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From 25 January, the Portuguese frigate NRP Dom Francisco de Almeida has been moored at Quay J at Damen Shiprepair Vlissingen (DSV) in Vlissingen-East. The multipurpose frigate is being thoroughly overhauled to meet the latest requirements.
NRP Dom Francisco de Almeida is the second former Karel Doorman class M-class frigate that DSV has upgraded. The repair yard has previously handled sister ship NRP Bartolomeu Dias with success.
Robin Juranek, Patrick Brasser and Jasper van Loon are closely involved in this midlife upgrade by DSV for the Portuguese Navy; Robin as Project Manager, Patrick as Production Coordinator and Jasper as Estimator.
“The project will be completed in Q3 of this year,” says Robin. “Then the ship will go back to the yard of the Directorate of Material Sustainment (DMS) of the Royal Navy in Den Helder for further outfitting. Before it came here in January, it was located in Den Helder, where it was stripped of all sensor, weapons and communication systems (sewaco). They will be reinstalled once our work is done.”
Patrick Brasser, Robin Juranek and Jasper van Loon at DSV
The fact that the frigate is being updated in the Netherlands, and not in Portugal, is because of the following reason. When it was sold to Portugal, it was agreed that knowledge within the Dutch Navy would be used. A logical consequence of this was that maintenance activities would take place in the Netherlands. All eight M-frigates were built in the Netherlands by the Koninklijke Schelde Groep; they were also equipped with weapon systems in the Netherlands.
Work on the former HNLMS Van Galen is somewhat simplified by the experience that DSV has already built up during the midlife upgrade of sister ship NRP Bartolomeu Dias (previously HNLMS Van Nes), explains Robin. On the other hand, the current COVID-19 situation complicates matters. There are limits to the number of people allowed to work together in one space. This poses a challenge for everyone, but especially for Patrick in his supervisory role on board. The project has started with well and with the necessary COVID-19 related adjustments to procedures. Jasper and his colleagues made a budget about which he is positive. “We spent about three months preparing the budget,” says Jasper. “After submitting the quote, negotiations started with the end result that we were able to submit a good offer that satisfied both us and the customer. Various colleagues from Damen Shiprepair & Conversion, the Damen division that includes DSV, were also involved in this process.”
The M-frigate series consists of very strong ships; they are still among the better ships in the NATO fleet
A specialist group consisting of no less than ninety percent subcontractors is carrying out the work. Patrick is responsible for project execution on board the NRP Dom Francisco de Almeida; as Production Coordinator, he and several colleagues coordinate the work on site. Project progress can be guaranteed and monitored through close contact with the subcontractors and DSV’s own personnel on the one hand, and the customer – consisting of both the Dutch and Portuguese Navies – on the other.
Major maintenance is being carried out on the ventilation systems, an enormously extensive network extending throughout the entire ship. All valves and actuators will also receive major maintenance. Actuators are used to control valves remotely. All tanks on board are to be cleaned; some of them also need to be blasted and painted.
In addition, a lot of steel work on foundations of all shapes and sizes throughout the ship has to be completed, which is a very time-consuming and precise job. A number of pumps will be overhauled and/or renewed, and some fifty kilometres of cable on the ship will be replaced. The frigate will also receive new watermakers and chillers.
Patrick, who once started at De Schelde shipyard as a metalworker, says that the ship “will be painted from top to bottom. First we have to hydroblast it completely – this is washing it under such an enormous pressure that the paint comes off. All outer decks will also be hydroblasted and then completely re-painted.”
In short, this is a wide-ranging project. “The ship dates from the mid-1990s and is out-of-date,” says Robin. “But the M-frigate series consists of very strong ships; they are still among the better ships in the NATO fleet. In terms of hull, sound levels and propellers, De Schelde delivered an excellent series of ships; the construction of the M-frigates was a real tour de force. But they have to be updated to keep in line with the latest technological requirements.”
Most of the subcontractors who worked on the NRP Bartolomeu Dias update are involved again. This gives a good feeling, say Robin, Jasper and Patrick. “We know each other, we know what we can expect from each other and, under the motto lessons learned, the subcontractors also know what to expect in terms of potential bottlenecks.” Jasper – a former merchant navy helmsman – is pleased to be working on this naval project. “The great thing about such a frigate is that it is technically very diverse. The work therefore varies from the simplest operations to extremely complex modifications.”