HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën (F802) is the first ship of the air defence and command frigates in service with the Royal Netherlands Navy (RNLN). There are three other ships in this class, , , and . De Zeven Provinciën is the eighth ship in the Royal Netherlands Navy to carry this name. The name refers to the original seven Dutch provinces which together formed the Union of Utrecht.
She was built by Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding (formerly the Koninklijke Schelde Groep) in Vlissingen. Her design incorporates stealth technology, as well as advanced radars of Dutch design such as SMART-L and APAR.
As of December 2009, Commander Hugo L.J. Ammerlaan is De Zeven Provinciëns commanding officer.
Operational history
In December 2003, the HNLMS De Zeven, became the first vessel to successfully fire the evolved Sea Sparrow missile (ESSM) and standard missile SM2-MR block IIIA, using interrupted and continues wave illumination and X-band uplinks. Both missiles were controlled by the APAR radar.
On 21 March 2006, the container ship suffered a major explosion and massive fire in the aft on-deck container stacks. When efforts to control the fire failed, the crew abandoned ship and were picked up by De Zeven Provinciën.
On 4 April 2006, De Zeven Provinciën along with the destroyer responded to MV Dong Won which reported that it had come under rocket attack off the coast of Somalia. However, the pirates had already hijacked the vessel and reached Somali territorial waters after threatening the captured crew. De Zeven Provinciën and Roosevelt continued to monitor the situation.
On 29 March 2009, as De Zeven Provinciën was part of Operation Atalanta, the German Navy tanker was attacked by 7-man pirate boat. Spessart had a 12-man security detail which exchanged fire with the pirates which repelled the attack. De Zeven Provinciën along with the , , , and intervened. The pirates were later captured after a chase lasting a few hours.
De Zeven Provinciën provided security during the 2014 Nuclear Security Summit. That same year the ship also took part in exercises and performed tests in relation to its weapon systems.
De Zeven Provinciën participated in Exercise Formidable Shield 2021. During the exercise, she fired two RIM-162 ESSM and assisted in intercepting a ballistic missile using its SMART-L radar.
Between March–July 2022, De Zeven Provinciën was part of Standing NATO Maritime Group 1. She had port calls in Tallinn and Devonport.
On 9 October 2022, De Zeven Provinciën along with deployed to conduct drills with the aircraft carrier .
Live missile firings
De Zeven Provinciën carries the Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM) and the SM-2 Block IIIA missile systems. The primary sensor used to guide these missile systems is APAR.
In November 2003, approximately from the Azores, De Zeven Provinciën conducted her first live firings of these missile systems. The firings involved a single ESSM and a single SM-2. These firings were particularly significant in that they were the first ever live firings involving a full-size ship-borne Active Electronically Scanned Array (i.e., APAR) guiding missiles using the Interrupted Continuous Wave Illumination (ICWI) technique in an operational environment. As related by Jane's Navy International:
Further live firings were performed by De Zeven Provinciën in March 2005, again in the Atlantic Ocean approximately west of the Azores.
In May, 2021 during At Sea Demonstration/Formidable Shield 2021 De Zeven Provinciën detected and tracked a ballistic missile with SMART-L radar and relayed the target information to . The intercepted and destroyed the ballistic missile with SM-3 surface-to-air missile. During the exercise it also performed a Plot Level Data Exchange and Fusion (PLDEF) with the French frigate Forbin.
Gallery
<gallery widths="150">
File:HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën during NSS.jpg|De Zeven Provinciën at the North Sea during the 2014 Nuclear Security Summit
File:Hr Ms De Zeven Provinciën helpt brandend containerschip2 tcm46-95807.jpg|De Zeven Provinciën helps on 3 March 2006.
File:HNLMS De Zeven Provincien fires a SM-2.jpg|De Zeven Provinciën fires an SM-2
File:Zeven Provinciën crossing the Thames Barrier in London.jpg|De Zeven Provinciën crossing the Thames Barrier in London
</gallery>