We are here in the harbor of Den Helder, which is the home base of the Dutch fleet.
And behind me you can see the ocean patrol vessel Friesland,
which is one of the newest ships of the Dutch Navy.
It's used for counterdrug operations and anti-piracy operations
in the Caribbean or in effort on the African coast.
And it's quite successful.
It gets its name from the destroyer Friesland,
which served during the Cold War,
and which was extensively used for anti-submarine operations.
The Netherlands lost almost all of their ships in World War II,
so the Admiralty had to concoct a plan to restore their Navy.
Its numbers and composition were dictated
by the capabilities of the military and industrial facilities of the Netherlands,
as well as the loss of many of their colonial territories
by the end of the 1940s.
Another factor that affected the shape of their post-war Navy
was that the country joined NATO.
Their fleet had to take an active role in the joint efforts of the alliance
in protecting Atlantic communications from the Soviet threat.
Thus, the Netherlands focused on creating a small fleet
with anti-submarine ships at its core.
“Friesland” was the name of a class of eight anti-submarine destroyers,
designed in 1947.
The Friesland class was designed at a time when other navies
were also researching new technologies.
There was a need for new ships, because in times of war
ships quickly reach the end of their lives and don’t last very long.
In England, the Daring class was designed, and in America—the Gearing class.
The propulsion system of the Dutch destroyers
was mainly based on that of the Americans;
the weapons systems on board were Swedish;
and the radar and gun fire control systems were all developed in the Netherlands.
Friesland Performance Characteristics
Length: 116 meters.
Beam: almost 12 meters.
Draught: slightly more than 5 meters.
Full displacement: 3,070 tons.
Armament
Two twin Bofors Mark 10 120 mm artillery guns
Six single 40 mm Bofors AA guns, Model 1948
This is the Mark 10 120 mm cannon, a Swedish design,
which was placed on board the Friesland-class
anti-submarine hunters in the 1950s.
The ships had two of these turrets, each weighing 68 tons,
and with a firing rate of 42 shots per minute per barrel.
They could be used against seaborne or ground-based targets.
Anti-submarine armament:
Two quad Bofors 375 mm anti-submarine mortars
Two depth charge racks
This is the anti-submarine mortar of the Friesland class.
These ships were the world’s first to be equipped with this weapon.
It was capable of firing a projectile of 200 kg
over a maximum distance of 1600 meters.
Propulsion
Four Babcock & Wilcox boilers and two Werkspoor shaft geared turbines
Power: 60,000 hp
Maximum speed: 36 knots
Range: 4,000 nmi at 18 knots
I spent three years at Friesland-class destroyer Overijssel
Friesland-class destroyers are rather sophisticated as for the propulsion system
And for us, coming from British-originated ships etc.,
who were rather simple, it was a good thing to do,
to have the sophisticated engines, high temperatures,
high pressures, and you always had to be on your,
as we call it, qui vive. But it was worthwhile.
Well as MEO, I had 75 ratings and CPOs and POs under me for the whole ship,
plus the installation was handled by hand, no automation, no.
So you needed much people.
The lead ship of the series, Friesland, entered service in the spring of 1956
In summer of the same year, she joined a small division
of ships of the Netherlands Navy and set sail on an honorable,
but quite surprising mission.
If, in the early 50s, you were to ask a Dutch naval officer
whether he would like to pay a visit to Russia,
he would have responded by saying it would “never happen,
not until Easter and Pentecost take place on the same day.”
The Netherlands’ military ships arrived
at the shores of our country for the first time
Wherever the Dutch officers and sailors showed up during their stay,
they broke the ice and engaged in friendly small talk with Soviet citizens.
The sailors arriving in Leningrad were overwhelmed
by the huge amount of attention they got from Russian civilians—
all of Leningrad had come to see those crazy westerners.
It was a huge news item at the time.
Concurrently, a Russian squadron visited Rotterdam.
Soviet sailors impressed the citizens of Rotterdam with their vocal mastery,
performing a popular Dutch song and singing it in the local language.
when I was 17 years old, I was a child soldier,
I go with Hare Majesteit De Friesland to New-Guinea.
In 1962, the presence of the Netherlands Navy became necessary in Southeast Asia,
where the conflict between Indonesia and the Netherlands
was heating up in regards to which state West New Guinea should belong to.
The history of this confrontation had started after the end of World War II,
when the Malay Archipelago— colonial territories of the Netherlands—
declared their independence following the end of the Japanese occupation in 1945.
In the 1950s, the Republic of Indonesia had played an active role in Southeast Asia
and refused to abandon hope of taking control of the last Netherlands colony
in the region—West New Guinea.
In the early years of the 1960s, Indonesia, with support from the U.S.S.R. and China,
opted for open military confrontation against the Netherlands.
We went on patrol and saw a lot of action.
Among other things, we saved a Dakota aircraft that was shot down.
When patrolling, we chased motorboats and fired upon them.
On August 14–15, 1962, we provided gunfire support at Misool.
I came aboard HMS Friesland in 1962 as cook third class, so I was a young helper.
I was the youngest sailor on board the ship.
I stayed in the galley, and we were cooking for the entire crew 24 hours a day.
When the alarm went off, I had to go to my alarm station.
I had to load ammunition for the 40 mm Oerlikons.
I carried ammunition to the cannon and then they fired it.
Following extensive negotiations with the U.S.A. and NATO,
Western New Guinea joined Indonesia in 1963.
The Netherlands lost their colonies in the Pacific Ocean
which had belonged to them for around three and a half centuries.
I was a war veteran at 18 years old.
All of my school friends in the Netherlands
had only taken day trips to amusement parks,
while I had travelled around the world, seen war,
and been distinguished as a war veteran.
In the 1960s–70s, after shipborne hydroacoustic equipment had been upgraded,
Friesland continued her duties in the North Atlantic.
Her primary role remained as being an anti-submarine ship searching for
and tracking Soviet submarines.
She continued to do so until the very end of the 1970s,
at which point the latest Kortenaer-class frigates
began to enter service in the Netherlands Navy.
Most of the Friesland-class anti-submarine destroyers
were sold to Peru in the eighties,
where they continued their service for many more years.
But Friesland herself had a different fate:
she was decommissioned in 1979 and eventually scrapped.
However, the name Friesland still lives on in the navy.
A new ship has been commissioned—a patrol vessel—
which has successfully served the navy for a few years already.