“CSS will be a beautiful ship”

“It will simply be a beautiful ship,” says Arjan Risseeuw of Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding enthusiastically. He is referring to the Combat Support Ship, which the Royal Netherlands Navy hopes to put into use in 2024. Arjan is Project Director for the construction. The start of work on the “little sister” of HNLMS Karel Doorman, as he likes to call the CSS, is approaching quickly.

We speak to the Project Director on September 15. “In the course of this month we hope to finalise the contract with Damen Shipyards Galati, where the ship will be built,” he says. The almost 180 metre long and over 26 metre wide supply vessel is being built completely, from hull to finished product, at Damen’s yard in Galati. Even the sea trials will take place in Romania. The ship will then sail independently to Den Helder, where assistance will be provided to DMO in the integration of several combat systems with the platform.

“Collaboration is the keyword in this ambitious project. Naturally, the construction will be done in collaboration with Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding, Vlissingen and Galatz are unanimously tackling this project,” says Arjan. After all, it was DSNS that concluded an agreement in Den Helder on 19 February with the Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) for the supply of the widely deployable supply vessel.

The Project Director would like to refresh our memories a bit more about why the CSS, a robust ship that can reach a maximum speed of more than 18 knots on the high seas, came about in the first place. “There was once talk of replacing the supply ships Zuiderkruis and Amsterdam. The Joint Support Ship Karel Doorman succeeded the Zuiderkruis, but because of austerity measures at the Ministry of Defence, the plans went no further. The Karel Doorman thus actually became the successor to both the Zuiderkruis and the Amsterdam. But at the start of her operational life, it soon became clear that “one = none” and when the ship was in for maintenance, the fact that she had no ready replacement was experienced as a loss. The cabinet decided to purchase a ‘simple’ tanker, which, in addition to its function as a supply ship, could also perform limited transport tasks, carry missiles and provide medical support. “The CSS certainly did not come off the design table as a simple tanker, and is very similar to the JSS in terms of design requirements. It has a tank capacity of 8,600 cubic meters and can also transport a total of 20 TEU of sea containers.”

More than a hundred companies are helping to build the vessel. “The engineering is in full swing, we are fully engaged in the procurement process and contracts have now been concluded with almost all major subcontractors,” says Arjan. “Just as for the Karel Doorman, the French company General Electric will provide the propulsion for this ship. Alewijnse will install the electrical installations on board. The engineering of the e-installations, the automation and the delivery of the integrated bridge are provided by RH Marine, and Heinen & Hopman will supply the ventilation systems.”

Of course, the corona problem is also at play at the yard in Galati. A small number of the employees there became infected with the COVID-19 virus, so the safety measures on site are strict. This could possibly affect construction activities. Arjan regularly consults with DMO; both about the current engineering and purchasing phase and the coming production phase; officers of the Defence Materiel Organization have to carry out inspections at crucial moments during the construction process and must then be physically present at the yard in Galati. “Hopefully the situation around corona will improve quickly, so that these activities can all proceed according to plan,” says Arjan.

In order to ensure that the delivery date of the CSS is not jeopardized, DSNS has decided, after consultation with DMO, to bring the start of construction work at Damen Shipyards Galati forward from February 19, 2021 to December 1. A so-called ‘slow start’ of construction makes it easier for us to respond to unforeseen issues that disrupt the work, for example in the field of information security or corona measures on-site.

Prior to construction, a team of four to six specialists from the Romanian yard will follow training courses at DSNS in Vlissingen. The construction of the new naval vessel will be supervised on behalf of DSNS by a site team led by Arjen Poortvliet.

When it enters service, the CSS will accommodate 75 crew members plus an additional 85 special personnel. “It will be a smaller, but excellent sister ship to HLNMS Karel Doorman.”