Zr.Ms. Karel Doorman not yet to the Red Sea due to weapons system problems

Zr.Ms. Karel Doorman will not enter the Red Sea yet, outgoing Minister of Defense Kajsa Ollongren informed the House of Representatives this afternoon. The ship is experiencing technical problems with one of its weapon systems. Defense has not announced which system is involved, but according to information received by Marineschips.nl it concerns the Goalkeeper.

Zr.Ms. Karel Doorman, archive photo. (Photo: Defense)

During departure on April 21, the ship was still “fully deployable”, Ollongren wrote to the House. The defects originated at sea. The technical problems are currently being resolved. After the necessary tests, the ship can sail towards the Red Sea, the minister promises.

It was already noticed on May 4 that the Karel Doorman had not yet passed through the Suez Canal. The ship had left Crete on May 2, according to AIS, but two days later it was photographed by a public satellite at the quay in Souda Bay. The ship was originally supposed to pass through the Suez Canal at the beginning of this week, a source told this site, but that did not happen.

From front to back: Goalkeeper, two 12.7mm Hitroles, a Goalkeeper at the rear of the superstructure and two 30mm Marlins at the sides. All the way back are two positions for 12.7mm Hitroles. There are also positions for MAG or .50.

As is known, Zr.Ms. Karel Doorman is a logistics support ship and only has weapons for self-defense. This concerns machine guns and cannon systems: two Goalkeepers, two Marlins and four Hitroles. Defense does not say which system has failed, but apparently the system is so important that the deployment of the Doorman has been postponed. According to the Telegraaf, this is one of the two Goalkeepers, who must protect the ship against attacks by missiles and drones, if they have passed through all other layers of defense.

Marineschips.nl has also received that information. The problems have now persisted for more than a week, several sources told Marineschips.nl. At one point, both Doorman goalkeepers even had to deal with malfunctions at the same time. Both must be working before the ship heads to the deployment area. Several Dutch experts have therefore recently flown to Crete to ensure that the two Goalkeepers are completely trouble-free.

One of the goalkeepers of Zr.Ms. Karel Doorman. The first Goalkeeper was ordered in 1985 from Hollandse SignalApparatus (now Thales) and is in use in several countries. The goalkeepers were modernized in 2016. They will be replaced, also on the Karel Doorman, by a 76mm cannon with Dart ammunition, a RAM missile system and fire control radar. (Photo: Jaime Karreman/ Marineschips.nl)

The Goalkeeper has proven itself regularly during tests and exercises since its introduction, but it is also a complex weapon system and is not immune to malfunctions. “Every malfunction is a surprise. You never get the same thing,” a corporal from the Technical Service once said to the undersigned.

Yet another ship with problems
The problems with the weapon system on the Doorman follow other naval ships that had to deal with issues. First it was the German frigate Hessen that, for reasons not entirely clear, failed to hit a (friendly) drone with missiles. Then the Danish frigate Iver Huitfeldt got into trouble due to technical problems with the missiles, an unknown software problem and then grenades that exploded too early after leaving the cannon. Not much later, a Danish frigate had a problem with a Harpoon in its home port. The anti-ship cruise escape weapon booster was activated and could not be deactivated. And just before the Belgian frigate Louise-Marie entered the Red Sea, the NATO Sea Sparrow missiles, among other things, malfunctioned during tests.

The technical issues could mean additional work for the Directorate of Material Maintenance (DMI) in Den Helder. After all, DMI maintains the missiles of the Belgian, Danish and German navies and of course the weapon systems of the Karel Doorman.

The fact that so many ships have appeared in the news with defects may partly be due to the fact that these navies have had to be economical in recent decades and it has been a long time since the ships were deployed in serious situations. In addition, due to the nature of the operations, more attention is paid to this. Technical problems occur more often on board naval vessels, which often consist of hundreds of thousands of parts, and that is why there are technical specialists on board. If these issues occur during an exercise, they are often not noticeable. During or before a deployment, these ships are given a high priority and navies try to solve problems more quickly, but the problems are also made public more quickly.

Author: Jaime Karremann Jaime is the founder of Marineschappen.nl and has written more than 1,500 articles on various naval topics. In 2017, he published his non-fiction book In the utmost secrecy out and later a submarine thriller Orca. Before Jaime started working on this site full-time, he worked in the Navy for over 12 years, most of which in a civilian position. Jaime studied Communications in Groningen.

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