpedo boats were deemed sufficient for the defence of the Netherlands; however, given the major colonial interests in the Far East, a new generation of ships with high speed, advanced weaponry, and good armour were launched between 1891 and 1910. In 1912, a state commission recommended the construction of nine dreadnought battleships to defend the Dutch East Indies, with the ships to be built abroad; however, the outbreak of the First World War put an end to this plan.
During the First World War, the Royal Netherlands Navy patrolled the Dutch coast using ironclad cruisers, gunboats, and torpedo boats. The role of these vessels was to prevent foreign warships from entering Dutch territorial waters and the Dutch ships regularly caught German and British warships. Whether the ships and crews of these German and British vessels were interned or released under escort depended on the circumstances by which they had violated Dutch neutrality. To enhance coastal defences, the Dutch Coast Guard was militarised and an investigation service was established. War buoys and mine barrages were laid to defend territorial waters, but this resulted in heavy casualties to naval personnel trying to deactivate floating mines that had broken free of their mooring cables or washed ashore. In the Dutch East Indies, the Dutch naval squadron was given the almost impossible task of protecting the neutrality of the vast archipelago. This included guarding against any fuel being illegally supplied to the warships of the belligerents, as well as engaging any foreign warships in territorial waters.
After the First World War, worn-out naval equipment had to be replaced as quickly as possible. However, the 1920s were marked by far-reaching budget cuts and only with great difficulty was the navy able to obtain approval for the construction of three cruisers, six destroyers, and various submarines. After 1935, the tense political situation in Europe and Asia led to the abandonment of austerity measures and investment in new naval capability. Shipbuilding projects were launched at a rapid pace and an ambitious (though unrealised) plan to build battleships to defend the Dutch East Indies was drawn up. On 28 August 1939, the Netherlands mobilised its armed forces. As in 1914, one of the first actions was to lay mine barrages across various tidal passages. The first Dutch casualties of the Second World War were sailors of two minesweepers, killed while working in the minefields.
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| A painting of the departure of the armoured cruiser HNLMS Noord-Brabant for the Dutch East Indies. On 6 February 1901, HNLMS Noord-Brabant departed from the port of Vlissingen on a voyage to the Dutch East Indies. The ship returned to the Netherlands in 1904. The painting depicts Noord-Brabant sailing out of Vlissingen harbour, with dozens of people standing on the quay to wave goodbye to family members on board. The city's fortifications can be seen in the background. |
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| A 1:100 scale model of the coastal defence ship HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën. De Zeven Provinciën was laid down at the Royal Shipyard in Amsterdam in 1908 and commissioned into the Royal Netherlands Navy on 6 October 1910. She saw service in the Dutch East Indies between January 1911 and November 1918. De Zeven Provinciën served as an artillery instruction ship from 1928. On 4 February 1933, a mutiny broke out aboard the ship while cruising off Sumatra. To suppress this mutiny, a 50-kilogram bomb was dropped on the ship by the Dornier 'Wal' flying boat D-11, killing 23 mutineers and causing the others to immediately surrender. Taken out of service and modified to serve as a training ship, De Zeven Provinciën was renamed HNLMS Soerabaja in 1936. Soerabaja was sunk by Japanese bombers on 18 February 1942 while moored in Surabaya harbour. Salvaged by the Japanese and used as a floating gun battery, Soerabaja was hit by Allied bombs in 1943 and sunk for good. |
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| A scale model of HNLMS Zeeland, one of six Holland-class protected cruisers built for the Royal Netherlands Navy between 1895 and 1901. Zeeland was laid down at the Royal Schelde Shipyard in 1895 and launched on 20 March 1897. Commissioned on 1 June 1898, Zeeland was 93.3 metres in length, displacing 3,900 tons. Armed with a mix of 5.9-inch, 4.7-inch, 3-inch, and 1-pounder guns and two 18-inch torpedo tubes, the ship had a crew of 324 and a top speed of 20 knots (37 km/h). Zeeland served as the flagship at the 15 September 1898 fleet review for the newly-crowned Queen Wilhelmina. Dispatched to the Dutch East Indies, Zeeland participated in expeditions to South Celebes in 1905 and Bali in 1906 as part of the effort to overcome resistance to Dutch control of the East Indies. On 7 June 1917, Zeeland departed Den Helder and sailed around the world to Surabaya in the East Indies, arriving on 4 November. On 3 December 1917, she sailed back to the Netherlands using the same route. HNLMS Zeeland was decommissioned in 1924 and scrapped. |
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| A 1955 painting depicting the arrival of South African President Paul Kruger (1825-1904) in Marseille, France during the Second Boer War. On 22 August 1900, the protected cruiser HNLMS Gelderland departed from Vlissingen bound for the Dutch East Indies. Under pressure from the public, the Dutch government decided to make Gelderland available to transport Kruger from Lourenço Marques in Portuguese East Africa to Marseille. The painting shows the disembarkation of Kruger, who is being rowed ashore in a sloop flying the Dutch flag, surrounded by well-wishers in small boats flying the flags of France and the Boer Republic. |
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| A painting depicting the armoured ships HNLMS Piet Hein and HNLMS Evertsen sailing off the Hook of Holland. |
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| A 1:50 scale model of the Evertsen-class coastal defence ship HNLMS Piet Hein. Piet Hein was laid down in 1893 at the Netherlands Steamship Company dockyard in Rotterdam and launched on 16 August 1894. After entering service on 3 January 1896, she departed for the Dutch East Indies in 1900. |
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| During the 1900 Boxer Rebellion, in which a sectarian movement occupied various legations in Peking, China, Piet Hein patrolled off the Chinese coast together with HNLMS Koningin Wilhelmina der Nederlanden and HNLMS Holland to underscore Dutch interests there. Piet Hein returned to Surabaya in the Dutch East Indies in 1901 and was decommissioned in 1914 and subsequently scrapped. |
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| A painting depicting the 15 September 1898 fleet review in the Hollands Diep, an estuary of the Rhine and Meuse rivers. Queen Frederica Sophia Wilhelmina (1880-1962) was crowned as Queen on 6 September 1898 and the Royal Netherlands Navy welcomed the new monarch with a fleet review of 18 warships nine days later. |
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| A scale model of HNLMS O 1, ex-Luctor et Emergo. In 1905, the submarine was built at the Royal Company De Schelde shipyard in Vlissingen as a private undertaking and named Luctor et Emergo (Latin for 'I struggle and emerge'). Despite initial scepticism and concerns over how the sea trials were conducted, the Minister of the Navy purchased the boat as the Netherlands' first submarine. She was commissioned as HNLMS O 1 in 1906, with a crew of only ten men and armament consisting of a single 250mm torpedo tube. Queen Wilhelmina and her husband Prince Hendrik showed great interest in the submarine, with Prince Henrik even paying a visit aboard. This model was presented to Queen Wilhelmina on the occasion of her visit to the Royal Company De Schelde shipyard on 12 September 1907. |
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| A 1:50 scale model of the submarine HNLMS K XVIII. Built in 1932 at the Fijenoord shipyard in Rotterdam, the K XVIII became world-famous for its voyage around the world in 1934-1935. After the outbreak of war with Japan, K XVIII successfully attacked a Japanese convoy; however, damage sustained by K XVIII in this action ultimately proved fatal. Repair work could not be completed before the Netherlands capitulated and the staff of the naval base in Surabaya were ordered to scuttle K XVIII to prevent her capture by the Japanese. In 1944, the Japanese salvaged the boat and used her as an air warning picket hulk in the Madura Strait. On 16 June 1945, K XVIII was sunk by a torpedo fired by the British submarine HMS Taciturn. |
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| A poster advertising the 20 March gala premiere of the film 20,000 Miles at Sea, the voyage of HNLMS K XVIII. The film documents K XVIII's epic journey from the Netherlands to the Dutch East Indies between 14 November 1934 and 11 July 1935. The voyage included stops in Funchal, St Vincent, Dakar, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo, Buenos Aires, Mar del Plata, Tristan da Cunha, Cape Town, Durban, Port Louis, and Freemantle. |
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| Displays on the Royal Netherlands Navy's capabilities on, above, and below the water during the period 1874-1940. The Naval Torpedo Service was established in 1875 and was the forerunner of the later Submarine Service and Mine Service. It comprised torpedo boats equipped with spar torpedoes (explosive charges mounted on long wooden poles) and, from 1880, boats equipped with self-propelled torpedoes. Torpedo tubes were fitted to the navy's ironclad cruisers from 1890. As the importance of torpedoes became recognised, larger and heavier torpedo boats were built. The relatively inexpensive torpedo was capable of inflicting considerable damage on enemy ships, though defensive measures (e.g. searchlights, rapid-firing guns) reduced the chances of successful attacks by torpedo boats. Once the effectiveness of torpedo boats began to diminish due to successful defensive measures, submarines were seen as the way to overcome these defences. The 'Submarine Torpedo Service' grew steadily, including boats for the Dutch East Indies. A separate organisation, the Submarine Service, was established in 1913 and, by 1939, had 23 boats in service. While the naval command was initially not convinced of the need for a naval air service separate from the flying service of the Dutch army, a dedicated Naval Air Arm was eventually established in 1917, principally for reconnaissance duties. Naval air bases were constructed in Texel, Veere, De Kooy, and later in Morokrembangan (near Surabaya). Between 1918 and 1919, the Royal Netherlands Navy purchased long-range scouting aircraft, torpedo bombers, light reconnaissance aircraft, and flying boats. |
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| A 1928 painting depicting the destroyer HNLMS De Ruyter on the high seas. De Ruyter was laid down in 1925 and commissioned in 1928. Her name was changed to Van Ghent in October 1934 when construction commenced on a light cruiser to be named De Ruyter. Van Ghent struck a rock in the Gaspar Strait between the Indonesian islands of Bangka and Belitung on 15 February 1942 and was declared a wreck. After her crew had been taken off, Van Ghent was scuttled by the Dutch destroyer Banckert to prevent her salvage by the Japanese. |
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| A naval mine from the period prior to the Second World War. This type of contact mine was launched from the deck of a warship and anchored itself to the seabed, remaining floating just below the surface of the sea and tethered on a steel cable. Inside the mine's protrusions was a small glass tube filled with acid. The protrusions bent as soon as a ship struck the floating mine, causing the glass tube to break and release the acid. The resulting seawater-acid mix caused an electrical reaction that detonated the mine. |
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| A 1:40 scale model of a Wolf-class destroyer, either HNLMS Vos (Fox) or HNLMS Panter (Panther). The Wolf-class, also known as the Roofdier-class, displaced 510-tons, carried a crew of 64 men, and were armed with four 75mm guns, four machine guns, and two torpedo tubes. The eight Wolf-class vessels were built between 1910 and 1913 and were in service between 1911 and 1928. They served primarily in the Dutch East Indies. |
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| A 1:100 scale model of the minelayer HNLMS Gouden Leeuw (Golden Lion). Laid down in 1930 at the Maas Shipbuilding Company, Gouden Leeuw was commissioned into the Royal Netherlands Navy on 24 February 1932 and intended for service in the Dutch East Indies. She was armed with two 75mm cannons, two 40mm machine guns, and two 12.7mm guns. Gouden Leeuw could carry 150 mines and a crew of 121 men. After having laid various mine barriers in Indonesian waters, Gouden Leeuw was scuttled by her own crew in the roadstead of Surabaya on 7 March 1942 to prevent her capture by the Japanese. |
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A small room contains a display of historic uniforms of the Royal Netherlands Navy. The standardisation of naval uniforms took place at the end of the 18th century. Every sailor was responsible for his own uniform and if a uniform was not in order, the wearer could be punished. Uniforms and other items of clothing were provided by the navy, but the cost for these was deducted from sailors' salaries. A distinction was made between working dress and formal dress, with the latter worn mainly during coronations. In the tropics, sailors dressed in white tropical uniform. A uniform represented the rank and status of the wearer; the higher the rank of the sailor, the more elaborate the decoration. Rank and service branch insignia were affixed to the sleeve, collar, epaulettes, or headgear.
