Captain Dick Jose

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a distinct honor and pleasure for me to have the opportunity to tell (and show) you something of the three Dutch Members of the Historic Naval Ships Association.

It was Channing Zucker, Exec. Director Emeritus of the HNSA and this conference's Chair but most of all a good friend since we first met at SACLANT HQ, Norfolk, VA, both as captains on active duty, who introduced me to HNSA and even made me the Europe Coordinator upon my retirement from the RNlN in 1993.

To be honest however: Dutch Coordinator would have been a better description, as I brought only new Dutch members in. The one and only European achievement to be mentioned and also the one I am particularly proud of is that in 1999 on a trip to Moscow and St. Petersburg I visited the famous former Russian cruiser Aurora and was able to sow the first seeds for her membership in HNSA which came to bloom in 2002. This was something that we could not have dreamed of in 1989 during the Cold War.

As tradition has it, it is customary to save the best wine for the last (this already happened at the wedding in Kana according to the gospel of St. John). As this is the late afternoon of the last day of this conference it puts quite a burden on me but I'll do my very best to pour you some good wine!

The first slide shows you the three Dutch HNSA members starting with the ex HNlMS Mercuur, berthed in the 2nd inner harbor of Scheveningen (near The Hague). No. 2 is the ex. HNlMS Buffel on display at the Maritime Museum Rotterdam in Rotterdam and last but certainly not least there is the Naval Museum in Den Helder, our Naval Port, with three ships on display; ex HNlMS Schorpioen, ex HNlMS Abraham Crijnssen and ex HNlMS Tonijn.

I would like to start with Mercuur.

The ship was commissioned in 1953 in the USA. As one of 6 she was made available to the Royal Netherlands Navy within the scope of the Mutual Defense Assistance Plan under the umbrella of the famous "Marshall Plan". As an Ocean-going minesweeper, H.Nl.M.S. Onverschrokken, (or Fearless) after a work-up for the crew, she sailed across the Atlantic and upon arrival in the Netherlands joined the Neth. Minesweeping Forces in Den Helder. She contributed in clearing the North Sea of WW2 mines, and often participated in multinational (NATO and bi- or tri-national) exercises off the European coast.

In 1972 the Netherlands Navy was in need of replacing the then ageing torpedo assist ship Mercuur, serving in support of torpedo tests and trials by submarines, and later also helicopters and maritime patrol aircraft. In order to enable for a fast replacement, the Onverschrokken was modified to take over this torpedo assistance job. Traditionally she also took over the name and became H.NI.M.S. Mercuur. When a new ship took over her role in 1987 she was decommissioned, mothballed and added to the Reserve Fleet. As a consequence of the Lend-Lease deal between the U.S and the Netherlands Government the US has to agree with any further plans with the ship.

As her condition deteriorated, and the sister ships having been scrapped, her future was not a bright one. But in the early nineties as in general the spirit of caring for the elderly popped up, Lt Van Kakerken, a former torpedo specialist and now the proud Commandant of Mercuur, at first all by himself and soon with some volunteers started to look after the ship and gradually managed to bring her back in shape. A long and interesting story.

Instrumental in that period was Frans Boetes, then the Director of the Netherlands Maritime Trust, who made many impossible wishes come true. In 2001 he received from HNSA the William J. Diffley Award for his contributions. In 1993, the Mercuur now under the aegis of this Trust, was transferred from Den Helder, via Amsterdam to Scheveningen.

Meanwhile, the Royal Neth. Navy (on behalf of the Government) is formally still responsible for the ship to be returned to the US Government if ever required. The custodianship however has been transferred to the Netherlands Maritime Trust. Its task is to assist the Commandant and his all volunteer crew as much as possible to carry out their task in maintaining the ship.

Basically it means to enhance the Museum-function by activating foundations, societies, sponsors and donors to realize projects, allowing for maintenance, repairing defects etc. Fortunately there are many enthusiastic supporters, who on a regular base have a chance to see for themselves how the ship has improved and still is improving.

There are about 10.000 paying visitors on board each year, some to just walk around and see this floating museum, others to employ the ship for a reception, a party, luncheon or dinner in a special naval setting. Children parties are becoming the talk of the town. The money raised by these events is used to pay the harbor dues, energy-consumption, insurance, and so on.

So far, so good, but are there no more problems? Yes, some are financial (surprise, surprise!!) e.g. in 2002 during the summer an extensive maintenance on the quarterdeck and the so called "torpedo workshop" had to be carried out. This meant no receptions and parties and thus less income.

It won't surprise you that all volunteers are fostered, but... they don't get younger and a new influx is difficult to achieve whilst expenses go up!

