Belgian frigate Louise-Marie (F931)
 Louise-Marie (F931) in Belgian service | |
| Career (Netherlands) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | Willem van der Zaan |
| Namesake: | Schout-bij-nacht Willem van der Zaan |
| Builder: | KMS, Flushing (Netherlands) |
| Laid down: | 6 November 1985 |
| Launched: | 21 January 1989 |
| Commissioned: | 28 November 1991 |
| Decommissioned: | 25 August 2006 |
| Fate: | Sold to Belgium on 22 December 2005 |
| Career (Belgium) |  |
| Name: | Louise-Marie |
| Namesake: | Queen Louise-Marie of Belgium |
| Christened: | 8 April 2008, by HM Queen Paola of Belgium |
| Acquired: | Purchased on 22 December 2005, from the Royal Netherlands Navy |
| In service: | 8 April 2008 |
| Renamed: | 8 April 2008, from HNLMS Willem van der Zaan |
| Homeport: | Zeebrugge Naval Base |
| Status: | Active |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Karel Doorman-class frigate |
| Displacement: | 2,800 tonnes |
| Length: | 122.325 m (401.33 ft) |
| Beam: | 14.37 m (47.1 ft) |
| Draught: | 6.2 m (20 ft) |
| Speed: | 30 knots (56 km/h) |
| Complement: | 15 officers, 70 NCO's, 60 sailors |
| Aircraft carried: | Alouette III helicopter |
The F931 Louise-Marie is a Karel Doorman-class frigate of the Naval Component of the Belgian Armed Forces that was commissioned in 2008. It is the second of the two frigates of this class that were purchased from the Royal Netherlands Navy on 22 December 2005. During its service in the Netherlands, it was known as HNLMS Willem van der Zaan (F829).
Service
The HNLMS Willem van der Zaan was rechristened as the Louise-Marie (F931) on 8 April 2008 in Antwerp by Queen Paola of Belgium.[1] It was named after Louise-Marie, the name of a naval vessel purchased by the Belgian navy in 1840, which in turn was named after Queen Louise-Marie of Belgium, the wife of Leopold I.
Louise-Marie is under command of commander Carl Gillis.[2]
Missions
In September 2010, Louise-Marie was reported to be preparing for a second deployment to the Horn of Africa.[3]
On 29 November 2013, she arrived in London, UK as part of the preparations for the centenary of the start of World War I delivering soil from 70 WWI battlefields collected by British and Belgian schoolchildren for the Flanders Fields Memorial Garden in London's Wellington Barracks.[4]
See also
- Belgian frigate Leopold I (F930), for the other ship of this class that was sold to Belgium.
References
- ↑ "Nederlands fregat voortaan onder Belgische vlag" (in Dutch). De Telegraaf. 2008-04-02. Archived from the original on 5 April 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-02.
- ↑ http://www.mil.be/navycomp/cv/index.asp?LAN=nl&ID=78&FILE=cvtext&MENU=1&PAGE=1
- ↑ "defence.professionals". Retrieved 2010-09-29.
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25158245. Retrieved 2013-11-30
External links
- Homepage of HNLMS Willem van der Zaan on the website of the Royal Netherlands Navy - Only available in Dutch.
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