The Royal Netherlands Navy joint support ship HNLMS Karel Doorman entered Warnemünde, Germany on March 13 to train with the “Seebataillon”, the German Navy’s marine unit based in naval base Eckernförde.
The Seebataillon demonstrated its capabilities on March 14 by carrying out vehicle and personnel evacuation drills as well as the boarding of the Karel Doorman.
“Thanks to this future cooperation, we will be able to project the capabilities of our unit worldwide, whenever and whereever the politics want it. This would have been impossible without the Karel Doorman” , Vice Admiral Andreas Krause , the Inspector of the German Navy, said.
This cooperation will provide the German Navy with new capabilities. Apart from long-distance transport of soldiers, weapons, vehicles and ammunition, the ship allows the German Navy to start carrying out amphibious operations.
The agreement for the Karel Doorman cooperation was signed on February 4, 2016, by German and Dutch defence ministers. The Letter of Intent outlined a closer maritime collaboration between the two countries and, among other things, allowed the German Navy to use the HLNMS Karel Doorman for its operations.
German Navy said that the Dutch Navy ship was set to return to the Netherlands on March 17 but noted that the next visit would take place soon as another exercise was already planned.
“This is just the beginning” , the Inspector said.