Seen here from left to right:
- 1922 dress uniform of Minister of the Navy Evert Pieter Westerveld (1873-1964)
- Daytime uniform of a corporal-midshipman, 1905
- Tropical tunic of a lieutenant
- Daytime uniform of a skipper, known as an 'Aceh coat', circa 1930
- Sunday uniform of a Seaman 3rd Class, circa 1930
- The long tunic of an adjutant non-commissioned officer-machinist, circa 1915.
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| A midshipman's uniform with dagger from 1870. Also displayed are various sabres used by naval personnel, both officers and non-commissioned officers during the 19th century. |
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| The dress uniform of a vice-admiral, circa 1910. |
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| The closed-collar white tropical tunic of a lieutenant, post-1933. |
Gallery 4: 1939-1945With the order to mobilise the Dutch armed forces on 28 August 1939, the Naval Staff began functioning as the Naval Division of the General Headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, General Henri G. Winkelman. Lieutenant-Admiral Johannes Furstner was the Chief of the Naval Staff. The navy's vessels were ordered to prepare for battle in various areas, including on the rivers, on the IJsselmeer (the shallow, closed-off freshwater lake in the central Netherlands), and in the North Sea.
Germany invaded the Netherlands on 10 May 1940. The capture of the Willemsbrug bridge over the Nieuwe Maas in Rotterdam was part of the German attack plan and on the first day of the invasion German troops, assisted by paratroopers, landed at the bridge. Dutch soldiers and marines, supported by ships of the Royal Netherlands Navy, put up fierce resistance and prevented a decisive breakthrough. The destroyer HNLMS Van Galen was severely damaged in this effort to prevent the Germans from reaching the bridge. After it became clear that a large-scale attack by German armoured units would soon occur, General Winkelman ordered the marines to blow up the Maas bridges. Although this failed, a number of Dutch marines still managed to reach the Willemsbrug bridge, after which a small group managed to hold their ground until the Netherlands surrendered.
Meanwhile, on 11 May, German forces reached the Wonstellung, a moderately fortified outpost of the Den Helder Position at the eastern end of the Afsluitdijk dam. The Germans intended to attack the heart of Holland via the Afsluitdijk dam, but their attack failed because of strong resistance at Kornwerderzand. On 14 May, the Dutch garrison of the Wonstellung fortifications received support from the gunboat HNLMS Johan Maurits van Nassau, which had orders to fire upon German artillery positions at the eastern end of the dam. Observing the fall of shot, the garrison was able to communicate targeting corrections to naval headquarters in Den Helder, which relayed the information to the gunboat via radio. Nevertheless, despite distinguishing itself by silencing the German artillery, Johan Maurits van Nassau was sunk by German bombers while attempting to flee to England.
Notwithstanding these losses, a large part of the Royal Netherlands Navy's fleet managed to avoid falling into German hands by escaping to Great Britain. On 10 May, the destroyers HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerck and Isaac Sweers, as well as the submarines HNLMS O 21 and O 22, departed from Amsterdam and Vlissingen bound for Britain. All other Dutch warships still capable of sailing subsequently fled to Britain, including the motor torpedo boats G 13, G 15, Z 6, and Z 7 from Den Helder. The evacuation proceeded chaotically, with a miscommunication resulting in HNLMS Gruno being the only ship of those operating on the IJsselmeer to flee to Britain. As a consequence, the crews of the majority of the IJsselmeer flotilla had to scuttle their own ships on 14 May. Ultimately, 20 operational warships, six large warships under construction, and 24 aircraft of the Royal Netherlands Navy managed to reach Britain. Naval Chief of Staff Lieutenant-Admiral Furstner also escaped to Britain via Dunkirk with part of his staff, formally assuming command of Dutch naval forces in the United Kingdom on 17 May. The evacuation of so many Dutch ships and aircraft allowed the navy to continue the fight from abroad even after the Dutch surrender on 15 May 1940.
After the loss of the submarines O 13 and O 22 during war patrols from Dundee, Scotland, the three remaining O-boats were deployed to Gibraltar in the winter of 1941 to be used as convoy escorts in the Mediterranean. Two Dutch air reconnaissance squadrons, No. 320 and No. 321, were formed at the Pembroke Dock air base in Wales. Their primary assignment was to protect convoys in the Irish Sea. From March 1941, 320 Squadron was also tasked with conducting offensive flights from its new base in Leuchars, Scotland. Meanwhile, the Dutch Mine Service swept sea mines laid by the Germans in strategically important waters.
A small portion of Dutch naval personnel who were unable to serve at sea engaged in fighting the Germans underground. Apart from supporting the families of seamen and funding the Dutch Resistance, their most important task was maintaining contact between the occupied Netherlands and the Allies. The first secret agent to return to occupied territory from Britain (at the instigation of Queen Wilhelmina) was Naval Lieutenant Lodewijk A.R.J. van Hamel. Equipped with a radio transmitter, he formed four intelligence groups between August and October 1940 but was eventually betrayed to the Germans and executed in 1941. Between 1941 and 1943, more secret agents made the crossing to occupied Europe, to undertake either intelligence work or sabotage operations. During the same period, several agents were caught by the Germans as a result of the Englandspiel (England Game), the Nazi counter-espionage operation that monitored radio traffic. Midshipman Johan J. Zomer was among the nearly sixty victims of this blunder, which also resulted in the German capture of large quantities of air-dropped weapons and radio transmitters.
Organisationally, the navy's limited procurement budget in the pre-war period had forced it to look all over Europe for the best equipment at the lowest possible price. The resulting diversity of equipment and suppliers across so many countries caused difficulties in replacing and maintaining equipment during the Second World War. Nevertheless, no ships were ever removed from service for want of essential parts and Dutch naval technicians and the ordnance department of naval headquarters used their skills and ingenuity to maintain the ships and aircraft. Once the Second World War broke out, the United States effectively became the only supplier available and a Dutch naval purchasing committee was set up in July 1940 under the direction of the naval attaché in Washington. The purchasing commission ordered ships, aircraft, heavy calibre guns, anti-aircraft guns, machine guns, sub-machine guns, and rifles from US suppliers. The Queen Wilhelmina Fund, established in the Dutch East Indies, raised money to pay for military equipment. Dutch naval units that continued to fight alongside the Allies after the Netherlands surrendered were also equipped with British and American weapons.
In the Far East, Lieutenant-Admiral Conrad Helfrich assumed command of the naval forces in the Dutch East Indies on 18 December 1939, tasked with protecting the neutrality of a vast maritime area. Many ships under construction in the Netherlands were intended for deployment to the Far East, but the outbreak of war in Europe prevented these vessels from being completed or dispatched to the Dutch East Indies. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and simultaneous bombardment of British Asian colonies on 7 December 1941, the Netherlands unilaterally declared war on Japan the next day. With the declaration of war, Helfrich was now responsible for both the maritime defence of the East Indies and supporting the Allies in Southeast Asia. Dutch submarines in the Far East scored some initial successes, including HNLMS K XVI's sinking of the Japanese destroyer Sagiri on 2 December 1941, becoming the first Allied submarine to sink a Japanese warship. Nevertheless, following the loss of several submarines, including K XVI the day after her success against Sagiri, Helfrich adopted a new approach. He directed that risky actions along the coast were to be avoided and that the focus of effort was now to be on attacking enemy transport links. Eleven groups of three flying boats tried to halt the Japanese advance, but a quarter of the aircraft were lost in the first month of the war. Despite the resistance of Dutch forces, Japanese troops began occupying the Dutch East Indies on 27 December 1941. Dutch cruisers and destroyers patrolled the Sunda and Malacca Straits in an attempt to help retain British control over the strategically important Singapore.
With Japanese forces breaking through Allied defences at an increasing number of points, in early January 1942, an American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDACOM) was established under American command, with the ABDACOM Striking Force placed under the command of Rear-Admiral Karel Doorman. Most of the Striking Force's actions had to be aborted due to a lack of suitable equipment and insufficient air cover. On 19-20 February, the Striking Force attacked a Japanese invasion fleet bound for Bali. Although the cruisers HNLMS De Ruyter and Java damaged a Japanese destroyer, the Dutch destroyer HNLMS Piet Hein was sunk and De Ruyter and the American destroyer USS Stewart were damaged in what became known as the Battle of the Badung Strait.
