Ordered by the Royal Navy in 1941 the destroyers of the 5th Emergency Flotilla became known as S-class and served as fleet and convoy escorts in World War II. In the last months of the war three were transferred to the Royal Neth. Navy for service in the Far East. HMS Serapis was renamed HNLMS Piet Hein and served in Indonesian War of Independence and saw action in the Korean War. She was sold for scrap in 1962.

Gezien het internationale karakter van de scheepvaart is het duidelijk dat het gebruik van een maritieme standaardtaal noodzakelijk is teneinde bij de communicatie tussen schip en wal, v.v. en schepen onderling, verwarring, fouten en misverstanden te voorkomen.

In 1973 besloot de Maritieme Veiligheidscommissie van de IMO daarom een standaardvocabulaire in het engels - de standaard Marine Navigational Vocabulary, SMNV - te ontwikkelen ten behoeve van een veilige mondelinge communicatie op zee...

The primary role of the Type 42 destroyers was providing air defense for the fleet. With their long-range sensors, the ships could also act as radar pickets, sailing ahead of a task group. HMS Southampton was the eighth ship of originally destined to be a 16-ship class, of which two have been exported to Argentina. The type 42 comprised eight Batch 1 vessels, four Batch 2 and four Batch 3 Stretched Type 42.

The s.s. 'America' was an ocean liner which entered service in 1940 for the United States Lines. She was designed by the famous naval architect William Francis Gibbs. In the 54 years between her introduction and her wrecking in 1994, she had eight different owners (of which one twice) and sailed under the names of 'America' (carrying this name three different times), 'West Point', 'Australis', 'Italis', 'Noga', 'Alferdoss' and 'American Star'. She served most in passenger service as s.s. 'Ame...

Achille Lauro was originally the liner Willem Ruys when sold to the Italian Lauro Organization in 1966. Achille Lauro left the Riuniti yards as a newborn star. After being hijacked by Palestinian warriors (PLO), in October 1985, the blue liner and cruiser made international headlines. Swept by a catastrophic fire Achille Lauro sank 2 December 1994 off the Somalian coast.

De Haarlem uit de ‘Alkmaar klasse’ verhaalt de historie van een bijzonder goede Europese samenwerking die nog steeds vaak als voorbeeld wordt aangehaald. Gebouwd van polyester en voorzien van de nieuwste Franse sonar bleken de schepen in Nederlandse dienst uitstekend te voldoen. Zo werden in 1984 de splinternieuwe Haarlem en Harlingen uitgezonden voor mijnenbestrijding in de Rode Zee. Een ommezwaai in de filosofie van zowel de politiek als de marineleiding was hiervoor nodig.

Toen twee m...

Manoeuvreren is een zaak van veel doen: door ervaring zullen – soms zeer complexe – manoeuvres steeds soepeler verlopen. Dit neemt niet weg dat aan de vele handelingen theoretische kennis ten grondslag ligt. Kennis van krachtenleer, hydrodynamica of regelgeving zijn onontbeerlijk voor iedere zeevarende die manoeuvres moet uitvoeren. “Ship Manoeuvring” biedt deze theorie, maar weet deze te koppelen aan de dagelijkse praktijk: zo komen ankeren, sleepbootassistentie of passage van schepe...

Trapped in the far east by the over-run of the Netherlands and by the occupancy of the Netherlands East Indies, Tromp`s destiny lay in the Indian Ocean ans Pacific onslaughts. The ship became one of the highest decorated Dutch warships of World War 2. Often refered as to as 'The Ghostship, the crew prefered to call her The Lucky ship. Because besides the British Ark royal, there was no other ship more often claimed as to be sunk.

HNLMS Kortenaer was in action in the Battle of the Java Sea on 27 February 1942, where she was torpedoed by the Japanese cruiser Haguro. An eyewitness, recorded that “Kortenaer about 700 yards bearing 80° relative was struck on the starboard quarter by a torpedo, blew up, turned over, and sank at once leaving only a jackknifed bow and stern a few feet above the surface.”.

The six ‘Roofdier’ class ‘frigates’ were all built in the USA with MDAP funds. They were designed to escort slow coastal convoys in Channel and North Sea areas and were operated as a single squadron by the Royal Netherlands Navy. They proved useful for a number of peacetime tasks, especially fishery protection, and some were retained in this role in the North Sea until die mid-1980s.