– Defense Technology International – The Royal Netherlands Navy support ship Hr. Ms. Amsterdam yesterday escorted a ship delivering supplies to Somalia for the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP).

Radio Netherlands – Bleak Christmas for Dutch naval crew

The crew of a Dutch Royal Navy frigate off the Somali coast is facing the prospect of a bleak Christmas this year. Instead of going home to enjoy the festive season with their families, they are stuck with 13 Somali prisoners on board with no country willing to take them.

(Thanks to Justin for the link!)

BBC – Dutch navy arrests Somali pirates

The Dutch navy has arrested 13 Somali pirates who attempted to hijack a cargo ship south of Oman.

Defense Technology International – The backbone of a modern, 21st-century navy isn’t its surface combatants or submarines. It is the large amphibious and/or logistic support ships it can deploy to trouble spots around the world, carrying helicopters, hospital facilities, an embarked landing force, supplies, fuel and a suite of C4I facilities. The Netherlands is planning to build its largest ship ever to be able to do just that.
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Defense Technology International – The Royal Netherlands Navy is pursuing an Integrated Mast concept for a “radically new” naval sensor and communications suite for anti-air and surface warfare.
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Defense Technology International – Both landing platform dock (LPD) ships of the Royal Netherlands Navy (RNLN), HrMs Johan de Witt (L 801) and Rotterdam (L 800) are en-route to an area southwest of England today for the first exercise of the NLMARFOR one-star battle staff using the command facilities on the new, yet-to-be-commissioned, Johan de Witt.
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Aviation Week – Escaping from a stricken submarine stranded on the bottom of the sea is a dangerous business. But escaping from a sub that’s still on the surface can be just as perilous — especially as many submarines have no life rafts and crew members are forced to rely on individual survival gear.
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BBC – Marine accident experts investigating the sinking of a French trawler off the English coast last year have said the accident was caused by a submarine.
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