HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën (F802)

Operational history

On 21 March 2006, the container ship suffered a major explosion and massive fire in the aft on-deck container stacks. When efforts to control the fire failed, the crew abandoned ship and were picked up by De Zeven Provinciën.

On 4 April 2006, De Zeven Provinciën along with the destroyer responded to MV Dong Won which reported that it had come under rocket attack off the coast of Somalia. However, the pirates had already hijacked the vessel and reached Somali territorial waters after threatening the captured crew. De Zeven Provinciën and Roosevelt continued to monitor the situation.

On 29 March 2009, as De Zeven Provinciën was part of Operation Atalanta, the German Navy tanker was attacked by 7-man pirate boat. Spessart had a 12-man security detail which exchanged fire with the pirates which repelled the attack. *De Zeven Provinciën * along with the , , , and intervened. The pirates were later captured after a chase lasting a few hours.

De Zeven Provinciën provided security during the 2014 Nuclear Security Summit. That same year the ship also took part in exercises and performed tests in relation to its weapon systems.

De Zeven Provinciën participated in Exercise Formidable Shield 2021. During the exercise, she fired two RIM-162 ESSM and assisted in intercepting a ballistic missile using its SMART-L radar.

Between March–July 2022, De Zeven Provinciën was part of Standing NATO Maritime Group 1. She had port calls in Tallinn and Devonport.

On 9 October 2022, De Zeven Provinciën along with deployed to conduct drills with the aircraft carrier .

Live missile firings

De Zeven Provinciën carries the Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM) and the SM-2 Block IIIA missile systems. The primary sensor used to guide these missile systems is APAR.

In November 2003, approximately 200 nmi from the Azores, De Zeven Provinciën conducted her first live firings of these missile systems. The firings involved a single ESSM and a single SM-2. These firings were particularly significant in that they were the first ever live firings involving a full-size ship-borne Active Electronically Scanned Array (i.e., APAR) guiding missiles using the Interrupted Continuous Wave Illumination (ICWI) technique in an operational environment. As related by Jane's Navy International:

Further live firings were performed by De Zeven Provinciën in March 2005, again in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 180 nmi west of the Azores. The tests involved three live-firing events including firing a single SM-2 at an Iris target drone at long range, a single ESSM at an Iris target drone, and a two-salvo launch (with one salvo comprising two SM-2s and the other comprising two ESSMs) against two incoming Iris target drones. The long-range SM-2 engagement apparently resulted in an intercept at a range of greater than 100 km from the ship, with a missile-target miss distance of 8 ft (the warhead's proximity fuze having been disabled for the purposes of the test).

On 24 October 2015 De Zeven Provinciën performed maritime integrated air and missile defense during a At Sea Demonstration (ASD).

In May, 2021 during At Sea Demonstration/Formidable Shield 2021 De Zeven Provinciën detected and tracked a ballistic missile with SMART-L radar and relayed the target information to . The intercepted and destroyed the ballistic missile with SM-3 surface-to-air missile. During the exercise it also performed a Plot Level Data Exchange and Fusion (PLDEF) with the French frigate Forbin.

Gallery

File:HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën during NSS.jpg|De Zeven Provinciën at the North Sea during the 2014 Nuclear Security Summit File:Hr Ms De Zeven Provinciën helpt brandend containerschip2 tcm46-95807.jpg|De Zeven Provinciën helps on 3 March 2006. File:HNLMS De Zeven Provincien fires a SM-2.jpg|De Zeven Provinciën fires an SM-2 File:Zeven Provinciën crossing the Thames Barrier in London.jpg|De Zeven Provinciën crossing the Thames Barrier in London

References

References

1. "Commandant".
2. "Hyundai Fortune".
3. (4 April 2006). "Coalition Naval Assets Challenge Hijackers On South Korean Motor Vessel".
4. (30 March 2009). "Erreur fatale: les pirates attaquent un navire… d'Atlanta!".
5. (30 March 2009). "GULF OF ADEN: Pirates fire on German ship, leading to five-hour chase". Los Angeles Times.
6. (25 March 2014). "Image of the Day: Navy Ships Patrol Dutch Waters amid Nuclear Security Summit". Naval Today.
7. . (14 February 2014). ["Marine lanceert raketten en torpedo’s"](https://magazines.defensie.nl/defensiekrant/2014/03/lfx). *Defensie.nl*.
8. (21 May 2021). "HNLMS De Zeven Provincien successfully fires two RIM-162 ESSM". Navy Recognition.
9. (31 May 2021 }}{{Dead link). "USS Paul Ignatius intercepts Ballistic Missile in cooperation with the Dutch frigate's SMART-L MM radar". Naval Post.
10. (15 April 2022). "Gallery: Four Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 ships visit Tallinn". ERR.
11. (30 May 2022). "Six NATO ships are heading to Plymouth docks". Plymouth Live.
12. (9 October 2022). "Van Amstel en De Zeven Provinciën gaan oefenen met nieuwste Amerikaanse carrier". Marine Schepen.
13. Jane's International Defence Review, February 2004, "Active phased array multifunction radars go live for missile firings"
14. Jane's Navy International, October 2005, "Live firing tests rewrite the guiding principles"
15. Patrick Regan. (6 November 2015). "Brevet van bekwaamheid buitenaardse luchtverdediging". Defensie.nl.
16. Bert van Elk. (8 June 2021). "Sublieme SMART-L". Defensie.nl.
17. Archus, Dorian. (July 2025). "USS Paul Ignatius intercepts Ballistic Missile in cooperation with the Dutch frigate's SMART-L MM radar". Naval Post }}{{Dead link.
18. Arthur van Beveren. (17 August 2021). "Gezamenlijke data tegen dreiging". Defensie.nl.