Damen Naval, a dedicated naval shipbuilding division of the Damen Shipyards Group, has reported that the Dutch Navy’s combat support ship Den Helder (A834) arrived in Vlissingen after completing its maiden voyage and sea trials.
The new supply ship for the Royal Netherlands Navy departed from the Damen Naval shipyard in Galați, Romania, on November 16, 2024, for sea acceptance tests (SATs) and is now in Vlissingen-Oost for the final outfitting phase of the project.
Damen noted that in the coming months, the finishing work will be carried out before the CSS is handed over to the Netherlands Ministry of Defense’s Materiel & IT Command (COMMIT) in spring 2025.
“Designing and then working with numerous suppliers to construct a large and complex naval ship like the CSS is a process of years and it is great to now be able to admire the result of all that hard work. This unique ship is the first of a whole series of vessels that we as national naval shipbuilder and strategic partner of the Netherlands Ministry of Defence will deliver to the Royal Netherlands Navy in the coming years. Working together with our national suppliers, we are accelerating and intensifying the coming programs for the renewal of our naval fleet,” said Damen Naval Managing Director Roland Briene.
“We carried out a large number of SATs along the way and simulated various emergency scenarios on board to see how the ship reacts. We are very satisfied with how the sea trials went and the cooperation between the different parties on board: our engineers and commissioners, the crew and COMMIT. It is a great ship that will strengthen the support and supply of our own fleet and our NATO partners,” Damen Naval CSS Project Director Arjan Risseeuw stated.
The sea trials are an important part of a ship’s construction and pre-eminently meant to test the whole vessel, added CSS commander Stefjan Veenstra.
“It was imperative that we left Romania with a robust ship. Considering the area through which we sailed, we did not have the option of going back in case of problems. The ship had to be good enough to do the whole return trip and we succeeded in that,” Veenstra remarked.
CSS Den Helder is the replacement for the supply ship HNLMS Amsterdam, which was decommissioned in 2014. The nearly 180-meter-long ship will have a 75-strong crew and can take another 75 people on board.
The steel-cutting ceremony for the vessel took place in December 2020, while the keel for the ship was laid in June 2021.
The supply ship will be able to provide naval vessels with fuel, ammunition, water, food, and spare parts. The CSS is deployable worldwide and can operate under high threat, protected by frigates. It can also be used to provide emergency assistance and transport goods. The ship will soon be equipped with a Role-2 medical facility and can carry a helicopter, Damen highlighted. The vessel is expected to be commissioned in 2025.
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