Subscribe to the newsletter
Damen Naval’s bell has never been heard as much as during the summer barbecue of 13 July. The old ship’s bell used to herald the acquisition of new projects was next to the dance floor and some colleagues could not resist the temptation to have their turn. Earlier in the day, Managing Director Roland Briene had used the bell to celebrate the official signing of the contract for the new Anti-Submarine Warfare Frigates. It also marked the approval by the European Commission of two European Defence Fund (EDF) research proposals in which Damen Naval is closely involved.
On a half-sunny but windy day, some 520 colleagues gathered in and around building M64 on the Vlissingen-Oost terrain. However, thanks to the team from Arnold’s Light and Sound who had created a festival atmosphere with tents, palm trees, seating and fun accessories, the partygoers could imagine they were on Ibiza for the evening. SEC Catering had prepared a whole buffet of delicacies, including burgers, spicy potato wedges, chicken skewers, corn cobs, sausages, smoked salmon and more. Of course, there were also desserts and guests could feast on iced coffees and mocktails.
Ibiza vibes with a touch of Hawaii: Roland Briene opened the evening with a short speech.
The evening began with a short speech by Roland who, like the other members of the MT, had dressed in bright Hawaiian shirts with floral garlands. “We could not get Ibiza shirts in time,” he explained. “This is a special evening because we are ringing the bell for a number of new contracts and in addition, we are celebrating that we have reached milestones on all ongoing projects. I know everyone has been very busy lately, but that has translated into great successes.”
The bell-ringing was divided into three stages. First, the team from the EuroGuard project was invited on to the stage. This study, led by Project Manager Research Joep Broekhuijsen, will look at the feasibility of innovative solutions in the design of medium-sized autonomous naval vessels. The full budget for the project will be funded by the European Commission and contributing member states, which is why Joep was allowed to ring the bell.
Vera Leijten, Ronald Lukasse, Joop Noordijk and John Beelen rang the bell for the four ASW frigates.
Proposal Engineer Koen Audenaert’s REACTS project will investigate the possibility of a multi-domain fast response system that can launch satellites within 72 hours. The study looks at land launches, fixed and mobile launches, aerial launches and sea launches. Damen is responsible for the conceptual design of the marine launch system and Koen was allowed to ring the bell on behalf of his team.
And then it was the turn of the ASWF team. Project Director Joop Noordijk gathered as many people from his team on stage as possible to ring the bell no less than four times, once for each frigate. While the echoes of the bell still reverberated, the barbecue was officially opened, and everyone could start enjoying themselves. At the end of the evening, all attendees received a small gift that, as Roland put it, will “make a nice impression on the beach”: flip-flops with an ASWF silhouette and the Damen logo on the sole.
