Karel Doorman class frigate

The "Karel Doorman" class is a class of eight multi-purpose frigates of the Royal Netherlands Navy. The class is also known as the "Multi-purpose" or "M" class.

The ships are named after famous Dutch naval officers, the lead ship being named after Karel Doorman.

Armament

These multi-purpose frigates can be used in the anti-submarine, anti-aircraft or surface combat roles. Their armament reflects that.

Their primary armament consists of two quad launchers for the RGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missile, which has a range of 120 kilometres. Backing this up is a 76 mm Oto Melara gun, which has both anti-ship and anti-air capabilities.

Primary air defence is provided by the Sea Sparrow vertical launch system, which uses semi-active radar to find its target and has a range of 14 km. 16 Sea Sparrows are carried.

The Goalkeeper system provides close-range air defence. It fires 30 mm rounds and can fire up to 4,000 rounds per minute, with a range of 200 metres to 3 km.

For anti submarine warfare, each ship carries one Westland Lynx helicopter, which is armed with 2 Mark-46 torpedoes and carries dipping sonar as well as forward looking infrared (FLIR)systems.

Each ship is equipped with two twin torpedo launchers, firing mark 46 torpedoes.

hips

All ships were built by Royal Schelde Dockyard

ales to Chilean, Belgian and Portuguese Navies

In 2004 two ships, "Tjerk Hiddes" and "Abraham van der Hulst" were sold to Chile and renamed "Almirante Riveros" (FF18) and "Blanco Encalada" (FF15) respectively. "Blanco Encalada" commissioned into the Chilean Navy on 16. December 2005, with "Almirante Riveros" to be commissioned in April 2007.

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, which in turn might be sold to Bulgaria. On 21. December 2005, "Karel Doorman" and "Willem van der Zaan" were sold to Belgium and renamed "Leopold I" (F930) and "Louise-Marie" (F931) respectively. They will be recommissioned between 2007- 2008.

In May 2006, Portugal's National Defense Minister, Luís Amado, showed interest in buying two "Karel Doorman" class frigates to replace the two remaining frigates of the "João Belo" class in service with the Portuguese Navy — instead of buying two frigates of the "Oliver Hazard Perry" class, offered by the United States. A committee of the Portuguese government arrived in the Netherlands to evaluate the condition of two frigates to be bought.

In the end of May 2006, the Portuguese Government Official News Bulletin published the order for the creation of an Official Portuguese Navy's "technical team" to supervise the transfer of two "M"-Class Frigates to Portugal.

On November 1st 2006, the Portuguese Defense Minister Nuno Severiano Teixeira signed a contract for the purchase of the frigates "Van Nes" and "Van Galen". "Van Nes" (renamed "Bartolomeu Dias" ) will be transferred to Portugal on December 1, 2008 and "Van Galen" (renamed "Francisco de Almeida") on November 1, 2009. [http://www.marine.nl/nieuws/?article=/nieuws/persberichten/2006/061101pb_portugaal_koopt_nl_fregatten.html] [http://www.mindef.nl/actueel/nieuws/2006/11/20061101_ministerportugal.aspx]

With the latest sale of two "M"-class frigates to Portugal pushing through, only two of the eight ships will remain with the Dutch Navy.

External links

* [http://www.naval-technology.com/projects/karel/ "Karel Doorman" class]
* [http://www.scheldeshipbuilding.com/mf.htm "Schelde Shipbuilding": Multipurpose Frigates]