First Dutch Navy Mine Countermeasure Vessel Starts Sea Trials
The Vlissingen, the second of the series of mine countermeasures vessels (MCM) of the Belgian-Dutch rMCM program, first intended for the Royal Netherlands Navy, has commenced sea trials.The specialized and cyber secured by design MCM vessels are the first to have the capability to embark and launch a combination of surface drones (themselves 12-metre, 19- tonne vessels), underwater drones and aerial drones.The mine countermeasures vessels will use a mainly autonomous system for detection, classification, identification and neutralization of mines This approach with an unmanned integrated system
Damen and Saab Agree to Export C-71 Submarines
Damen Shipyards and Saab have agreed to export the advanced expeditionary C-71 submarines, which have been developed for the Royal Netherlands Navy to replace the current Walrus class.The agreement doubles the long-term prospect of employment and income for the Netherlands Naval Cluster with the replacement of the Walrus submarines by Saab-Damen.Saab and Damen have been working together since 2015 to build, modernize, and maintain the new expeditionary submarine for the Royal Netherlands Navy.The two companies have now also agreed to offer their advanced expeditionary submarines to Canada, which is
Getting to the Bottom of the Navies' Mine Warfare Challenges
and support personnel.https://www.nrl.navy.mil/Penetrating problemMines laying on the seabed can be hard to detect among the clutter of rocks, seaweed and waste. “The more objects you detect, the more time you need to make a proper classification,” said Cmdr. Herman Lammers of the Royal Netherlands Navy, director of the NATO Naval Mine Warfare Centre of Excellence in Ostend, Belgium.“Buried mines lie completely under the seabed, are fully covered, and can only be detected with specialized, bottom penetrating sonar systems, or other sophisticated detection systems like magnetic anomaly
HNLSM Snellius Modernization Complete, Ship Returns to RNLN
The hydrographic survey vessel HNLMS Snellius was returned to the Royal Netherlands Navy (RNLN) following its midlife upgrade at Damen Shipyards Den Helder, a nearly one year-long project with a diverse scope of work.The Defensie Materieel Organization (DMO, the Defense Materiel Organisation of the Dutch Ministry of Defence) and the Directie Materële Instandhouding (DMI – the Directorate for Materiel Conservation) were responsible for the major maintenance work on the ship, and together they commissioned the yard in Den Helder to carry out both the mid-life update and the necessary multi-annu
N-Sea Wins Defense Contract by Royal Netherlands Navy
N-Sea announced a commencement of a five-year contract with the Royal Netherlands Navy.The contract, which includes two year-long extension options, will see N-Sea operate the multipurpose support vessel, Geosea, which arrived at the naval base at Den Helder (Netherlands) on March 4.N-Sea’s workscope throughout the charter will utilize the vessel as a facilitating platform for mine countermeasure activity, development and training in advance of the Navy’s implementation of new-build, mine hunter class vessels.N-Sea specializes in integrated subsea solutions for the renewable, oil and
RNLN Integrates SeeByte’s Neptune into its AUVs
The Royal Netherlands Navy (RNLN) has integrated SeeByte’s Neptune software into its new generation Remus 100 fleet of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV).Neptune provides a payload control architecture, goal-based mission planning, and real-time autonomy engine for Unmanned Maritime Systems (UMS) to plan and execute well known patterns of behavior. Neptune expedites and optimizes single-vehicle and multi-vehicle operations.Neptune can be used to coordinate fleets of unmanned assets for MCM missions enabling operators to easily coordinate various assets to search, classify and map, reacquire
Damen Floats Out Australian Icebreaker
carrying out vessel construction and outfitting tasks. Damen Project Director Joop Noordijk says: “This project is benefiting from the great collaborative relationship between these two sister companies – one that has been built up during the building of seven previous vessels for the Royal Netherlands Navy.”Rino Brugge, Managing Director Damen Shipyards Galati, said, “We still have a long way to go until final delivery, but this float-out once again highlights the extraordinary capability we have for building extremely complex high-end vessels for the broadest range of maritime
Kortenoeven Wins UKHO Award
Captain Peter Kortenoeven, Hydrographer of the Royal Netherlands Navy, has been presented with the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office’s (UKHO’s) Alexander Dalrymple Award at a ceremony in London. The award is dedicated to Alexander Dalrymple who was the first Hydrographer of the Navy when the office was founded in 1795. The award was instituted in 2006 to coincide with the annual World Hydrography Day and is made to an individual who, in the opinion of the Senior Leadership team at UKHO, has shown outstanding dedication and delivered major contribution to world hydrography. After
MTR 100: SeeByte
leadership in the development of smart software for remote or unmanned assets in both the military and energy sectors, and provides products and services to major government and commercial clients around the world. Its customers include BP, Chevron, BAE Systems, Subsea 7, SMD, the U.S. Navy, the Royal Netherlands Navy, VideoRay and BlueView. SeeByte is a Bluefin Robotics Company. The Tech SeeTrack Military is a technology used by Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) and Clearance Divers around the world, to achieve success in managing their off-board assets during dangerous and demanding
February 2025