Following the Japanese occupation of South Sumatra, Doorman and Helfrich agreed on 17 February 1942 to concentrate the Striking Force in the eastern Java Sea. On 27 February, in an attempt to intercept a Japanese invasion fleet, the Striking Force suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of a Japanese cruiser squadron in the Battle of the Java Sea. Three Dutch destroyers, the cruiser Java, and the flagship De Ruyter were sunk, while three Allied cruisers were also sunk as they attempted to escape. Rear-Admiral Doorman died when he chose to go down with De Ruyter. With nothing standing in the way of the Japanese invasion of Java, the Royal Netherlands East Indian Army put up a futile resistance before surrendering on 8 March 1942.
On 1 March 1942, only days before the surrender of the Dutch East Indies, Lieutenant-Admiral Helfrich ordered the evacuation of Dutch naval forces. He instructed his surviving submarines to continue action against Japanese targets until just enough fuel remained to retreat to Colombo in Ceylon. Other naval units were to continue the fight for as long as possible and only when contact with the naval command had been severed were they permitted to flee to Allied ports. Many crews, ships, and aircraft evacuated to Australia and Ceylon, though several were intercepted and sunk by Japanese naval forces en route. Helfrich flew to Colombo and established a new Navy Headquarters there, being followed by the gunboat HNLMS Soemba and the remaining submarines and aircraft of the Naval Air Service. To prevent their capture by the Japanese, Dutch East Indies ports and any remaining ships were destroyed. Although the Government Navy, a civilian administrative organisation that fell under the Ministry of the Colonies in the Dutch East Indies, had been demilitarised, thousands of its personnel were taken prisoner and endured the horrors of the Japanese prison camp system.
After the dissolution of ABDACOM, the Americans and British divided the Far East into various command areas. Most Royal Netherlands Navy ships did not participate in major combat operations overseen by the Americans, but this changed when the Dutch were assigned to the British Eastern Fleet in early 1944. Over the course of that year, Dutch ships carried out attacks on Japanese targets. American forces landed at Hollandia in New Guinea in April 1944, but with the exception of a few important oil fields, the rest of the Dutch East Indies remained occupied by the Japanese, given the American focus on advancing toward Japan. After the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan indicated on 14 August 1945 that it wished to cease hostilities. On 2 September 1945, the Instrument of Surrender was signed aboard the American battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. Lieutenant-Admiral Helfrich signed the Instrument of Surrender as the representative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
In November 1944, 13 registration offices for war volunteers had been opened in the liberated parts of the southern Netherlands. The Royal Netherlands Navy recruited personnel here for the fight against Japan and for a new Marine Brigade. The Netherlands Marine Personnel Recruitment Group succeeded in recruiting nearly 3,000 men between November 1944 and April 1945. Early in the war, the Dutch government had agreed that a marine regiment (later called the Marine Brigade) should participate in the liberation of the Dutch East Indies. Recruitment of soldiers for the Marine Brigade yielded 4,500 men. After training in the United States, most of the Marine Brigade departed for the Dutch East Indies to combat Indonesian nationalists who had proclaimed the independence of the Republic of Indonesia on 17 August 1945.
Women were not employed by the Royal Netherlands Navy until late in the war. The first step toward establishing a female military corps in the Dutch East Indies occurred in December 1941 by Lieutenant-Admiral Conrad Helfrich; however, the Women's Organisation of the Navy was disbanded shortly before the Dutch surrender to the Japanese in March 1942. In 1944, Lieutenant-Admiral Furstner granted permission to explore the establishment of a women's naval division patterned on the British and American examples. After much deliberation, the Dutch cabinet in exile agreed and, on 31 October 1944, Queen Wilhelmina signed the decree establishing the Marine Vrouwenafdeling (MARVA - Navy Women's Corps). It took a considerable amount of time before recruitment and selection for the MARVA got underway, caused by the slowing of the Allied advance, fear of Church resistance to women in the navy, and public opposition to women in uniform. A MARVA recruitment drive in liberated Dutch territory commenced in February 1945, with the effort expanded to the entire country following the liberation from German occupation. Until early 1946, the selected MARVA candidates received their training in the United Kingdom.
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| The fourth gallery tells the story of the Royal Netherlands Navy during the Second World War. Half of the gallery is devoted to the navy's fight for freedom in the Netherlands between 1940 and 1945, while the other half covers the struggle in the Dutch East Indies between 1939 and 1945. The Royal Netherlands Navy contributed to the fight against the Axis powers throughout the duration of the war, including participating in the D-Day landings on 6 June 1944, the battle on the European continent, and the eventual liberation of the Dutch East Indies. |
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A display of optical instruments, from top to bottom:
- Carl Zeiss monocular rangefinder, 1936
- Long scope, US Navy Spyglass Mark II, 1942
- Telescopic terrestrial scope, 1943
- Adjustment scope No. 1, type AP 202, for adjusting 102mm and 119mm cannons
- Rule Parallel Rolling No. 2 Mark I, 1940
- Binocular prism scope US Navy, 1944
- Sextant US Navy Mark II, 1940
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A display of wartime small arms, from top to bottom:
- Lewis machine gun, firing 450 7.65mm rounds per minute, fed by a drum magazine with 97 rounds.
- American-made Johnson semi-automatic rifle, firing 30 7.62mm rounds per minute, fed by a magazine with 10 rounds.
- Lee Enfield No. 4 Mark I rifle
- Webley and Scott Mark IV .38 calibre revolver
- Smith and Wesson .38 calibre revolver
- Sten sub-machine gun Mark II, firing 550 9mm rounds per minute, fed by a magazine with 32 rounds.
- Bren Mark I machine gun, firing 500 7.65mm rounds per minute, fed by a 30-round magazine.
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| A 1:50 scale model of the motor torpedo boat TM 51. Only a few motor torpedo boats were produced by the Dutch, with a small number constructed at the navy establishment in Surabaya. Most motor torpedo boats came from British and Canadian shipyards, with TM 51 being built in 1939 by the British Powerboat Company in Hythe. Upon the outbreak of hostilities, the boat was at the Gusto shipyard in Schiedam for testing of the torpedo tubes. With her machine guns already installed, TM 51 was able to successfully attack the Willembrug bridge, which had fallen into German hands. TM 51 suffered serious damage from a near miss by an aircraft bomb, forcing her captain to return to the Gusto shipyard. |
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| A portrait of Johannes Theodorus Furstner (1887-1970), pictured in the dress uniform of a naval captain in 1933. Furstner became the first Dutch naval officer to study at the École de guerre in Paris in 1928. In 1936, he became Chief of the Naval Staff with the rank of Rear-Admiral, and was promoted to Vice-Admiral in 1938. On his own initiative, Furstner established secret contacts with London on a modest scale even before the outbreak of the Second World War, in preparation for a possible evacuation and allied action. On 14 May 1940, he fled to England with part of his staff, where he organised the Royal Netherlands Navy in exile. Furstner served simultaneously as commander of the naval forces and as Minister of the Navy after 27 July 1941. His promotion to Lieutenant-Admiral on 15 February 1942 was remarkable, insofar as this rank had not been attained by an actively serving Dutch naval officer for more than a hundred years. |
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| The uniform of Lieutenant-Admiral Johannes Theodorus Furstner. |
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This display notes the ease with which evacuation of Dutch Navy Headquarters to Britain in May 1940 was accomplished, due to the preparatory work by Dutch naval attaché Lieutenant-Commander Alfred de Booy. The new headquarters was able to resume its activities, which consisted mainly of the upkeep and manning of evacuated Dutch warships. Cooperation between Dutch and British naval personnel was excellent, due to the fact that Lieutenant-Admiral Furstner was appointed Secretary for Dutch Naval Affairs on 27 July 1941 and enjoyed access to Allied military authorities as a result of his rank. A Dutch naval depot was established in Cornwall, which became the base for most Dutch ships and which continued to train midshipmen. The Dutch Submarine Flotilla was based in Portsmouth, England and later in Dundee, Scotland, where it became part of the Ninth Submarine Flotilla. Only a month after the evacuation to Britain, Dutch naval forces were actively participating in patrols, performing convoy escort duties, and laying mine barrages in company with the British.
The items displayed here include:
- A painting of HNLMS O 21's 28 November 1941 night attack on German submarine U-95 in the Mediterranean,
- A painting of the submarine chaser HNLMS Queen Wilhelmina and the vessel's brass name plate
- A painting, entitled 'Holland carries on and will rise again', that depicts a daily flag parade by the Dutch Naval Air Service somewhere in Britain, 10 May 1941.
- A woodcarving of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill that previously hung aboard the minelayer HNLMS Willem van der Zaan, one of the Dutch warships that had escaped to Britain in May 1940. The carving is assumed to have been made by one the ship's crew.
