The Royal Netherlands Navy’s biggest ship, the HNLMS Karel Doorman A-833, a Joint Support Ship (JSS), arrived on Friday at Port St. Maarten after its trans-Atlantic crossing from Den Helder on April 13 in the Netherlands.
The vessel was deployed by the Netherlands Ministry of Defence to support the civilian authorities in the fight against the coronavirus disease COVID-19 when and where this is required. The ship has been deployed for an initial three-month period according to the Ministry of Defence.
The HNLMS Karel Doorman brought in disaster relief supplies along with a number of vehicles for the emergency phase of post Hurricane Irma/Maria in 2017.
The HNLMS Karel Doorman consignment in 2017 was the single largest shipment of relief goods Post-Hurricane Irma comprising of goods with a total weight of over one million kilos and valued at an estimated one million Euros.
The Karel Doorman with a length of 204.7 meters, is a multi-functional logistical support vessel for amphibious operations that can be deployed to supply units at sea, for strategic sea transport, and for logistical support from the sea, with the ship acting as a seaborne base for implementing and supporting land operations.
The HNLMS Karel Doorman has 2,000 lane meters for transport of material such as tracked and wheeled vehicles or containers; has an elevator and crane for up to 40 tons; a roll on/roll off facility for vehicles, and a steel beach stern construction for accommodating cargo transfer via landing craft.
The vessel features a below-deck transport holding area, medical facilities (20 treatment areas, two surgery rooms), loading/unloading equipment, a helicopter deck with two landing pads for different types of helicopters; displacement of 27,800 long tons; beam of 30.4 meters; draught of 7.8 meters; speed of 18 knots; range of 9,800 nautical miles; 150 crew and 150 non-enlisted persons.
The Karel Doorman was built at Damen’s Shipyard in Romania, but was fitted out in Vlissingen, the Netherlands. The vessel costs US$480 million to build and was built between 2011-2014, and commissioned in April 2015.
The Royal Netherlands Navy deploys the vessel both at home and abroad for crisis management operations, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. The Royal Netherlands Navy is the oldest of the four Services of the Netherlands Armed Forces.