The largest ship in the Dutch Navy’s fleet visited Southampton in May 2017 following almost a year of repairs in Den Helder.

The amphibious, multi-function support ship HNLMS Karel Doorman returned to her Den Helder base in April last year with a broken engine that needed to be replaced.

Due to the complexity of repairs, the Dutch ministry of defense estimated that the repairs would take around eight months to be completed.

In late April 2017, a full year after the Karel Doorman returned home for the repairs, the Commander of the Royal Netherlands Navy announced that the ship departed the Den Helder on April 19 with her crew for propulsion tests.

Worth noting is the fact that the department of defense said it would seek to recover the reparation costs through a guarantee that was set out in the contract with the Dutch shipbuilder Damen.

HNLMS Karel Doorman was built by Damen in Galati, Romania. The 204m ship was launched in October 2012 and commissioned into the Royal Netherlands Navy in April 2015.

Photo and report by Trevor Boston