F930 Leopold I

The F930 "Leopold I" is a "Karel Doorman" class frigate of the Naval Component of the Belgian Armed Forces. Prior to March 29, 2007, the ship was known as the HNLMS "Karel Doorman" (F827). It is one of the two frigates of this class that was purchased from the Royal Netherlands Navy on December 22, 2005.

The F930 "Leopold I" is currently commanded by Frigate Captain Wim Robberecht. The rank of Frigate Captain in the Belgian Naval Component is equivalent to the rank of Commander in the Royal Navy and the United States Navy.

HNLMS Karel Doorman

The HNLMS "Karel Doorman" was the first ship of the "Karel Doorman" class of multi-purpose frigates (also known as "M-fregat" class). She was the third ship in the Royal Netherlands Navy to be named after admiral Karel Doorman, who was killed during the battle of the Java Sea. It was laid down on 26 February 1985, launched on 20 April 1988 and commissioned on 31 May 1991.

She took part in anti-drug operations in the Caribbean together with the U.S. Navy, was part of the UN operations in the Adriatic Sea during the conflicts in the former republics of Yugoslavia, as well as various NATO exercises.

ale to Belgium

On 20 July 2005, the Belgian government decided to buy two of the remaining six Dutch "M"-class frigates to replace the two remaining frigates of the "Wielingen" class ("Wielingen" and "Westdiep") currently in service with the Belgian Naval Component. On 22 December 2005, "Karel Doorman" and "Willem van der Zaan" were sold to Belgium.

The HNLMS "Karel Doorman" was taken out of service in 2006 and turned over to the Belgian Naval Component on March 29, 2007 when it was christened the F930 "Leopold I", in honour of the first King of the Belgians, by Queen Fabiola of Belgium at the Zeebrugge Naval Base. The patronage of the F930 "Leopold I" was accepted by the city of Nivelles. The "Willem van der Zaan" was commissioned into the Belgian Naval Component as the F931 "Louise-Marie" in April 2008.

East African Venture

The F930 "Leopold I" embarked upon its first official mission for the Naval Component on 5 September 2007, with destination East Africa. The operation was given the appropriate codename "East African Venture". On November 30 2007 it arrived back at its homeport of Zeebrugge, marking the end of its first operational deployment in Belgian service.

ee also

*HNLMS "Karel Doorman", for other ships that had the name "Karel Doorman".
*F931 Louise-Marie, for the other ship of this class that was sold to Belgium.

External links

* [http://www.mil.be/navycomp/units/index.asp?LAN=en&ID=1185&MENU=0&PAGE=1 Section of the website of the Belgian Ministry of Defence about the F930 "Leopold I"]
* [http://www.marine.nl/schepen/eskader/fregatten/m-fregat/doorman Homepage of "Hr. Ms. Karel Doorman" (in Dutch)]