His Netherlands Majesty’s Ship (HNLMS) Tromp reached the Bombay Port Trust on April 25 after spending almost a month in the Red Sea region, which at present is witnessing a large-scale military crisis with the Houthi forces launching attacks on merchant vessels passing through that corridor.
The Dutch frigate was anchored on the Indian waters for four days and on April 28, it sailed towards East Asia.
The Tromp is an air-defense and command frigate that has been deployed by the Royal Netherlands Navy, with an objective to provide safe passage to merchant vessels that are passing through the red-sea region.
“Netherland is a trading country and we rely on free trade for the prosperity of our nation. As on today, 70% of our (Netherland’s) trade is happening through the Indo-pacific region, therefore, maintaining the freedom of international navigation on the natural trade routes through the sea is essential,” H H Harolds, Rear Admiral of HNLMS Trompm said.
Equipped with modern-day armory and sensor systems including Vertical Launch System (Launching Missiles), harpoon, torpedo launchers, decoy launch system, Tromp was launched in April 2001 and it was commissioned in March, 2003.
YA Van Beusekom commanding officer of the frigate, said that the threat of Houthis starts from the red-sea and extends till the Gulf of Aden, which links the sea to the Indian Ocean.
“We were in the Red Sea region for over a month and the threat of Houthis is from the red sea till the Gulf of Aden. They (Houthis) are very unpredictable and violent, the merchant vessels that pass through that area aren’t capable of defending themselves. The Houthis would attack those ships by using drones, air-missiles and the merchant vessels were unable to detect them in advance. Therefore, using our air-defender system would protect those vessels, which was our main objective during our deployment in the Red sea,” Beusekom said.
The frigate set out for its voyage on March 9 from its naval base – Den Helder and it will remain in water for six-months for its ‘Pacific Arch’ deployment, under which the Dutch frigate will patrol some of the important maritime trade routes and will also carry out military exercises with its allies and strategic partners. Mumbai was Tromp’s second port-call and through its course of six months, the frigate will have 10 port calls.
In the days to come, the frigate will visit Singapore, Hawai, Caribbean Islands and go back to the Netherlands via the Panama Canal.
Meanwhile, the Netherland military also carried out a joint military exercise with the Indian Navy on April 28. “The military exercises are aimed towards promoting maritime security, we will be learning from each other’s procedures. So that in the future, if we have to work together, coordination becomes easier for us,” said Beusekom.