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| A propaganda poster used by the Queen Wilhelmina Fund to raise money to purchase a replacement for the destroyer HNLMS Van Galen, which was sunk on 10 May 1940. The poster proclaims, 'A new Van Galen, the birthday gift for our Queen!' above an image of the old Van Galen steaming at high speed atop a map of the Dutch East Indies. This was meant to convey the idea that the new destroyer would contribute to strengthening the maritime defence of this unoccupied part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. |
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| A 1:100 scale model of the torpedo boat HNLMS Z 5. The Z 5 was built between 1914 and 1917 at the Royal Schelde Company shipyard in Vlissingen and served in European waters. The ship gained fame as a result of actions in the Battle of the Maas Bridges on 10 May 1940. On the night of 9-10 May, Z 5 was ordered to steam toward Rotterdam. Together with the torpedo boat TM 51, Z 5 fired upon German machine gun posts on the Williambrug bridge, which was occupied by the enemy. Ultimately, both Z 5 and TM 51 had to abandon the battle due to a shortage of ammunition and damage incurred from the German guns. |
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| A 1:100 scale model of the gunboat HNLMS Johan Maurits van Nassau. Intended as a flotilla vessel, Johan Maurits van Nassau was built between 1931 and 1933 at the Royal Scheldt Shipyard in Vlissingen. She served primarily in the West Indies. At the outbreak of the Second World War, Johan Maurits van Nassau successfully shelled German positions at the Afsluitdijk, the 32-kilometre-long dam and causeway separating the Wadden Sea from the IJsselmeer lake. Although Johan Maurits van Nassau attempted to escape to Britain, she sank on 14 May 1940 after several attacks by German aircraft, with the loss of 18 of her crew. |
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| A 1:79 scale model of the destroyer HNLMS Van Galen. A destroyer of the Admiralen-class, Van Galen was built in 1927-1929 at the Fijenoord Shipbuilding and Engineering Company for service in the Dutch East Indies. On 10 May 1940, Van Galen sailed to Rotterdam to bombard Waalhaven airfield, which had fallen into German hands. On the Nieuwe Waterweg, the ship canal at the mouth of the Rhine River, Van Galen suffered heavy aerial attacks by German bombers. The ship was damaged and moored in Rotterdam's Merwehaven while sinking. The Germans raised the wreck of Van Galen on 24 October 1941 but the ship was so badly damaged that she was scrapped rather than repaired. |
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| A 1:100 scale model of the light cruiser HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerck. Laid down in October 1938 at the Dutch shipbuilding company in Amsterdam and launched on 16 September 1939, Jacob van Heemskerck was completed on the same day Germany invaded the Netherlands, 10 May 1940. With no armament fitted, the ship escaped to Britain. After escorting Princess Juliana and her two children to Canada in June 1940 in company with the light cruiser HNLMS Sumatra, Jacob van Heemskerck returned to Britain and was fitted with anti-aircraft weapons for use as a North Atlantic convoy escort. She subsequently performed convoy duties in the Atlantic Ocean and Southeast Asia. |
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| In March 1942, Jacob van Heemskerck was assigned to the British Eastern Fleet and later deployed as a convoy ship with the American Task Force 71.4. In June 1945, she returned to the Netherlands as the first Dutch warship to do so following the liberation. After a stint patrolling the waters of the Dutch East Indies until 22 July 1946, Jacob van Heemskerck returned to the Netherlands. Service as a barracks ship for naval trainees followed from March 1951 until 20 November 1969, when the ship was decommissioned. Jacob van Heemskerck was sold for scrap on 23 June 1970. |
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| An Enigma cipher machine. In 1931, the Royal Netherlands Navy acquired such machines for ciphering and deciphering (coding and decoding) secret messages. Incidentally, the German armed forces themselves also used the machines during the Second World War. The British military intelligence service, as well as the British Special Operations Executive (SOE), trained secret agents and radio operators for varied intelligence work. Knowledge of all kinds of code systems was part of the standard curriculum. By breaking German military codes, the British intelligence services were able to decode secret telegrams exchanged between German military staffs. In addition to this source of intelligence, the Allies needed on-site reconnaissance of German military activities. The intelligence groups formed by secret agents in occupied territory served this purpose. |
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| A painting of a member of the Dutch Home Forces. In early September 1944, the Dutch Home Forces (Binnenlandse Strijdkrachten - BS) were established as a military resistance organisation. It originated from three armed resistance organisations: the KP (Fighting Squads), the OD (Order Service), and the RVV (Council of Resistance). Members of the BS fought alongside Allied forces during the liberation of the Netherlands. They were dressed in blue overalls with an orange armband. Military personnel and former members of the Royal Netherlands Navy also played a role in this organisation. This painting is a unique example of 'war art', created by an American painter who captured an unknown member of the BS on canvas during the liberation of the Netherlands. |
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| A portrait of Lieutenant-Admiral Conrad Emil Lambert Helfrich (1886-1962). On 18 December 1939, Helfrich assumed command of naval forces in the Dutch East Indies. He began his posting as fleet commander under circumstances that did not bode well. Violations of neutrality or a direct Japanese conquest were among the scenarios Helfrich contemplated. After the Dutch declaration of war on Japan on 8 December 1942, the prospect of a Japanese attack became more likely. At the time of the establishment of the American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) Command, Helfrich was placed under the authority of American Admiral Thomas C. Hart. Hart, partly reflecting the views of his government, expressed the opinion that the defence of the Indies was a lost cause, while Helfrich insisted on an offensive operation as far north as possible. On 14 February 1942, Helfrich was given command of ABDACOM. By then, the deployment of the Allied Squadron proved ineffective. After the 27 February Battle of the Java Sea, Helfrich withdrew to Ceylon to lead from there as BSO (Commander in the Indian Ocean, Australia, and the Pacific). On 25 August 1945, he assumed supreme command of all naval forces from Lieutenant-Admiral Furstner. On behalf of the Dutch government, Helfrich signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender on 2 September 1945, aboard the American battleship USS Missouri. |
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| The uniform of Lieutenant-Admiral Conrad Emil Lambert Helfrich (1886-1962). |
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| The portion of the gallery recounting the history of the Dutch war effort in the Far East, illustrated through paintings, ship models, and artefacts. |
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| A painting of the light cruiser HNLMS De Ruyter during the Battle of the Java Sea, 27 February 1942. In February 1942, a Japanese invasion force set course for Java, the main island of the Dutch East Indies. An Allied squadron, under the command of Rear-Admiral Karel Doorman, was ordered to prevent the Japanese landings. On 27 February 1942, the Allies engaged the Japanese fleet in the Java Sea. During the battle, the destroyer HNLMS Kortenaer was torpedoed and the British cruiser HMS Exeter sustained a direct hit in her boiler room. Exeter withdrew from the battle, which created the risk of the other Allied ships following her. To restore order in the line, Doorman signaled 'ALL SHIPS FOLLOW ME'. After unsuccessful torpedo attacks by both sides, the Allied and Japanese squadrons separated. After darkness fell, Doorman sought out the Japanese again, with fatal consequences. The cruisers Java and De Ruyter were torpedoed shortly before midnight. The remaining cruisers were hunted down by the Japanese and disabled in the following days. More than 2,000 Allied sailors lost their lives, including 918 Dutch. On 1 March 1942, the first Japanese troops landed on Java; eight days later, the battle was decided and the Dutch East Indies capitulated. |
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| A 1:100 scale model of the light cruiser HNLMS De Ruyter. De Ruyter was built between 1933 and 1936 at the N.V. Wilton-Feijenoord shipyard in Schiedam. From 10 May 1940, she performed escort duties in the waters around the Dutch East Indies. On 2 February 1942, De Ruyter became flagship of the ABDACOM Striking Force, of which Rear-Admiral Karel Doorman became commander. In that capacity, De Ruyter became involved in the Battle of the Java Sea on 27 February 1942. On that day, around 11:30pm, the ship was struck by torpedoes from the Japanese cruiser Haguro and sank. Rear-Admiral Doorman and several others lost their lives in the sinking. |
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| A portrait of Rear-Admiral Karel Willem Frederik Marie Doorman (1889-1942). The Netherlands' most famous naval officer of the Second World War was born in 1889. After his swearing-in as an officer, he became one of the pioneers of the Naval Air Service during and after the First World War. On 17 June 1937, Doorman became commander of the squadron in the Dutch East Indies with the rank of Rear-Admiral. Doorman's alleged motto of 'I attack, follow me' is an embellishment of a tactical signal he issued to the ships under his command around sunset during the Battle of the Java Sea: "All ships follow me." Doorman perished with a large part of his crew aboard his flagship, the light cruiser HNLMS De Ruyter, after the ship was torpedoed by Japanese cruisers on 27 February 1942. On 5 June 1942, Karel Doorman was posthumously appointed Knight Third Class of the Military Order of William. |
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| A 1:100 scale model of the light cruiser HNLMS Tromp. Originally classified as a flotilla leader and later as a light cruiser, Tromp was built between 1936 and 1938 at the Netherlands Shipbuilding Company in Amsterdam. She was initially assigned convoy escort duties in the Pacific during the Second World War. On 3 February 1942, Tromp was assigned to the ABDACOM Striking Force under the command of Karel Doorman. The very next day, she participated in the action in the Bali Sea as part of a squadron and, on 14 and 15 February, in Doorman's attempt to attack Japanese ships expected in the Gaspar Strait separating the Indonesian islands of Belitung and Banka. During a 20 February 1942 night action in the Badung Strait on the southeast side of Bali, Tromp was so heavily damaged that she was forced to divert to Fremantle, Australia for repairs. After the repairs were completed, Tromp was assigned to the American Seventh Fleet for convoy escort duties. Later, she was part of the British Eastern Fleet. Until the end of the war, Tromp participated in various actions, of which the raids on Sabang in April 1944 are the most famous. |
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A selection of paintings depicting wartime naval actions and vessels:
- A photo of the crew of HNLMS De Ruyter on the jetty in Surabaya, 1937.
- A formal portrait of Queen Wilhelmina that hung aboard HNLMS Tromp during the Battle of Badung Strait, 20 February 1942, and which still bears a piece of shrapnel embedded in the matte.
- A painting of the light cruiser HNLMS Tromp.
- A painting of the torpedo workshop at Naval Establishment Surabaya, 1939.
- A painting of the action at Kuching, 23 December 1941.
- A painting of the submarine HNLMS K XVI at sea
- A watercolour of HNLMS De Ruyter.
- A painting of the night action in the Badung Strait between Dutch, US, and British vessels and Japanese destroyers and transports, 19-20 February 1942.