One of the sores to the eye for a very long time was the ships whaleboat, or sloop. It was difficult to even make the existing one look like a sloop, and funds to fully repair or to rebuild it were not available.

To cut a long story short, the Executive (and very active) Director of HNSA, Channing Zucker was on a holiday tour in Europe in 2002and paid a visit to the Mercuur. Whilst touring the ship and discussing the various shortcomings on the seemingly endless "things to do" list with the Director of the Dutch Maritime Trust the latter questioned if by any chance there was a similar sloop available in the US to replace Mercuur's derelict one. Having returned, Chan looked into the matter, and through his mediation it was learned within a couple of months that there was one available in Williamsburg, VA. Under the conditions of the MDAP rules, and at no cost! Through the tremendous support of Ned Lloyd, a Dutch shipping company, the transport to Holland was arranged and in June 2003 the sloop was unveiled by the U.S. Defense Attache and in the presence of the U.S ambassador. I'll now show you some slides made during this festivity.

Once more on behalf of the Dutch Maritime Trust a heartfelt thank you to all involved on this side of the big pond in providing a tip-top shape sloop!!

For the next member we go back in time: ex His NLMS Buffel

This authentic 19th century iron-clad ram ship is one of the main attractions of the Maritime Museum Rotterdam a.k.a. the Prince Hendrik Museum, named after its founder, Prince Hendrik the Seaman, who actually had a naval career and established the basis of the museum back in 1874.

It also houses as permanent exhibitions: Treasures of Ned Lloyd, a collection of beautiful objects from the Royal Dutch Ned Lloyd collection: paintings, ship models sculptures etc. (P&O Ned Lloyd is now one of the world's leading providers of point to point container shipping services and as you may remember was also instrumental in bringing Mercuur's sloop to the Netherlands; it's origins date back to the 19th century).

You will also find the history from the Holland America Line, now an internationally renowned cruise company founded in 1873 and with Rotterdam as homeport.

Then there is a spectacular presentation called World port - Port world about Rotterdam, as it still is the largest port in the world.

But now and here we focus on the Buffel.

Built in 1868 in Glasgow, Scotland she was the first ship of the Royal Neth. Navy without sails but with a steam engine and two propellers, that gave her a max speed of almost 13 knots! Her radius of action at 6 knots was about 2150 nautical Miles. Her main task as an armor-clad ram ship was to play a role in the Dutch coastal defense together with two sister ships and two so-called monitor ships.

Her armament was first of all the ram on her bow, mainly against wooden ships, and originally two 300 pounds, 23 cm Armstrong guns, with a total weight of 25 tons, in one turret. These were later replaced by a single 28 cm gun, and the armament was enhanced by a couple of smaller guns; 2 of 7, 5 cm, 4 of 3, 7 cm and two so-called revolver guns.

The crew consisted of 150 men, officers, petty-officers and sailors. In those days discipline was very strict, any interaction between the different ranks was business only, one way!

Her record is not very impressive; the only ocean voyage was on her maiden trip in 1868 from Glasgow to Den Helder. That was not a great success; she rolled very much and also made a lot of water. From that day on she always stayed in the North Sea (in accordance with her role) and her only foreign port of call was Antwerp, Belgium in 1871.

She participated in many national exercises with the Royal Neth. Army (as you see joint operations were already known in the 19th century) and in 1894 she retired from active duty. This was followed by a short, two year period as a training ship for young sailors and from 1896 - 1973 she acted as a lodging - or accommodation ship. She was berthed in different naval establishments in the Netherlands, the last period of about 25 years mainly in Amsterdam as a lodging ship for young naval technicians in training. She had the (NATO) call sign A 884 on her bow, A for Auxiliary and 8 as the first cipher for all Royal Neth. naval ships

In 1973 the Buffel was decommissioned and in 1974 sold to the city of Rotterdam to become a museum ship. This was easier said than done, many original features were gone in the relatively long period that the ship acted as a lodging ship (almost 80 years) and of course Rotterdam wanted her in as much an original state as possible. This meant ( amongst many other things) a black hull again and restoration or replacement of all main deck equipment as the turret (no gun yet), two signal masts, davits for the original five sloops, anchors and winches, the open bridge etc. etc.

Inside were some nice surprises, the commanding officers cabin and the long room (the officers quarters) were almost undamaged, so was the brig (the ship's prison) and large parts of the ship's construction. In these spaces a display about sailing with the Royal Neth. Navy between 1868 and 1896, the Buffels 'active duty period' was established.

