Talk:Royal Netherlands Navy

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" The highest rank in the Navy, that of full (5 star) admiral, is reserved for "Hij die zich koning der Nederlanden mag noemen" (He who may call himself King of The Netherlands), i.e. without a King in power, the rank of admiral would be suspended until a new king has been coronated. "

This statement is a popular misconception and widespread among the Netherlands Navy. In fact, there is no law which limits the rank of admiral to a king. Actually, there has never been a king with this rank. The idea that the rank has been suspended, because there is no king in power is also wrong: 1) Netherlands constitution makes no difference between a king and a queen, officially the present queen is in fact a "king" (!) and 2) the office of "stadhouder", as well of it's combining military ranks of "admiraal-generaal" and "kapitein-generaal" could be hold by both men and women since the 18th century. Therefore, it should be possible for queens to hold the rank of admiraal. The reason theye didn't is probably there lack of enthusiasm for the military.

The rank of "admiraal" was called into existence in 1839 by king Willem I, who promoted his son, allready secretary of war, secretary of the navy and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Later in the 19th century prince Hendrik got the rank, given by his elder brother king Willem III, as a salute to his long career in the navy. 6 days later prince Hendrik died.

Note that the rank was carried by 2 princes and not by kings.

Since the fifties the rank is not longer mentioned in official protocols, therefore not longer in existence.

[edit] Netherlands or Dutch?

The term Royal Netherlands Navy seems really odd to me, wouldn't Royal Dutch Navy makes much more sense? For instance, it's Royal Norwegian Navy and not Royal Norway Navy.

That's the official name of our Navy, and in fact all other branches of the Dutch armed forces are named in a similar manner. See for instance this page of the Dutch ministry of defence [1]: Royal Netherlands Navy, Royal Netherlands Army, Royal Netherlands Air Force, and Royal Netherlands Marechaussee. --Codemonkey 23:01, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Structure of fleet

The ships listed in the fleet are hard to comprehend. E.g. 12 frigates mentioned of which 10 in service (where are the other 2??). And all the information about sales to e.g. Belgium do not help understanding. Also mixing ships with helicopters is a bit confusing. Perhaps an idee to list the material in classes ships -> fighting ships-> frigates -> class of frigate -> name of ships if known and then up to destroyer->class etc. Adn all the way up to e.g. aircraft -> helicopters ...etc Arnoutf 21:22, 4 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] M-frigates

Of 8 ships built, still 5 are in service. Two were sold to Chile (1 to be delivered next year, but decommissioned this year). Contracts for delevery of 4 more ships to Belgium and Portugal have been signed, but those ships (except for 1) are still in servive with the navy. RobbyD 14:59, 29 November 2006 (UTC)