Royal IHC wraps up repair work on Dutch Navy’s OPV HNLMS Groningen

Royal IHC has revealed that Royal Netherlands Navy’s offshore patrol vessel HNLMS Groningen following successful docking and repair work performed at the yard.

The vessel left the dockyard today after the company performed maintenance work on both propeller shafts. Furthermore, the ship also underwent a painting job.

The company signed the deal for the repair work with the Department of Material Maintenance (DMI) of the Royal Netherlands Navy last March.

In late December 2020, the ship had to return from its deployment in the Caribbean. The Royal Netherlands Navy said it had no replacement ship for the Caribbean operations and the Caribbean Coast Guard took over the tasks.

This is because the Royal Netherlands Navy logistic support vessel HNLMS Pelikaan, which is permanently based at Curaçao, is not suitable for patrol work, the navy explained.

The repair work was performed in two phases.

Firstly, the propeller shaft will be removed and its associated components disassembled so that an inspection can take place. The patrol vessel will then return to Den Helder. After the propeller shaft has been repaired, the HNLMS Groningen will dock again in Vlissingen where Royal IHC will reinstall it.

HNLMS Groningen is one of the Royal Netherlands Navy’s four Holland-class diesel-electric offshore patrol vessels. It was built by Dutch shipbuilder Damen Group at the company’s subsidiary, Damen Shipyards Galati, and commissioned in 2011.

The 3,750-tonne units are flexibly deployable ships for the surveillance of coastal waters. In addition to anti-terrorism and anti-piracy operations, these so-called ocean-going patrol vessels (OPV) are also used for counter-narcotics operations.