Other spaces were designed to display her in her other two roles: one as a lodging ship, the other as a museum ship. Also exhibition rooms and of course rooms and workshops for personnel, a small restaurant and sanitary provisions can be found.

It took quite a lot of time (more than four years) and money (over 1,5 M Dutch guilders) to restore the Buffel to her present outward condition (The complete costs for restoration were over 3 million Dutch guilders). Since August 1979 she has found a permanent place in Rotterdam; as one of the main attractions of the Prince Hendrik Museum. Over the years much is improved on the outer deck; still missing are an original (or a replica) of the 23 cm gun, several sloops - there is only one available - and some smaller items.

The number of visitors on a yearly basis is over 250.000

Not only this is proof that the restoration is a success; in 1995 the museum ship Buffel received an award from the British "World Ship Trust" for the very elegant way the restoration was accomplished.

The Naval Museum in Den Helder

This museum was founded in 1961 by the CINC Royal Netherlands Navy and exclusively dedicated to the history of the Royal Netherlands Navy.

It covers over 5 centuries of naval history in a permanent exhibition, from the 80 Years War against Spain (1568 - 1648) to actions in the Korean War and in the former Dutch New-Guinea in the twentieth century with understandably a lot of attention to the greatest admiral in our naval history, Admiral de Ruyter who lived from 1607 - 1676. He is still famous as the only admiral ever, who sailed against England, up the river Thames, conquered a British man of war, the Royal Charles with its 100 guns and took it back to Holland. The one and only time in its history that England was successfully invaded!

Commander John Patton, Royal Navy, who will give his lecture right after me may have a slightly different opinion about great admirals, but believe me: Mine is the true story!

It won't surprise you that up to this day one of our ships in the Navy always carries the name: De Ruyter

Next to this permanent exhibition people also become acquainted with the technological development and daily life on board Dutch warships over the centuries, also there is a big-screen video-presentation on the tasks and duties of the Royal Netherlands Navy today.

Until the nineties the museum, belonging to the group of small maritime museums attracted about 40.000 visitors per year. As a consequence of its peripheral position in a shrinking Navy budget the execution of the ambitious plans for expansion, restoration and a complete facelift of the permanent exhibition were many times postponed. In 1994 the Director of Economic Management (also a member of the Admiralty Board) was asked to become the President of the Museum Board and he agreed. This proved to be a smart move of the Museum Board: believe it or not in a few years time a lot of things changed and money became available. This resulted in building an extension for storing and offices and the acquiring of a WW II minesweeper Abraham Crijnssen, a triple hull submarine Tonijn, being one of the main attractions today and an iron-clad ram ship, Schorpioen, a sistership of the Buffel.

Over the last years the number of visitors has risen to more than 100.000 and is fairly steady; the staff of the Naval Museum consists of 7 paid employees, supported by an enthusiastic crew of more then 150 volunteers, mainly all former Navy personnel, who show pride and pleasure in showing people around and to tell them something about the Navy including their personal salt water stories.

To start with the main attraction ex HNlMS Tonijn (Tuna fish)

In 1991 the triple hull submarine Tonijn one the four conventional submarines of the Potvis class (Sperm Whale) was decommissioned but remained in reserve as a possible training facility.

All four boats of this class were designed and built in Holland and were the core of the Netherlands Submarine service between 1960 and the 1980-ies. Their unique design gave them improved stability and, more important, allowed them a greater diving depth than other conventional submarines in those days.

Two years later, in 1993, the Admiralty Board approved the Naval Museums' request to transform the Tonijn into a museum ship. I will not go onto any detail but you can imagine that the transformation from former operational submarine into museum ship is quite a job..............and costs a lot of money! To find the necessary money (The Navy took care of the transportation from the berthing to the Naval Museum's front door) an independent foundation was established to be able to borrow money from a bank and it contracted a small private ship yard to carry out all the necessary work, starting with a thorough cleaning, preservation and painting. Maintenance still is a problem, both as a job and cost- wise but there were very good arguments for putting the Tonijn ashore instead of keeping her berthed along a quay.

First of all there was the argument of publicity and attraction. A submarine ashore reveals part of the mystery that still hangs around these boats, thereby triggers the public's desire to know more about it and to buy a ticket and see for themselves what it is inside.

A very practical argument was that the canal near the museum is too shallow to berth a submarine and last but not least preservation and painting ashore is easier and lest costly than when in the water. As seen by the increase in the number of visitors (from 40.000 - 100.000) it was a bull's eye!

With the experience and the success of Tonijn in mind the Naval Museum and the Foundation looked for other projects to enhance the attractiveness of the museum. First there were attempts to acquire a post-war, so called Western Union, minesweeper, built in the Netherlands with financial support from the U.S under the aforementioned MDAP.