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| A 1939 watercolour painting of the light cruiser HNLMS De Ruyter in the Java Sea. |
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| A painting, entitled 'The Action at Kuching, December 23 1941', depicting the battle between the Dornier 24K flying boat X35, under the command of Commander P. Jaapjes, and two Japanese seaplanes, which were diverted by this action from their mission to protect a Japanese naval task force. The Dutch aircraft, flown by Sergeant-Pilot H. Lamme, led the submarine HNLMS K XIV to the Japanese invasion fleet, consisting of warships and transport ships. Under the command of Commander C.A.J. van Well Groeneveld, K XIV torpedoed no fewer than three enemy transport ships and a tanker off the northwestern tip of Borneo. Due to the presence of Japanese destroyers, K XIV left the scene, and van Well Groeneveld ordered the submarines K XV and K XVI, of which he was division commander, to continue the attack on the Japanese invasion fleet. |
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| A painting of the light cruiser HNLMS Tromp. |
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| A 1:100 scale model of the gunnery training ship HNLMS Van Kinsbergen. To replace the elderly protected cruiser HNLMS Gelderland (1898), Van Kinsbergen was built by the Rotterdam Drydock Company between 1937 and 1939. During the Second World War, she operated primarily in the Caribbean Sea and the Western Atlantic. At the outbreak of the war in Europe, the ship was located near Curaçao, where Van Kinsbergen's naval landing party captured eight German ships. Surviving the war, Van Kinsbergen was converted into a frigate in 1951 and then became an accommodation ship in Vlissingen in 1955. Decommissioned on 29 May 1959, Van Kinsbergen was sold for scrap in May 1974. |
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Initially, the Dutch government in exile was only able to award the Military Order of William and the Cross for Important War Actions for bravery. Various Decoration Committees subsequently agreed to establish additional medals, including the Bronze Cross, the Cross of Merit, the Bronze Lion, the Commemorative War Cross, the Mobilisation War Cross, the Resistance Cross, the Resistance Star, the East Asia 1942-1945 medal, the Resistance Memorial Cross, the Medal of Gratitude, and the Air Raid Precaution Commemorative Medal.
Displayed here from left to right:
- The Resistance Cross
- The East Asia Resistance Star, 1942-1945
- The Medal of Gratitude
- The Air Protection Service Commemorative Medal, 1940-1945
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More Dutch wartime medals, from left to right:
- The Knight of the Military Order of William (4th class)
- The Cross for Major Military Operations with 'Timor 1942' clasp.
- The Bronze Cross
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| A propaganda poster from 1945, reminding the liberated Dutch people that the Dutch East Indies remained occupied by Japan and that the fight needed to continue to free the colony. The poster reads 'Look further, the Indies must also be liberated'. |
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| A 1:25 scale model of the Flower-class corvette HNLMS Friso. On 26 March 1943, Friso was loaned to the Royal Netherlands Navy by the British Royal Navy. The ship was originally laid down as HMS Carnation at the Grangemouth Dockyard in Scotland. In service with the Royal Netherlands Navy, Friso performed escort duties in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Deemed to be no longer useful by the Royal Netherlands Navy, the corvette was returned to the Royal Navy on 4 October 1944. |
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| A 1:50 scale model of the gunboat HNLMS Soemba. Intended as a flotilla vessel, the Soemba was built between 1924 and 1926 at N.V. Wilton's Machine Factory and Shipyard in Rotterdam. At the outbreak of war in Europe, Soemba was based in the Dutch East Indies. On 10 March 1942, following the Dutch capitulation to the Japanese, Soemba steamed towards Colombo, Ceylon, the new headquarters of the Dutch naval command in the East. During the remainder of 1942, she patrolled the Strait of Hormuz, at the entrance to the Persian Gulf. After a short maintenance period, Soemba departed for the Mediterranean. Here, from mid-July to mid-August 1943, she participated in 'Operation Husky', the Allied invasion of Sicily. In January 1944, Soemba provided naval gunfire support during the Allied landing at Anzio, south of the mouth of the River Tiber. The wear on the ship's main guns was so extensive that both the Soemba and her sister ship Flores were sent to Britain in February 1944 for major maintenance. At Portsmouth, both ships were prepared for participation in 'Operation Overlord', the Allied invasion of Normandy on 6 June 1944. After decommissioning in November 1954, Soemba was used as a barracks ship at Den Helder until 1985 and scrapped in July of that year. |
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| A wartime propaganda poster proclaiming 'And now Indies!' It encourages Dutch men to register as a volunteer to defeat Japan and recover the Dutch East Indies for the Netherlands. |
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| A painting of the light cruiser HNLMS Tromp in action during Operation Crimson, 25 July 1944. Operation Crimson involved an Allied offensive against Japanese military facilities on Sabang, a small island off the coast of Sumatra at the northwest point of the Dutch East Indies. With its large oil storage facilities, this island had traditionally been an important bunkering station, and from here the Japanese controlled large parts of the Indian Ocean and the Strait of Malacca. In the early morning of 25 July 1944, HNLMS Tromp, together with British and Australian destroyers, sailed into the bay of Sabang. This so-called inshore force was supported by battleships, aircraft carriers, and cruisers that remained offshore. The goal was to disable as many ships and shore installations as possible. At a distance of 10 kilometers, the destroyers and the Tromp opened fire. Barracks, cranes, and warehouses collapsed, and oil tanks went up in flames. The Tromp scored a hit on an ammunition ship that exploded spectacularly. Japanese shore batteries soon responded. The inshore force had now approached the coast to within less than four kilometers and the risk increased. Japanese hits followed, with a Japanese shell killing a war correspondent on a British destroyer. The Tromp sustained four hits, but none of the shells exploded. The entire battle lasted less than 30 minutes. Afterwards, most of the harbor installations lay in ruins. Sabang would play very little role during the remainder of the war, but this was principally due to the Allied decision to shift the theatre of operations toward Japan. The Japanese in the Dutch East Indies were therefore largely bypassed and capitulated after Japan's surrender in August 1945. |
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Accessories from three Dutch naval uniforms:
- Cap emblem and shoulder epaulettes of a naval cadet. After the outbreak of war in Europe, cadet training was initially continued in the Dutch East Indies. Between August 1940 and 1 March 1942, cadets received a two-year training course there. The epaulettes were worn on the white tropical clothing and the khaki shirt that was part of the work uniform.
- Epaulletes of a governor and breast emblem of the Government Navy (GM). The GM was a civilian administrative organisation that fell under the Ministry of the Colonies in the Dutch East Indies. In September 1939, the GM was mobilised, militarised, and placed under the authority of the Royal Netherlands Navy. The breast emblem served as the distinguishing mark of the military GM. Until the capitulation in March 1942, the GM carried out important wartime tasks, including mine-laying operations. Shortly before the capitulation, the personnel were demilitarised to prevent sailors and officers from being taken into captivity. In the chaos of the war, this measure remained largely unknown; the Japanese nevertheless made the majority of GM personnel prisoners of war. In 1949, the GM was absorbed into the Shipping Service.
- Cap emblem and brass epaulletes of Lieutenant-Commander Jan Heuseveldt (1904-1988). In 1941, the former sailor-militiaman Heuseveldt was mobilised and appointed, at the rank of boatswain, as commander of a patrol boat in the Bay of Batavia. In 1942, he was interned by the Japanese as a prisoner of war. Two months after the capitulation of Japan, he came to the Tijdeng civilian internment camp in Batavia to pick up his wife and son, accompanied by his eldest son.
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| The trumpet of sailor-trumpeter J.P.F. den Ronden. On 15 February 1942, during a voyage to the Gaspar Strait, HNLMS Van Ghent ran aground on the Bamidjo reef near the Lima Islands. The ship sprang a leak and a fire broke out. The crew was ordered to scuttle Van Ghent and then evacuate to HNLMS Banckert. Sailor-trumpeter den Ronden also had to leave the ship. After appearing on deck wearing a helmet and gas mask and carrying his trumpet, he was ordered to throw the instrument into the water. Den Ronden did so reluctantly, then dived in after it and considered the trumpet his personal property from that moment on. During the rest of his time in the navy, den Ronden soldered foreign coins onto his trumpet during overseas port visits. |
Gallery 5: 1945-1968
This period was eventful for the Royal Netherlands Navy as it had to be able to respond quickly and effectively to the dramatic changes spurred by historical and social developments. The fleet, which had suffered heavy losses during the war, had to be rebuilt quickly, manned with well-trained sailors, and equipped for its new role. The post-war era was characterised by close international cooperation. The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the West European Union were founded to combat the threat from the communist Soviet bloc and to avert the threat of a nuclear war. At this time, Dutch interests in Southeast Asia were also under threat from the Indonesian Republic and the Dutch government relied heavily on the navy to restore internal security and ensure an orderly transition to Indonesian independence in 1949.
It was evident even before the Second World War ended that sea mines would be a significant threat to the post-war reconstruction of the Netherlands. Tens of thousands of sea mines had been laid in the coastal waters of the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies by the Allied, German, and Japanese navies. These mines had to be located and destroyed, with estuaries and important shipping routes being prioritised for minesweeping. After clearing wartime mines by 1951, the Royal Netherlands Navy focused on combatting the threat of Soviet mines, with US Mutual Defense and Assistance Program (MDAP) funding being used to construct 68 Dutch minesweepers to ensure that the Soviet fleet would not be able to block important NATO sea lanes.
After 1945, the Naval Staff was determined to build up the fleet and its operational capability as quickly as possible. The work began with the completion of the hulls of the cruisers De Ruyter and De Zeven Provinciën, which had survived the war in an unfinished state in the shipyards of Schiedam and Rotterdam, respectively. New ships were built and commissioned in Dutch shipyards but the slow pace of work meant that the acute need for vessels had to be met by purchasing ships from other countries, most notably the United Kingdom.
With its decision to join NATO in 1949, the Netherlands surrendered its right to independently determine the shape of its naval fleet. Instead, Dutch fleet plans had to be aligned with NATO strategy. As such, the Naval Staff charted a new course, giving up some of its more ambitious plans. The former Minister for the Navy, Vice-Admiral H.C.W. Moorman was responsible for the 1949 Fleet Plan, under which the Royal Netherlands Navy was adapted to its new NATO role. The plan envisaged a fleet formed around two flotillas, comprising an aircraft carrier, two cruisers, 12 anti-submarine destroyers, 12 frigates, eight submarines, 48 minesweepers, and dozens of aircraft.
In 1950, the Dutch destroyer HNLMS Evertsen joined an international fleet flying the flag of the United Nations which arrived in Korean waters three weeks after communist North Korean forces invaded South Korea. From 1950 to 1955, three destroyers and three frigates of the Royal Netherlands Navy took turns in the United Nations fleet, performing a wide variety of tasks: anti-submarine defence of American and British aircraft carriers and cruisers, blockades of North Korean harbours, and naval bombardment of enemy coastal targets.
