The patrol ship Holland has waited nearly two months for deployment, and is now home

Zr.Ms. Holland returns to Den Helder. This was announced by Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren today. This was about three weeks before the scheduled date. The patrol ship left Hildiris seaport on 17 November to provide assistance to Gaza residents. However, it didn't come to that.

Zr.Ms. Holland, a Dutch-class ocean patrol vessel (OPV), in file photo. (Photo: Jaime Kariman/Marineschips.nl)

At the end of December, the Ministry of Defense told Marineschips.nl that there was no role for the Netherlands; There was no request to publish the Netherlands. It was known that a naval vessel could not provide nearly the assistance that larger Dutch ships could provide, but she was not available when the plan presented itself. However, it was painful to note that even with the limited assistance provided by sea, by the French with the Dixmude as a hospital ship and the British who delivered the goods via Cyprus to Lyme Bay, the Netherlands did not figure in the story. For known reasons, the ship could not be deployed in the Red Sea.

While the Caribbean has been forced to do without the station ship since September, the Ministry of Defense has continued to allow the Netherlands to wait in the Mediterranean. Last weekend, the ministry responded to questions from Marineschips.nl that the Netherlands was on standby for a possible deployment.

This does not mean that the ship was constantly anchored off Cyprus. Two weeks ago the ship was in Dubrovnik, Croatia, on a port visit. This port is located more than 2,000 kilometers away, or about 3 days' sailing from the Gaza Strip.

On 5 January, the “mid-term” was celebrated on board; The ship was in mid-voyage. The ship will therefore remain in the eastern Mediterranean until mid-February. But they didn't wait that long.

There is no station ship at present
Now that the Netherlands has returned home, the issues surrounding the use of rare Dutch naval vessels have yet to be resolved. After all, the question is: Which ship will leave for the Caribbean? A Ministry of Defense spokesperson told Marineschips.nl on Friday that “options are currently still under consideration.” In any case, the Netherlands would not immediately sail to the West. Defense reports today that no station ship will be available at this time. “As of mid-April, the West can rely on a naval vessel again,” the Defense Ministry wrote on its website.

This means that Zr.Ms. The seven provinces, as previously thought, will not go to the Caribbean for the time being. It was previously known that Zr.Ms. Karel Dorman does not go to the Mediterranean to relieve Holland. D. Dorman, with Hr.Ms. Johan de Wit, participating in NATO's major exercise “Standing Defender”.

The Ministry of Defense said that it is still under investigation which ship could participate in the European Union mission in the Red Sea.

Author: Jaime Kariman Jaime is the founder of Marineschappen.nl and has written more than 1,500 articles on various marine topics. In 2017, he published his non-fiction book In complete secrecy Outside and then a submarine thriller energy. Before Jaime started working at this location full time, he was in the Navy for over 12 years, mostly in a civilian position. Jaime studied communications in Groningen.

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