Monday 6th July 2015 – Den
Helder – Day 34
It is a
clear sunny day with a noticeable breeze coming from the south west.
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| Ordnance Building Displays |
Today is
time to visit the many exhibits within the marine museum, starting in what used
to be the ordnance repair shop. Here you
find the history of the old Royal dockyard, with hands on exhibits of how
radar, sonar, communications and gunnery work.
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| Somali pirate boat |
Within this
building there is a section on the Somali pirates, the Dutch navy today is
still taking part in the International task force off the Yemen coast, dealing
with this menace.
There are exhibits of
some of the boats and weapons, they must have confiscated from the pirates, a
reminder of how we keep open one of the world’s trade routes.
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| Frigate Bridge |
Next the
bridge and radar dome of the guided missile frigate ‘De Ruyter’, neatly placed
within what would have been the parade ground and now a car park.
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| Inside Bridge Wheelhouse |
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| Inside Radar Dome |
On the
bridge, the display when looking at the windows, gives a picture of the ship at
sea with the sound and movement of the waves, giving a very good impression of
how it would be in this environment.
Inside the
radar dome it is fascinating, amazing the amount of equipment in here, and the
nerve centre of the ship.
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| Turret Building Displays |
Cross the
parade ground and you come to the Turret Building, which houses the collection
of 500 years of naval history and features ship models, paintings, uniforms,
weapons and medals.
It shows the period
after the Second World War with an intriguing exhibition on the cold war when
events on the world stage were dictated by the tension between East and West.
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| Submarine 'Tonjin' |
This leads
you on to the submarine ‘Tonjin’ and speaking to the guides on board, who
sailed on the sub. They spent most of
their time shadowing other Russian submarines.
She is 80 metres long, weighs 1,000 tonnes and built in 1966. Due to her unique design of being built as a
combination of three tubes, she could dive deeper, than other subs of her age.
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| Control Room |
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| View through periscope |
With this
type of design, everything was more cramped than other subs I have visited, but
even more fascinating, in how it all worked together.
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| Propulsion Control Station |
The
propulsion control room was separate from the actual engines and
batteries. The crew are a special bred,
who go to sea in these types of vessels. The only time they return to port is
when they are running out of food or fuel.
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| Abraham Crijnssen |
Not far away
is the minesweeper ‘Abraham Crijnssen’ built in 1937, during the second world
war, she managed to escape from the Japanese invaders in the Dutch East Indies
by camouflaging herself as a tropical island and managed to sail to Freemantle
in Australia.
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| Triple Expansion Engine |
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| Aft Deck |
She still
has her triple expansion main engine and for a one euro coin, you can start the
engine and be amazed by its action.
The
sleek lines of this vessel show in her time, she was very fast but would have
been cramped and very hot while in tropical waters.
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| Schorioen |
While behind
the minesweeper, alongside the quay is the ironclad ram ship ‘Schorpioen’ built
in 1868.
Between 1951 and 1971 it
accommodated the women’s branch of the Dutch navy. At that time, it was
surrounded by hundreds of metres of barbed wire to ward off male intruders.
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| Captain's Cabin |
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| Gun Turret |
This is
another wonderfully preserved ship with all of its history very well documented,
with the on board displays. The
captain’s quarters are better than some of today’s ships, while I would not
like to be in the gun turret when the guns were fired.
I ended my
visit to the museum, on the deck of the ironclad in the sunshine, with a
toasted sandwich and iced tea, obtained from the ship’s bar/café, surveying
what a wonderful place this is to visit.
In the
evening with the sky clouding over, I walked up to the railway station and in
the hotel opposite had a meal of steak, salad and chips, then walked along to
the dyke. Passing through a large
travelling fair fun, with the usual rides and amusements, lit up by the
numerous multi-coloured lights.
Walking
along the top of the dyke, you can see across to the island of Texel and
further along you arrive at the port, where the ferries operate from.
It had been
a grand day, plenty to see and think about, how this small nation in her day,
became a maritime superpower.
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