In the Dutch East Indies, the nationalists Suharto and Mohammed Hatta declared Indonesian independence immediately following the Japanese surrender in 1945. The Dutch government rejected this move, wishing to steer the Dutch East Indies peacefully to self-rule. Fierce fighting broke out between the republican nationalists and the Dutch armed forces. For the Royal Netherlands Navy, this involved controlling the sea lanes, patrolling coastal waters, and assisting in amphibious landings. The navy participated in two large, successful 'police actions' against republican forces in 1947 and 1948, but it soon became clear that the Netherlands could not continue to impose colonial rule on Indonesia in the face of diplomatic pressure within the United Nations Security Council. In December 1949, the Netherlands was forced to recognise the sovereignty of the Republic of Indonesia.
The recognition of Indonesian independence in 1949 had not included West New Guinea, the western half of the island of New Guinea, now known as Papua. In 1961, After the failure of protracted negotiations between the Dutch and Indonesian governments for the transfer of West New Guinea, the Dutch government began strengthening the colony's defences against a rising tide of incursions by Indonesian forces. In January 1962, the Royal Netherlands Navy destroyers Evertsen and Kortenaer intercepted three Indonesian motor torpedo boats off the south coast of New Guinea. The Dutch ships sank one Indonesian boat and the other two escaped. Tensions increased after this incident, with Dutch forces working hard to curb the Indonesian incursions into West New Guinea. Nevertheless, the threat of a major Indonesian military offensive against West New Guinea coupled with strong international political pressure for decolonisation led the Dutch government to transfer authority over West New Guinea to the United Nations in October 1962. Less than a year later, West New Guinea was transferred to Indonesia.
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| A post-war Royal Netherlands Navy recruiting poster. The organisational structure of the navy was successfully preserved during the Second World War. Despite the heavy damage to the fleet during the war, it was not entirely destroyed. Thanks to the ships, planes, and servicemen who were able to escape from the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies, the organisation remained intact. The navy began rebuilding itself even before the war was over. Tens of thousands of young men were recruited as war volunteers, which meant that the initial shortage of servicemen could be addressed relatively quickly. The Royal Netherlands Navy commenced an intensive recruitment campaign with the slogan 'Zorg dat je er bij komt!' ('Join the Navy!'), as seen on this poster. |
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| A post-war Royal Netherlands Navy recruiting poster boasting that 'Anyone with an eye for technology joins the NAVY'. After the successful enlistment of the war volunteers, the recruitment of conscripts and professional servicemen began in 1948. Cadets were trained at the Royal Naval Institute in Den Helder in the same manner as before the war. Young sailors first went through a selection process at the Navy Recruitment Centre in Voorschoten and then received basic naval and military training at the Navy Training Camp in Hilversum. To teach and train the recruits, specialist courses were established, often in conjunction with NATO Allies. The introduction of new naval technologies (e.g. radar, sonar, guided weapons) accelerated after the war and consequently imposed strenuous requirements on both servicemen and training centres. |
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| This gallery devoted to the period 1945-1968, covers the post-war rebuilding of the Royal Netherlands Navy and its fleet; the Dutch struggle against the Indonesian independence movement; the Netherlands' entry into NATO and the impact that had on the navy's role and structure; Korean War operations; and the conflict with Indonesia over West New Guinea. |
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| The gallery's exhibits include a selection of large models of Dutch warships and submarines from the 1945-1968 period, as well as displays of small arms, and paintings depicting Dutch naval activity and operations during this eventful 23 years of history. |
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| A painting of the aircraft carrier HNLMS Karel Doorman (I). On 20 March 1946, the Royal Netherlands Navy received the British escort aircraft carrier HMS Nairana on loan. Almost immediately after commissioning as HNLMS Karel Doorman, the ship departed for the Dutch East Indies carrying a squadron of Fairey Firefly fighter-bombers. The Royal Netherlands Navy did not keep the first Karel Doorman in service for long. As early as 28 May 1948, the ship was returned to the Royal Navy in Portsmouth. |
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| A painting of the patrol boat HNLMS RP 133 in combat with ships of the Indonesian Republic in the Riau Archipelago, 16 November 1947. The 52 regional patrol vessels of the Small Vessels Service in Surabaya operated close to the Javanese and Sumatran coasts between 1946 and 1949. On 16 November 1947, RP 133 engaged two armed ships of the Navy of the Republic of Indonesia. In a battle lasting an hour and a half, the Dutch crew of RP 133 sank both enemy vessels. |
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| A painting of Dokkum-class minesweepers at sea. After the major minesweeping operations following the Second World War were completed in the early 1950s, the Royal Netherlands Navy was assigned a key task within NATO to keep sea routes free of mines in wartime. To this end, dozens of Dokkum-, Wildervank-, and Beemster-class minesweepers were rapidly built and added to the navy's ranks with American military assistance funding. |
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| A large cutaway model of HNLMS Karel Doorman (II), formerly HMS Venerable. This Colossus-class light fleet carrier was purchased by the Dutch in 1948 and replaced the escort carrier HNLMS Karel Doorman (I), which had been loaned to the Royal Netherlands Navy in 1946. |
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| A scale model of the frigate HNLMS Van Zijll. Built as a destroyer escort by Federal Shipbuilding at Newark, New Jersey, the ship was commissioned into the United States Navy as USS Stern in late 1947. In the early 1950s, the Royal Netherlands Navy acquired Stern and five sisterships under the United States' Mutual Defense Assistance Program, designating the six ships as Van Amstel-class frigates. In 1955, HNLMS Van Zijll was the last Dutch ship to be part of the United Nations force in Korea. With the arrival of the more modern frigates of the Van Speyk-class, the Van Amstel-class frigates were decommissioned in 1967. |
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| A scale model of HNLMS Walrus (I). In the early 1950s, as old submarines were decommissioned while new boats were still under construction, the Royal Netherlands Navy warned that it would no longer be able to meet its NATO obligations. To alleviate this crisis, the US Navy loaned two submarines for a period of five years. The USS Icefish and Hawkbill were commissioned in 1953 as HNLMS Walrus and Zeeleeuw, respectively. These large Balao-class boats were popular with their crews due to their good sailing characteristics and accommodations. The loan agreement with the Americans was extended several times until Zeeleeuw was finally removed from service in 1970 and Walrus in 1971. |
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A display of items related to the dispute between the Netherlands and Indonesia over West New Guinea in 1961-62:
- A photo of Rear-Admiral Leendert Emanuel Hendrik Reeser (1912-2001), Commander of the Netherlands Armed Forces in New Guinea, 1961-1962.
- The New Guinea Commemorative Cross. Even before the transfer of sovereignty of New Guinea to the United Nations, the New Guinea Commemorative Cross was introduced by Royal Decree of 29 September 1962. Military personnel who had served in New Guinea for at least three months during the period of confrontation with Indonesia were eligible for the medal.
- A hat and belt bearing the crest of the Papua Volunteer Corps. To promote the independence of New Guinea, the Papua Volunteer Corps (PVK) was established in 1960, consisting largely of Papuan soldiers. The PVK successfully took action against Indonesian infiltrations on several occasions.
- A Colt-Armalite AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle. In 1962, the Indonesian armed forces were considerably better equipped than during their struggle in the Dutch East Indies fifteen years earlier. This modern weapon was captured by Dutch marines near Fak-fak in July 1962 from an Indonesian infiltrator group.
- The command flag of the Commander of the Naval Forces of West New Guinea. In late October 1962, the Commander's headquarters was disbanded. During this ceremony, the command flag of Rear-Admiral Reeser was lowered.
- Uniform tunic and shoulder boards of Rear-Admiral L.E.H. Reeser, Royal Netherlands Navy.
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Gallery 6: 1969-2000
In case of war between the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the Warsaw Pact, Rotterdam, one of the largest ports in the world, would have been a prime target for Russian nuclear weapons. Apart from the huge number of casualties, the consequences of a nuclear explosion over Dutch territory would have been disastrous: the country's fragile sea defences would collapse, flooding all the parts that are below sea level, and the nuclear shockwave would turn the soft soil of other parts of the country into quicksand. A nuclear war would literally wipe the Netherlands off the map.
Keeping the peace and, in case that failed, preventing the conflict from escalating into a nuclear war was of the utmost importance and interest to the Netherlands. Its armed forces were key in protecting these principles. In the 1970s, NATO and the Warsaw Pact increased their nuclear arsenals. Slowly but surely, however, they started to realise that the deployment of nuclear weapons would not be credible and would mean the end of humanity. At the same time, it required huge financial resources to sustain both sides' armed forces. The Soviet Union's economy in particular was suffering as a result of the ever-increasing defence spending.
In Geneva, in 1981, the leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union commenced negotiations for disarmament. In 1985, after Mikhail Gorbachev had been appointed Secretary General of the Soviet Communist Party, significant progress was made toward peace. At the end of the 1980s, the arms race slowed and tension between East and West declined. Democratic governments started to appear in Eastern Europe and the Berlin Wall fell on 9 November 1989. Less than a month later, Gorbachev declared that he no longer regarded America as an enemy. Two years later, the Soviet Union had been dissolved due to internal problems, after which the Warsaw Pact also fell apart. The Cold War had ended.
After the Cold War, Western nations were increasingly inclined to get involved in smaller regional conflicts. NATO and the Western European Union (WEU) became more willing to take part in international peacekeeping operations. Being a member of both organisations, the Netherlands too participated in an increasing number of peace operations. Not only did the number of operations change, but so did their nature. In the beginning, most were peacekeeping operations; however, later they regularly turned into peace enforcement operations. Such peace support operations often required the fighting parties to be separated, even if they had not agreed to that. The Royal Netherlands Navy took part in numerous peacekeeping and peace support operations, many of them under the flag of the United Nations.
From the early 1970s, public pressure grew for the socialisation and democratisation of the Dutch armed forces. This led to the end of rigid disciplinary practices and the acceptance of the trade unions as equal partners during trade negotiations. Daily life in the navy was also changing, with the obligation to salute a superior officer being abolished and sailors able to wear their hair in the style of their choosing. The abolition of the Marine Vrouwenafdeling (MARVA), the dedicated women's naval branch, in 1982 saw women integrated into the Royal Netherlands Navy. Women had already been posted aboard the auxiliary replenishment vessel HNLMS Zuiderkruis as an experiment in 1979; deemed a success, women are now found in almost every branch of the navy.
