May 18, 2007 — “As with all military ships, I can tell you where we have been, but not where we will be going,” said Commander Oscar G.H. van Lent of the HNLMS Zuiderkruis of the Netherlands. "However, I can tell you we are very happy to be in St. Thomas. I really wanted to come here."
The Zuiderkruis’ 175-member crew appeared happy and excited as they made the St. Thomas port call at 8:45 a.m. Thursday. They and their ship were welcomed by the Navy League of the United States' St. Thomas/St. John Council to the WICO/Havensight dock in St. Thomas.
The ship will be in dock until Monday morning, when the fast combat-support ship will return to sea. This is the fourth Caribbean tour by Van Lent, who has been on several ships in his 27-year tenure in the navy.
Along with Hr. Ms. Amsterdam, the Zuiderkruis provides the Royal Dutch Navy — the RNLN — with supplies and support during overseas deployments, Van Lent said. She entered service in 1975 as the second ship of the Poolster class.
At more than 25 years old, Hr. Ms. Zuiderkruis is the Royal Netherlands Navy’s second-oldest ship.
Hr. Ms. Zuiderkruis is approaching the end of her life in the Dutch Navy, but Van Lent stressed that she was up to the latest standards and is an extremely well-designed and powerful ship.
Van Lent has been in command of HNLMS Zuiderkruis since December 2005. At that time, the Zuiderkruis was still at the dockyard in Rotterdam concluding a major maintenance period. Her engines were rebuilt and complete upgrades were made to her electronic, technological and communications systems.
In January 2006 he sailed the ship with a partially new crew back to her home port, the naval base at Den Helder. The current crew of 175 has 40 female members, who are interspersed at all levels of command.
According to Van Lent, the Netherlands has a military force of 70,000 and has been involved in both Gulf wars, with NATO forces in Afghanistan and in the Bosnian War.
The Zuiderkruis is currently active in international and Dutch territorial waters southeast of the Virgin Islands. The autonomous territory known as the Netherlands Antilles was previously known as the Netherlands West Indies, Van Lent said, and consists of Curacao, Bonaire and St. Eustatius, Saba and St. Maarten.
The commander invites V.I. residents to an open house and tour of the ship on Sunday from 1 to 4 pm. Government-issued photo identification is required. For additional information, contact Navy League President Tom Hoffman at 690-1866.
Hoffman explained the Royal Netherlands Navy ship’s prefix. “In Dutch, ships are given the prefix 'Harer Majesteits' ('her majesty's,' abbreviated as 'Hr. Ms.') or 'Zijner Majesteits' ('his majesty's,' abbreviated 'Zr. Ms.'). In English, the Dutch prefix is translated as 'HNLMS' for 'Her/His Netherland Majesty's Ship.'"
Some authors translate Hr./Zr. Ms. as "HNMS," but that abbreviation is ambiguous: the "N" might stand for "Netherlands" or "Norway." The most common way to avoid this ambiguity is to use "HNLMS" and "HnoMS," respectively.
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