HNLMS ''Johan de Witt'' ( nl, Zr.Ms. Johan de Witt) is the second

Landing Platform Dock An amphibious transport dock, also called a landing platform dock (LPD), is an amphibious warfare ship, a warship that embarks, transports, and lands elements of a landing force for expeditionary warfare missions. Several navies currently oper ...

(LPD) amphibious warfare ship of the Royal Netherlands Navy. It is an improved design of , which was designed in conjunction between the Netherlands and Spain. The ship, displacing 16,800 tons, was launched on 13 May 2006. The motto of the ship is ''Ago Quod Ago'', translated as ''I do what I do''.

Design

Equipment

The ship is equipped with a large

helicopter deck A helicopter deck (or helo deck) is a helicopter pad on the deck of a ship, usually located on the stern and always clear of obstacles that would prove hazardous to a helicopter landing. In the United States Navy, it is commonly and properly ...

for helicopter operations and a dock for large landing craft. It can carry six NH 90 helicopters or four Chinook helicopters. It has a well dock for two

landing craft utility A Landing Craft Utility (LCU) is a type of boat used by amphibious forces to transport equipment and troops to the shore. They are capable of transporting tracked or wheeled vehicles and troops from amphibious assault ships to beachheads or piers ...

and it carries four davit-launched LCVPs. The dock is wide enough to support two

LCAC LCAC may refer to: Hovercraft * A generic term for an air cushioned landing craft, taken from US Navy designation "Landing Craft, Air Cushion". ** Landing Craft Air Cushion, a US Navy hull classification symbol for the Landing Craft Air Cushion-c ...

, but to allow for this, the centre barrier, that splits the dockwell in two, must be removed. The vessel has an extra deck with rooms for command staff to support a battalion size operation. The ship has a complete Role II hospital, including an operating theatre and intensive care facilities. A surgical team can be stationed on board. The ship also has a desalination system enabling it to convert seawater into drinking water. It is equipped with pod propulsion enabling the ship to use dynamic positioning while sea basing.

Sensors and armament

The sensor suite consists of a Thales Netherlands Variant 2D Air and Surface surveillance radar, the Thales Scout Low Probability of Intercept Surface surveillance and tactical navigation radar and the Thales GateKeeper Electro-Optical warning system. When participating in high-risk operations ''Johan de Witt'' needs additional protection from frigates or destroyers. For protection against incoming anti-ship missiles or hostile aircraft and swarm attacks the ship has two

Goalkeeper CIWS The Goalkeeper CIWS is a Dutch close-in weapon system (''SEE-wiz'') introduced in 1979. It is an autonomous and completely automatic weapon system for short-range defence of ships against highly manoeuvrable missiles, aircraft and fast-manoeuve ...

systems and 4-6 manual operated

.50 This is a list of firearm cartridges which have bullets in the to caliber range. *''Length'' refers to the cartridge case Case or CASE may refer to: Containers * Case (goods), a package of related merchandise * Cartridge case or casing, a ...

Browning or FN Mag machine guns

Operational history

''Johan de Witt''s home port is in Den Helder. The ship has participated twice (2010 and 2013) in anti-piracy operations off the coast of

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

, where it successfully disrupted pirate activities and patrolled the coast with the landing craft functioning as forward operating bases. ''Johan de Witt'' also supported the locals with medical assistance and supplying food and water. In October 2015 the ship participated in the NATO exercise ''Trident Juncture'' held close to Spain. In 2016 ''Johan de Witt'' took part in a joint Dutch-British exercise called ''Cold Response''. Later that year she would participate in a joint German-Finnish-Swedish-Dutch exercise called ''BALTOPS''. After this exercise she returned to the Netherlands for maintenance that would last a year. In the autumn of 2018 the ship would participate in the NATO exercise ''Trident Juncture''. In September 2019 ''Johan de Witt'' and were sent to

the Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the ar ...

for humanitarian aid after the country was hit by

Hurricane Dorian Hurricane Dorian was an extremely powerful and catastrophic Category 5 Atlantic hurricane, which became the most intense tropical cyclone on record to strike the Bahamas, and tied for strongest landfall in the Atlantic basin. It is also rega ...

. The ships loaded supplies like food, water and medicines at the island of

Sint Maarten Sint Maarten () is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean. With a population of 41,486 as of January 2019 on an area of , it encompasses the southern 44% of the divided island of Saint Martin, while the nort ...

before continuing to the Bahamas.

References

External links