While the Royal Netherlands Navy was held in high esteem in the 1950s and 1960s, that positive image began to deteriorate in the 1970s and 1980s. This was driven in part by declining public interest in defence matters and by negative media coverage of defence spending controversies, such as the Walrus Affair (overspending on the construction of new submarines). Nevertheless, internationally, the Royal Netherlands Navy remained a highly valued member of the NATO alliance.
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| The first section of the gallery covers NATO naval operations, including the establishment of the Standing Naval Force Atlantic (STANAVFORLANT) in 1968. STANAVFORLANT was a maritime rapid deployment force consisting of destroyers, cruisers and frigates from all NATO countries with the North Atlantic as its main area of operations. It sought to address the difficulties that NATO Allies initially experienced in cooperating together through improvement in procedures and communications. In peacetime, STANAVFORLANT served as a training squadron to enhance Allied interoperability at sea. Command of STANAVFORLANT changed continuously, enabling all NATO Allies to gain valuable experience. In wartime, STANAVFORLANT's most important job was to keep hundreds of Russian submarines from reaching the Atlantic. Once Russian submarines reached the ocean they would be able to escape their pursuers easily and then attack the trans-Atlantic shipping lanes. In addition, the nuclear weapons carried on Russian ballistic missile submarines would guarantee the total destruction of NATO territory in case the conflict escalated into a nuclear war. To reach the Atlantic, the Russian submarines had to navigate the relatively narrow straits between Greenland and Iceland and the United Kingdom (GIUK). This so-called GIUK Gap was therefore STANAVFORLANT's main area of operations. |
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| A 1:100 scale model of the frigate HNLMS Van Speijk (1967-1986). At the end of the 1960s, six Van Speijk-class frigates were commissioned into the Royal Netherlands Navy. The frigates were built to a modified design of the British Leander-class frigate and specifically intended for anti-submarine warfare. Around 1980, the ships underwent a midlife modernisation which included the replacement of the gun and the installation of a helicopter deck in lieu of the depth charge mortar on the aft deck. In the late 1980s, the Van Speyk-class ships were sold to the Indonesian Navy. |
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| A model of HNLMS Tromp, lead ship of the two Tromp-class frigates constructed at the Royal Scheldt Shipyard in Vlissingen in the early 1970s. Launched in June 1973 and commissioned into the Royal Netherlands Navy on 3 October 1976, Tromp participated in several notable cruises during her service career. In July 1976, Tromp and other ships of the Royal Netherlands Navy visited New York to mark the city's 200th anniversary, while in March 1979, Tromp and three other Dutch warships sailed to the Far East to show the flag. In February 1982, Tromp and five Dutch warships visited the United States to commemorate 200 years of US-Dutch diplomatic relations. Also of note, Willem-Alexander, the future King of the Netherlands, served aboard Tromp in 1986. Decommissioned in 1999 and later subsequently scrapped, HNLMS Tromp's gun has been preserved as an outdoor exhibit here at the Marinemuseum in Den Helder. |
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| HNLMS Tromp displaced 4,377 tons at full load and measured 133.2 metres in length, with a beam of 14.8 metres, and a draught of 6.6 metres. The ship's Rolls-Royce gas turbine engines provided a top speed of 28 knots (52 km/h) and a range of 5,000 nautical miles (9,300 kilometres) at a cruising speed of 18 knots (33 km/h). Tromp's armament included Standard and Sea Sparrow surface-to-air missiles, Harpoon anti-ship missiles, two 120mm Bofors guns in a twin turret, a Goalkeeper close-in weapon system, and triple torpedo tubes. A Westland Lynx helicopter was also carried aboard. Tromp's crew consisted of 306 officers and ratings. |
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| A 1:150 scale model of the Potvis-class submarine HNLMS Tonijn, built in 1962. The 1,830-ton (submerged) boat measured 78.52 metres in length. Powered by two diesel engines and two electric motors, Tonijn's top speed was 14.5 knots (26.9 km/h) surfaced and 18 knots (33.3 km/h) submerged. Her crew numbered 71 officers and ratings. |
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| HNLMS Tonijn was built at the Wilton-Fijenoord shipyard in Schiedam and commissioned into the Royal Netherlands Navy on 24 February 1966. After a career undertaking training exercises and international port visits, Tonijn was decommissioned on 10 January 1991 and opened to the public as a museum ship here at the Marinemuseum in Den Helder in the summer of 1994. |
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| An aerial photo camera. Although the atomic bomb was the most feared weapon of the Cold War, humanity was spared the use of such a weapon during this period. The certainty that one superpower would destroy the other in the event of a nuclear attack brought with it a certain sense of security. To maintain this balance, both parties had to possess data demonstrating the strength of the opposing side. Naval intelligence was obtained, among other things, by photographing Warsaw Pact ships on the open seas. |
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| Part of the section of the gallery examining Royal Netherlands Navy operations in the period between 1969 and 2000. Given the risk of escalation, the Dutch armed forces became involved in only a limited number of operations during the Cold War. The Dutch government paid greater attention to the Soviet threat than to smaller conflicts in faraway parts of the globe. |
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| A painting of the destroyer HNLMS Amsterdam (D819) and the frigate HNLMS Van Galen (F803) during Exercise Creaky Nut, February 1971. Creaky Nut was a combined cold-weather and tactical readiness exercise held in the northern North Sea, near Lerwick, Scotland and involving the British nuclear fleet submarine HMS Dreadnought. |
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| A 1:72 scale model of the minehunter HNLMS Zierikzee (1987-present). Following Operation Desert Storm in March 1991, the minehunters HNLMS Harlingen, Haarlem, and Zierikzee were assigned to clear mines from the sea routes off the Iraqi, Kuwaiti, and Saudi coasts. The three ships neutralised a total of 35 naval mines. |
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| A 1:100 scale model of the air defense frigate HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerck (1986-2004). In 1994, Jacob van Heemskerck participated in NATO Operation Sharp Guard in the Adriatic Sea as part of the trade embargo against the former Yugoslavia. On 2 May, the frigate became involved in the Lido II incident, in which the tanker Lido II attempted to break through the blockade. The Heemskerck, HNLMS Van Kinsbergen, and the British frigate HMS Chatham attempted to intercept the tanker when three Yugoslav naval vessels appeared. A boarding team from the Dutch frigate Van Kinsbergen boarded the Lido II, and the Jacob van Heemskerck directed fighter jets to the crisis area. Following this, the Yugoslavs withdrew and the Lido II was taken to Brindisi, Italy. |
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| HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerck was built by the Royal Schelde Shipyard in Vlissingen, launched on 5 November 1983 and commissioned into the Royal Netherlands Navy on 15 January 1986. Displacing 3,750 tons, the 130-metre ship was powered by a combination of two sets of Rolls-Royce gas turbines delivering a maximum speed of 30 knots (56 km/h). Jacob van Heemskerck's armament consisted of NATO Sea Sparrow short-range surface-to-air missiles; Harpoon long-range anti-ship missiles; a Goalkeeper close-in rapid-fire gun system for use against air targets; Tartar medium-range surface-to-air missiles; and Mark 46 torpedo tubes. The ship's complement was approximately 200 officers and ratings. |
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| A 1:50 scale model of the submarine HNLMS Dolfijn (S808). Laid down at the Rotterdam Drydock Company shipyard in June 1986, Dolfijn was launched in April 1990 and commissioned into the Royal Netherlands Navy on 29 June 1993. One of four Walrus-class submarines built, Dolfijn displaces 2,650 tons (submerged) and measures 68 metres in length. Her diesel-electric motors give a top speed of 11 knots (20 km/h) surfaced and 20 knots (37 km/h) submerged. Dolfijn's armament consists of Mark 48 heavyweight torpedoes and Harpoon anti-ship missiles. She carries a crew of 60 officers and ratings. |
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| From May to July 1999, HNLMS Dolfijn participated in Operation Allied Force off the coast of Serbia and Montenegro. This NATO operation was aimed at halting Yugoslav aggression in Kosovo. The submarine gathered intelligence on shore-based Styx anti-ship missiles, intercepted telephone traffic, and monitored the Yugoslav fleet, whose sailing would have been branded an act of war. |
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| An Uzi sub-machine gun. During blockade operations under trade embargoes, suspicious ships were regularly searched. The Israeli-designed Uzi was the standard weapon for Dutch naval boarding party personnel from the late 1950s to 1997. |
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| A 1:100 scale model of the Kortenaer-class frigate HNLMS Jan van Brakel (1983-2001). In the 1980s and 1990s, the standard frigates of the Kortenaer-class were the workhorses of the Royal Netherlands Navy. They regularly formed part of international training squadrons and frequently operated in crisis areas. The ships were also deployed for civilian purposes. HNLMS Jan van Brakel made the newspapers in 1989 with a spectacular interception of the German drug ship Pegasus, 40 miles east of Edinburgh, Scotland. |
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| A display on police actions undertaken by the Royal Netherlands Navy. Ensuring Dutch coastal waters are safe is the joint responsibility of the Dutch Coast Guard and the Royal Netherlands Navy. For decades naval units have participated in rescue operations and fishing inspections. In the 1970s they also became involved in the upkeep of environmental laws and anti-drug operations. In the 1990s, Dutch warships and aircraft took part in several international anti-drug operations in the Caribbean. Several humanitarian missions were also carried out, including the provision of emergency aid in Honduras in the aftermath of Hurricane Mitch (1998) and Operation Allied Harbour during the Kosovo crisis in 1999. |
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| A painting of the frigate HNLMS Kortenaer (F807) and its embarked Westland Lynx helicopter. In addition to squadron operations, the frigates of the Kortenaer-class were deployable for numerous other tasks. They regularly carried out rescue operations in the West Indies as guard ships or station ships. The Westland Lynx was of great value in these operations. Furthermore, the Kortenaer-class frigates regularly patrolled the Caribbean as part of the 'war on drugs'. |
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| A painting of the frigate HNLMS Wolf (F817) on a fisheries patrol. One of the civilian duties of the Royal Netherlands Navy involves monitoring compliance with national and international legislation concerning marine fisheries. To this end, the Navy designated a ship to serve as a fisheries policy patrol vessel. From the 1950s to the 1970s, this task regularly fell to HNLMS Wolf. Wolf was commissioned in 1954 and scrapped in 1984. |
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| A painting of HNLMS Tjerk Hiddes (F804) as station ship in Curaçao, 1982. The painting depicts the Van Speyk-class frigate sailing into Curaçao's Sint Anna Bay. The Parera Naval Base is situated in this bay, at Willemstad, and has been the most important naval base in the Caribbean since September 1943. It is the headquarters of the Commander of the Netherlands Forces in the Caribbean. The main duties of the station ship consist of maritime presence activities and conducting counter-drug operations. |
