HNLMS ''Isaac Sweers'' (F814) () is a

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...

of the . The ship was in service with the

Royal Netherlands Navy The Royal Netherlands Navy (, ) is the Navy, maritime service branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. It traces its history to 8 January 1488, making it the List of navies, third-oldest navy in the world. During the 17th and early 18th centurie ...

from 1968 to 1990. The ship's radio call sign was "PAVF". She was sold to the

Indonesian Navy The Indonesian Navy (, TNI-AL) is the Navy, naval branch of the Indonesian National Armed Forces. It was founded on 10 September 1945 and has a role to patrol Indonesia's lengthy coastline, to enforce and patrol the territorial waters and Exclus ...

where the ship was renamed KRI ''Karel Satsuitubun'' (356) and commissioned in November 1990.

Design and construction

In the early 1960s, the

had an urgent requirement to replace its s, obsolete ex-American escorts built during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. To meet this requirement, it chose to build a modified version of the British as its , using broadly the same armament as the original design, but where possible, substituting Dutch electronics and radars. The ''Van Speijk''s were

long overall Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, and is also u ...

and

between perpendiculars Length between perpendiculars (often abbreviated as p/p, p.p., pp, LPP, LBP or Length BPP) is the length of a ship along the summer load line from the forward surface of the stem, or main bow perpendicular member, to the after surface of the ster ...

, with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Radio beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially lo ...

of and a draught of .

Displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

was standard and full load. Two Babcock & Wilcox boilers supplied steam to two sets of Werkspoor-

English Electric The English Electric Company Limited (EE) was a British industrial manufacturer formed after World War I by amalgamating five businesses which, during the war, made munitions, armaments and aeroplanes. It initially specialised in industrial el ...

double reduction geared

steam turbine A steam turbine or steam turbine engine is a machine or heat engine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work utilising a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Par ...

s rated at and driving two propeller shafts. This gave a speed of . A twin 4.5-inch (113 mm) Mark 6 gun mount was fitted forward. Anti-aircraft defence was provided by two quadruple

Sea Cat Seacat was a British short-range surface-to-air missile system intended to replace the ubiquitous Bofors 40 mm gun aboard warships of all sizes. It was the world's first operational shipboard point-defence missile system, and was designed so th ...

surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground or the sea to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-ai ...

launchers on the hangar roof. A

Limbo The unofficial term Limbo (, or , referring to the edge of Hell) is the afterlife condition in medieval Catholic theology, of those who die in original sin without being assigned to the Hell of the Damned. However, it has become the gene ...

anti-submarine mortar was fitted aft to provide a short-range anti-submarine capability, while a hangar and helicopter deck allowed a single

Westland Wasp The Westland Wasp is a small 1960s British turbine-powered, shipboard anti-submarine helicopter. Produced by Westland Helicopters, it came from the same Saunders-Roe P.531 programme as the British Army Westland Scout, and is based on the ea ...

helicopter to be operated, for longer range anti-submarine and anti-surface operations. As built, ''Isaac Sweers'' was fitted with a Signaal LW-03 long range air search

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

on the ship's mainmast, with a DA02 medium range air/surface surveillance radar carried on the ship's foremast. M44 and M45 fire control radars were provided for the Seacat missiles and the ship's guns respectively. The ship had a

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances ( ranging), communicate with or detect objects o ...

suite of Type 170B attack sonar and Type 162 bottom search sonar. The ship had a crew of 251.

Modifications

All six ''Van Speijk''s were modernised in the 1970s, using many of the systems used by the new s. The 4.5-inch gun was replaced by a single

OTO Melara 76 mm The OTO Melara 76 mm gun, marketed as the OTO 76/62 Gun Mount, is a naval autocannon built and designed by the Italian Defense contractor, defence company OTO Melara. It is based on the OTO Melara 76/62C and evolved toward 76/62 SR and 76/ ...

and launchers for up to eight

Harpoon A harpoon is a long, spear-like projectile used in fishing, whaling, sealing, and other hunting to shoot, kill, and capture large fish or marine mammals such as seals, sea cows, and whales. It impales the target and secures it with barb or ...

anti-ship missiles fitted (although only two were normally carried). The hangar and flight deck were enlarged, allowing a

Westland Lynx The Westland Lynx is a British multi-purpose twin-engined military helicopter designed and built by Westland Helicopters at its factory in Yeovil. Originally intended as a utility craft for both civil and naval usage, military interest led to t ...

helicopter to be carried, while the Limbo mortar was removed, with a pair of triple Mk 32 torpedo launchers providing close-in anti-submarine armament. A Signaal DA03 radar replaced the DA02 radar and an American

EDO Corporation EDO Corporation was an American company which was acquired by ITT Corporation in 2007. EDO designed and manufactured products for defense, intelligence, and commercial markets, and provided related engineering and professional services. It emp ...