Then by chance it was discovered that one of the more famous WW II minesweepers, Abraham Crijnssen, built in 1936 had survived and was exploited since 1961 by the Dutch Sea cadets as a training vessel. The ship was stationed in the former Netherlands Indies (now Indonesia) in 1937. Shortly after the outbreak of WW II in the Pacific, when Japan occupied the Netherlands Indies, the Crijnssen made history by escaping the Japanese invasion forces, disguised as a tropical island! Hiding during the day and sailing by night she broke through the Japanese lines and safely reached Australia. Based in Australia she served until the end of WWII as a patrol- and convoy escort.

After the war she returned to the Netherlands Indies to do what she was built for: sweeping mines.

In 1951 she returned to Holland to serve as a net laying vessel or boom defense ship (small naval vessels equipped with large nets etc. to barricade sea arms, coastal waterways and entrances to seaports against enemy submarines.) In 1961 she was decommissioned and lent to the Dutch Sea Cadets Corps.

In 1995 at the request of the Naval Museum, the Admiralty Board decided to keep her as a naval heritage. Again a major operation started to bring the ship back - as much and as far possible - to its original condition. The decision was taken to berth her close to the museum but one main problem had to be solved. To tow her from a basin in the Naval Dockyard to her berthing she had to pass through a square curve............ and her dimensions made that impossible! The solution was to cut off 5 meters from her stern, tow her to her berthing and upon berthing to weld her stern back in place!

So said, so done! You will understand that it won't be easy to take her back for docking and maintenance, let's say every 5 years. That is why all sorts of precautionary measures were taken beforehand to make sure she can stay where she is for at least 20 years (all outer board openings were closed and the rudder as well as the propellers and - shafts were removed)

The last ship to be added was the former His NlMS Schorpioen, a sister ship of the Buffel.

Built in the same year, 1868 in France, they were the core of the then new Navy, replacing the old outdated wooden ships that combined sailing and steam propulsion and carried so called smooth-bore guns. These new ships were equipped with heavy rifleguns, 23 cm and with a heavy armor. The hull had an armor plated belt of 15 cm (6 inches) and the gun turret, housing the two guns had almost 30 cm (12 inches)of armor.

She came from the building yard with two tripod masts and able to employ about 600 m2 of sails, but that was never done as she proved to be a difficult sailing ship and some years later the yards, masts and the sails were removed. As with the Buffel her huge steam engines gave her a max. speed of 13 knots. Her striking weapon also was the pointed ram bow, slightly different than the Buffel's, but she never ever used this overestimated weapon, as Holland was not involved in any war between 1868 and 1940.

Only once in 1870 a barkentine collided against her bow and could just be saved by putting it on a sandbank.

An even better story is that in 1886 in the harbor of Den Helder the Schorpioen was hit in the stern quarter by a paddle steam tugboat, and sank in two hours! So much for an iron clad ram ship! Fortunately she could be raised and repaired. Yet the ram bow was placed on several men-of-war well into the twentieth century.

As with the Buffel her record is not very impressive or interesting, in 1906 she completed her role as an operational warship and was also transformed into a lodging or accommodation ship.

At the beginning of WW II she fell into German hands, was towed to Germany and served there as a lodging - and storage ship. After the war, in 1947 the old iron lady was found in Hamburg (Germany), towed back to Den Helder, again to become a lodging ship, first in Amsterdam and later in Den Helder where she became the barracks for the Dutch WRNS. In 1982, after decommissioning, she was bought by a private foundation that was established to transform her into a floating museum in Middelburg, in the Southern part of the country. Seven years later, after a complete renovation, she opened her doors to visitors, now being a museum,

In 1995 the Royal Netherlands Navy purchased her back and put her under the supervision of the Naval Museum, in Den Helder where she is now the third and (largest) vessel on display. In May 2000 after a renovation period of eighteen months to restore her to her former glory, the ship was opened to visitors.

It's sad to say but the Armed Forces in the Netherlands are still facing new economizing measures (as politicians say when they mean cutting in the budget!) Fortunately, as I have shown you the major investments have been realized and the Naval Museum now proudly ranks between the larger museums in Holland, with yearly about 100.000 visitors. Thus ticket sales provide a more or less steady flow of money, that can be used for minor investments and keeping the permanent exhibitions in good shape.

Yet, in my gloomiest mood I do foresee that the last man-of-war of the Royal Netherlands Navy to be put on display in the future may be this one.......................

(My grandson rocking his boat!)

That concludes my presentation. I rest my case!