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| A display on the Royal Netherlands Navy's role in 'showing the flag' worldwide. The navy is well-suited to worldwide deployments. Apart from participating in NATO and United Nations operations, the navy is used frequently to show the flag. These voyages are first of all used to test the endurance of both the sailors and their ships; however, showing the flag is also a means to strengthen the bonds with faraway nations and to advance new economic relationships. |
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| A 1:100 scale model of the shallow water minesweeper HNLMS Alblas (1960-1984). In the 1970s and 1980s, the shallow-water minesweepers of the Van Straelen-class regularly made voyages as part of inland Tandem flag displays. Due to their shallow draught, these vessels were able to represent the navy at numerous events taking place on or around the major rivers in the Netherlands. |
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| Visitors exit the gallery via this tunnel adorned with large images of HNLMS Tonijn, HNLMS Tromp's bridge, and the air defence and command frigate HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën. Stairs lead back up to Gallery 1 and the entrance/exit to the Tower. |
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| The former Ordnance Repair Shop on the west side of the museum property now houses exhibits and interactive displays on naval engineering and the dockyard workforce that was once employed here, as well as the museum gift shop. |
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| The interior corridor of the Ordnance Repair Shop building. The main gallery on the modern Royal Netherlands Navy is at the far end, with an entrance on the left to Hidden Treasures: Jewels in the Navy's Crown. |
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| Hidden Treasures: Jewel's in the Navy's Crown paints a picture of the history of the Royal Netherlands Navy in 55 objects. On 8 January 1488, the foundations were laid for what would later be called the Koninklijke Nederlandse Zeemacht (Royal Netherlands Naval Force) and, from 1905, the Koninklijke Marine (Royal Netherlands Navy). The navy is the oldest branch of the Netherlands' armed forces and, to keep this rich history alive, it collects objects and has important events captured on canvas and film. Prior to 1962, there was no central location to house this collection and items were stored at different museums, institutions, and naval buildings throughout the country. |
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| When the Royal Netherlands Navy Museum was established in Den Helder in August 1962, the collection consisted some 500 objects; since then, it has grown to around 80,000 objects. While there are far more objects than can be displayed to the public, this gallery showcases some of the valuable treasures of the museum's collection, including paintings, model ships, ship's decor, medals, furniture, weapons, ships' bells, flags, clocks, sculptures, silverware, and trophies. |
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| The entrance to the Navy Today gallery in the former Ordnance Repair Shop. This gallery showcases the modern ships and technologies employed by the Royal Netherlands Navy. On the right, in the display case, is a Mark 48 heavyweight torpedo, the most powerful weapon in the Dutch arsenal. With its 1,500-kilogram warhead, the Mark 48 can sink a ship, though the displayed is a dummy training torpedo (thus the bright orange paint scheme). The Royal Netherlands Navy's Walrus-class submarines can each carry up to 20 of these torpedoes. The Mark 48 has a range of 50 kilometres at a speed of 74 km/h. Seeking out its target independently, the Mark 48 ultimately explodes underneath the target, with the air bubble that is released lifting the target out of the water and breaking it in two. Hanging above and behind the Mark 48 is a dummy Mark 46 lightweight homing torpedo used for training. The Mark 46 can be launched from frigates, helicopters, and small patrol aircraft and has been widely used since the Cold War. Once below the surface, the torpedo independently searches for its target at a speed of approximately 50 km/h. The white missile hanging from the ceiling is an American-made RIM-7 Sea Sparrow missile, introduced in the 1970s and used by several NATO countries. The Sea Sparrow is a short-range air defence missile with a maximum range of 19 kilometres. The newest evolved version of the Sea Sparrow has a more powerful motor, a range of over 50 kilometres, and an ultra-modern guidance system. |
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| A 1:10 scale model of a NH-90 helicopter hangs from the ceiling. The development of the NH-90 in the 1990s was a European collaborative project, the result being a versatile helicopter that can operate from many naval vessels. The NH-90 is flexibly deployed for transport, anti-submarine warfare, and reconnaissance tasks. This newer 'big brother' of the Westland Lynx helicopter can fly farther and faster, and carry more cargo. The helicopter's advanced weapon systems require only two to four crew members. The Royal Netherlands Navy will operate 22 NH-90s by 2030. |
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| A scale model of the 12,750-ton landing platform dock HNLMS Rotterdam (L800), lead ship of the Rotterdam-class of two vessels. A joint project between the Netherlands and Spain developed the Enforcer design for a landing platform dock, which subsequently became the basis for the Rotterdam-class and the Spanish navy's Galicia-class. HNLMS Rotterdam was built by Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding in Vlissingen and commissioned into the Royal Netherlands Navy in 1998. Both Rotterdam and larger sistership Johan de Witt, which joined the fleet in 2007, are based at the Nieuwe Haven Naval Base in Den Helder. The Rotterdam-class ships are designed for amphibious warfare and are capable of transporting a battalion of Dutch marines, disembarking them, and providing general logistic support ashore. Rotterdam has a large hangar capable of housing four Chinook helicopters or six NH-90s, a flight deck, and a well deck for landing craft. Additionally, the ship has space for up to 90 armoured personnel carriers or 32 main battle tanks, as well as a hospital and a desalination system to produce fresh water. |
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| An exhibit on modern Royal Netherlands Navy gear designed for Arctic operations, including white camouflage uniforms and a snowmobile, highlighting specialised equipment developed for navigating and fighting in cold conditions. |
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| A Goalkeeper close-in weapon system, developed in the Netherlands in the 1980s in response to the increased threat from anti-ship missiles. Firing 4,200 rounds per minute, the Goalkeeper is the ship's last line of defence. As threats have evolved, the once-innovative Goalkeeper is now obsolete, being unable to tackle the latest missiles that can reach speeds of Mach 5 (6,174 km/h) or more. |
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| A Goalkeeper close-in weapon system demonstration model. This rapid-fire 30mm autocannon could fire 4,200 rounds per minute and was used for short-range defence against airborne threats. |
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| A 1:150 scale model of the Alkmaar-class minehunter HNLMS Dordrecht (M852). The invention of magnetic mines led to the Alkmaar-class minehunters being built with a polyester hull instead of one made from steel, thus earning them the nickname of 'Tupperware class'. The vessels were designed, built, and purchased in the 1980s in collaboration with Belgium and France. Minehunting was carried out using underwater drones and sonar. Starting in 2025, the Netherlands and Belgium began jointly receiving 12 new mine countermeasures vessels. HNLMS Dordrecht was sold to Latvia in 2005, with Vlaardingen and Makkum being donated to Ukraine in 2025. |
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| A scale model of HNLMS Mercuur, a submarine support ship that entered service on 21 August 1987. Mercuur is the only surface ship attached to the Dutch submarine service. Using her special hoisting gear, Mercuur can lift torpedoes on deck and is also able to conduct firing tests of the Mark 48 heavyweight torpedo. She participates in training exercises involving the Netherlands' Walrus-class submarines, serving as a target ship, conducts tests and experiments on torpedoes used by the Dutch submarines, and also performs torpedo maintenance. |
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| A Westland Lynx helicopter of the Marineluchtvaartdienst (MLD), the naval air service of the Royal Netherlands Navy. The first Lynx helicopters entered MLD service in 1977 performing a utility role. Anti-submarine warfare models of the Lynx joined the Royal Netherlands Navy in 1979-80 and the entire fleet was upgraded and standardised into the multi-role SH-14D configuration between 1993 and 1995. After 35 years of service, the Lynx was retired by the MLD in 2012. Over the course of its service life, the Lynx performed anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare and shipping protection, and search and rescue missions. The NH-90 replaced the Lynx beginning in 2010. |
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| A 1:100 scale model of HNLMS Karel Doorman (F827), lead ship of the Karel Doorman-class of eight multi-purpose frigates. They were designed at the end of the Cold War as anti-submarine combatants that could also tackle surface and air targets, as well as be deployed for peacekeeping, anti-piracy, and humanitarian missions. The most important detection equipment aboard the Karel Doorman-class ships is their towed array sonar, used to detect submarines. With the submarine threat growing, the two remaining Karel Doorman-class frigates in Dutch service are undergoing a final modernisation program before these multi-purpose vessels are replaced by new anti-submarine warfare frigates in 2029. (Two each of the Karel Doorman-class frigates were sold to Belgium, Chile, and Portugal). |
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| On the top is a model of the De Zeven Provinciën-class air defence and command frigate HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën (F802), commissioned into the Royal Netherlands Navy on 26 April 2002. The real strength of a naval vessel lies in its sensors. the De Zeven Provinciën-class frigate is a perfect example of this, being specially designed to repel air attacks. The black radar array on the rear of the ship is a SMART-L long-range air and surface surveillance radar, an impressive feat of Dutch innovation. The SMART-L radar has a range of up to 2,000 kilometres and can detect approaching ballistic missiles outside of the atmosphere. With the technology called Theatre Ballistic Missile Defence, an air defence and command frigate can transmit target data of approaching ballistic missiles to friendly ships who can then neutralise them. On the bottom of the display case is a model of the Orka-class submarine. Around 2035, the four Orka-class submarines will enter service with the Royal Netherlands Navy, replacing the last two Walrus-class boats. These new submarines will provide the navy with necessary firepower and stealth capabilities well into the 21st century. This type of submarine is primarily used for intelligence gathering, as it is quieter and more invisible than ever. Additionally, the Orka-class will be able to deploy marines ashore and covertly attack ships with torpedoes and missiles. The Orka-class submarines are being built in Cherbourg, France at the Naval Group shipyard. |
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| A final look at the Marinemuseum and HNLMS Tonijn in Den Helder. |
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