CWE-610 sonar replaced the original British sonar. ''Isaac Sweers'' was modernised at the

Den Helder Den Helder () is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Den Helder occupies the northernmost point of the North Holland peninsula. It is home to the country's main naval base. From here the Royal TESO fe ...

naval dockyard between 1 July 1980 and 28 October 1983. ''Isaac Sweers'' and ''Evertsen'' also received AN/SQR-18A

towed array sonar A towed array sonar is a system of hydrophones towed behind a submarine or a surface ship on a cable. Trailing the hydrophones behind the vessel, on a cable that can be kilometers long, keeps the array's sensors away from the ship's own noise sou ...

system. The system was removed when the ships was sold to Indonesia.

Dutch service history

The Royal Netherlands Navy placed an order for four ''Van Speijk''s in 1962, with two more, including ''Isaac Sweers'', ordered in 1964. The ship was built at

NDSM NDSM is a neighborhood in Amsterdam, Netherlands located on the former terrain of the Nederlandsche Dok en Scheepsbouw Maatschappij (NDSM) shipbuilding company. It is located in the Amsterdam-Noord borough along the IJ river and can be reached ...

in Amsterdam. The

keel laying Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a shipbuilding, ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel l ...

took place on 5 May 1965 and the launching on 10 March 1967. The ship was put into service on 15 May 1968 with the

pennant number In the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant number (an internationalisation of ''pendant number'', which it was called before 1948). Historically, naval ships flew a flag that iden ...

F814. In late 1972 she served as flagship for

STANAVFORLANT Standing NATO Maritime Group One (SNMG1) is one of NATO's standing naval maritime immediate reaction forces. SNMG1 consists of four to six destroyers and frigates. Its role is to provide NATO with an immediate operational response capability. H ...

. In 1975 ''Isaac Sweers'' participated in the NATO exercise Ocean Safari. The ship received a mid-life modernization in

, starting on 1 July 1980 and lasting till 28 October 1983. The completion of modernization was delayed by around eight months beyond the intended date due to lack of civilian labor in naval dockyards. In 1986 she was present at the national Fleet days. ''Isaac Sweers'' was decommissioned in 1990 and along with ''Evertsen'' were sold to Indonesia. She was transferred to the Indonesian Navy on 1 November 1990.

Indonesian service history

On 13 May 1989, Indonesia and the Netherlands signed an agreement for transfer of the last two ''Van Speijk''-class ships. The ship was transferred to Indonesia on 1 November 1990 and renamed as KRI ''Karel Satsuitubun'', assigned with pennant number 356. By 2002, the ship's Seacat missiles were inoperable and it was reported that propulsion problems were badly effecting the availability of the ships of this class. The ship's Seacat launchers were therefore replaced by two Simbad twin launchers for Mistral anti-aircraft missiles, and ''Karel Satsuitubun'' was re-engined with two

Caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder ...

3612

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...

s. As the Indonesian Navy retired Harpoon missile from its stockpiles, ''Karel Satsuitubun'' was rearmed with Chinese

C-802 The YJ-83 (; NATO reporting name: CSS-N-8 Saccade) is a People's Republic of China, Chinese subsonic anti-ship missile, anti-ship cruise missile. It is manufactured by the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation Third Academy. Develo ...

missiles. In December 2020,

and

Russian Navy The Russian Navy is the Navy, naval arm of the Russian Armed Forces. It has existed in various forms since 1696. Its present iteration was formed in January 1992 when it succeeded the Navy of the Commonwealth of Independent States (which had i ...

conducted a joint

naval exercise A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations ...

of Passex (Passing Exercise) Rusindo-20. The exercise took place in the

Java Sea The Java Sea (, ) is an extensive shallow sea on the Sunda Shelf, between the Indonesian islands of Borneo to the north, Java to the south, Sumatra to the west, and Sulawesi to the east. Karimata Strait to its northwest links it to the South Ch ...

on Thursday, 17 December 2020. Indonesian Navy sent 3 ships (KRI ''Karel Satsuitubun'', KRI ''Diponegoro'', and ''KRI Tombak''), while the Russian Navy sent 3 ships ( ''Varyag'', ''Admiral Panteleyev'', and ''Pechenga''). The exercise conducted several drills such as Maneuver Exercise, RAS approach, Flaghoist, Flashex, and Passing Exercise. ''Karel Satsuitubun'', along with , , , , , , , , , , , and were deployed in waters off

Nusa Dua Nusa Dua is a resort area built in the 1970s in the southern part of Bali, Indonesia. Known as an enclave of large five-star resorts, it covers 350 hectares of land and encloses more than 20 resorts. It is located 22 kilometers from Denpasar, ...

Bali Bali (English:; Balinese language, Balinese: ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller o ...

to patrol the area during 2022 G20 Bali summit on 15–16 November 2022.

Notes

References

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Isaac Sweers Van Speijk-class frigates 1967 ships Ships built in Amsterdam Ships built by Nederlandsche Dok en Scheepsbouw Maatschappij