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Wim in Senegal during sea trials Hr.Ms. Piet Heyn
They were built in series of four ships at a time. Construction took place at an extremely fast pace, as two ships had to be completed every year. Let’s look back on this massive project: building twelve Kortenaer-class frigates.
They were also called S-frigates or standard frigates, a series of warships built at De Schelde between 1975 and 1983 for the Royal Netherlands Navy.
Wim Wattel was closely involved with this major project, during the De Schelde’s heyday. Wim worked at De Schelde/Damen for 46 years. He started as a bench operator, then, during the construction of HNLMS Kortenaer, bench team leader, and then assistant manager and ultimately production coordinator.
“The construction of these ships was necessary because the Dutch Navy fleet was outdated,” he remembers. “The S-frigates were the first Navy ships to receive computer equipment. The armaments were also modernised. Contrary to its predecessors, which only had guns on board, this ship-type was also armed with missiles, and could fire torpedoes.”
“It was a wonderful time. Everything was dominated by growth.”
Vijf S-fregatten aan de kade in Vlissingen
Wim installed and tested the onboard automation systems and performed testing, including during sea trials. “The S-frigates had two propeller shafts with controllable pitch propellers. Each propeller shaft was driven by one RR Tyne and one RR Olympus gas turbine.”
Wim worked in department number 806 (propulsion installation) of new-build vessels. “I had to switch regularly between working on the frigates and building merchant ships,” he recalls. “Because in the same period, De Schelde also delivered four car ships to the Norwegian shipping company Höegh.”
Back then, De Schelde was part of the large shipbuilding group Rijn-Schelde-Verolme (RSV). “Through their good design and correct choice of materials, they proved to be reliable, excellent ships that were deployed by the Royal Netherlands Navy for an average of 25 years. After decommissioning, all the ships were sold and, with the exception of one ship, are still in use. In my opinion, they were the best ships we ever made.”
Twelve were built, but Wim points out that De Schelde actually supplied fourteen standard frigates. “While working on the second series of four, numbers 2 and 3 from that series were sold from the construction line to the Greek Navy. The remaining series of ten for our Navy was supplemented by two L-class frigates: the Van Heemskerck class. Basically these are S-frigates, but with a different structure.”
Wim looks back on “a beautiful, challenging project.”
“It was a wonderful time. As part of RSV, De Schelde was able to invest in people, resources and equipment. Everything was dominated by growth.”
