Jacob van Heemskerck air defence frigates

The "Jacob Van Heemskerck" class, entered service in the Navy of the Netherlands in 1986.This class is basically an air defence version of the Kortanaers, but without a helicopter. The Heemskercks were originally designed to be fitted with Tartar SAM. The main function of this unit is to provide air defence to a task force; However, their arms allows performing efficiently in all areas of the war at sea. They were designed with a greater anti-aircraft capability, however they can play different roles for the defence of the sovereignty at sea.

The main variant of this design being that the Van Heemskerck's have given up their helicopter ability (and thus quite a bit of ASW ability) in favour of an extra SAM system. The MK13 launcher holds 40 SM-1 SAM Missles. These missles are highly superior to the Sea Sparrow SAMs in use in other classes of the Royal Netherlands Navy. These ships served as flagships along with the Tromp Class frigates which were also decommissioned.

HNLMS "Jacob van Heemskerck" was built in the Royal Schelde shipyards, considering the lessons learned from the war in the Falklands, in order to improve the air defence units. The ship served for 18 years to participate in the operations of the war in the Persian Gulf in 1990, the war in the Balkans in 1994 and in multiple operations as part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The keel of HNLMS "Witte de With" was laid at the Royal Schelde shipyard in Vlissingen, the Netherlands, December 15, 1981, and the hull was launched into the water on August 28, 1984. She was commissioned on 17 September 1986 under the name HNLMS "Witte de With" serving for 20 years in the Royal Navy of that country. She served in the Persian Gulf war, the war in the Balkans and performances as part of various task groups of NATO.

As of 2001 it was planned that the two units of the Jacob van Heemskerck class, Jacob van Heemskerck and Witte De With, would be decommissioned when the third and fourth units of the De Zeven Provincien class come into service. These two units, Tromp and Evertsen, were anticipated at that time to commission in March 2004 and March 2005, respectively.

Misilera frigate "Almirante Latorre" is the fourth ship named for Admiral Juan José Latorre Benavente, who on October 8, 1879, in the Naval Battle of Angamos, managed to capture the Peruvian monitor Huáscar, reaching this Chile the Control of the sea in the Pacific war. The frigate "Almirante Latorre" was incorporated into the service of the Chile Navy on 16 December 2005, in the Dutch port of Den Helder. It made landfall at Valparaiso on March 6, 2006, joined the national squad.

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