[Jeroen]

It appears we have several members who apart from cars, are also interested in military and navy items. Recently I visited my home country the Netherlands and I visited the Dutch Navy Museum. Took some pictures I thought I would share.

The Dutch have always had a navy. And in past times it has accomplished some truly amazing feats. What with all the world trading the Dutch have always been doing, our various battles with the British and the Spanish. Of course, the Dutch navy played an important role in our colonial times as well, Not a very good role, but then again, colonialism never is in whatever context a good thing as far as I am concerned.

Never the less, the Dutch do know a thing or two when it comes to shipping be it for commercial/merchant and or naval (warfare) operations.

I have visited the Dutch Navy Museum several times when our children were still small. It hasn’t changed that much. It is located in Den Helder which is also the home port of the Dutch Navy. It’s various buildings, ships and exhibits are in fact on the Navy premises. And anywhere in Den Helder you can see the Navy ships towering over the houses. The navy has it’s head quarters here and also various yards, workshops, warehouses, schooling facilities etc.

Here some very general information on the current Dutch Navy:

https://www.defensie.nl/english/organisation/navy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Netherlands_Navy

The Dutch navy was one of the navies that from pretty early on invested in a submarine service. It was the Dutch who introduced the three cylinder submarine as opposed to the common, to date, one cylinder submarine.

http://www.dutchsubmarines.com/rd/r&..._submarine.htm

The Dutch Navy Museum most appealing display is an old three cylinder submarine that has been laid up and is open to the public.

It’s the old “Tonijn" (Tuna)
See http://www.dutchsubmarines.com/class...ijn_potvis.htm

The Tonijn is placed next to the main museum building.

And yes, that is a torpedo sticking out of one of its forwarded looking torpedo tubes.



Here a view of the stern arrangement



And here the tower with periscope, snorkel, radar and various antenna’s. The railing are non original. They are put up for the public’s safety, we don’t want anybody falling off!



So lets go inside!

These are the forward torpedo tubes. You can see the propellor of the torpedo in the top starboard (right) hand tube. That is the one that is sticking out on the outside. The orange suit is one of the escape suits, that would allow sailors to escape from a sunken sub.





From this position we turn 180 degrees and this is what we see. The forward torpedo room is actually a fairly large compartment. For no other reason this is also where they store the torpedo’s and where part of the crew sleeps.



Walking further towards the central control room we first pass the sonar room. Two guys used to sit on that little red bench.



Next we get into the central control room. Just below the tower. Well, room is to ambitious a term. Everywhere in this sub it is crammed. I’m 1.96m tall and I kept bumping my head on all sorts of stuff. I used to work on oceangoing tugs and supply vessels and they are also cramped. But these subs give a whole new meaning to the word ‘cramped’.

This here is the actual steering position. They control the rudder with the handle bar you see. The diesel engines by means of those two round levers, telegraphs they are called on ships. The telegraph would signal to the engine control room what speed the engine should run and whether it should go forward of reverse. You will see something similar in the engine control room further on. In the middle the rudder indicator.



Next in the central control room, the periscope! There are actually two periscopes. Used for different purposes, different size as well. This one is still in perfect working order and the magnification is phenomenal. They have blocked its full turning. You would have been able to see right into peoples home. They have restricted it to overlook the harbour and navy establishment only



In all submarines of this age there are valves everywhere. All sorts of valves for all sorts of purposes and functions. These control the air going to the ballast tanks. Air in pushes the water out and the sub rises!



Some more valves and you can see two flow/volume meters as well. Can’t quite remember what systems these are. In the merchant navy we always had all the different systems colour coded. E.g. brown diesel, green salt water, blue potable water, yellow club oil, red fire fighting etc.

So the colour of the valve handle would immediately tell you what system you were working on.



Still the central control room, here is the control station for the for and aft dive planes. More or less in the middle of the panel a huge depth meter. Two sailors would sit here side by side, one controlling the forward and one controlling the aft dive planes.

No automation on these subs whatsoever. So diving, running underwater, surfacing is all done by operating the rudder, the dive planes, the engines (speed) and by adjusting the ballast. How much rudder, how much ballast is needed is very much an art as a science. Driving these subs wasn’t easy, took real team effort and a well tuned crew.



This diving station is located on the port side of the sub. More or less below the tower. on the exact other side, starboard is this pane. Various valves and also some control lights. In some navies this panel is known as the Christmas trees. It shows the status of every hold and or opening in the submarine. Before the sub could dive all hold, hatches and panels had to be closed and the Christmas trees would be reported GREEN.



Here is the central position in the control room with the main periscope in the middle. Radar to the left.



Walking further aft we get to the engine control room. Again, no automation, everything is done by hand. Two sets of diesel control and two sets of generator controls. And see if you can spot the telegraphs, connected to the steering position in the main control room.



In these three cylinder subs, each engine/generator and battery bank was installed in a separate cylinder. The complete accommodation with the torpedo rooms, control rooms etc was mounted on top of the two cylinders containing the propulsion system. The main consideration for these three over one cylinder was safety. The idea being you could flood one of the two propulsion cylinders and still keep going. Not sure if that was ever put to test. What is does do, make the accommodation and control room very cramped compared to a sub of the same outside dimension with one cylinder.

Here we are in the aft part of the sub. Four aft torpedo tubes. Similar arrangement as the bow torpedo.



And when we turn 180, i.e. facing towards the bow, we see more bunks. All these subs had the practice of hot-bunking. Meaning each bunk got shared between 2-3 persons. So you always got into a “hot” bunk. Only the captain has his own, minute, cabin and bunk, right next door to the main control room.



So we have seen the sub, lets head back into the main museum building. Its a fairly small affair, but an excellent lay-out. Got a little cinema where they show some great navy films. They have all sorts of things on display, from uniforms to sextants, from ship models to fire arms and just about everything in between.

I particularly like the models so I have taken a selection of some of these models. They are not that easy to photograph. The museum is dark with lots of flood lights on the models that are mounted in glass vitrines. Great for regular visitors, not so great if you are an amateur photograph like me. But this is one of the few museums that lets you use your tripod! And with a polariser filter to get rid of the worst of the glare I took a few nice shots. In random order, some Dutch navy models:







Here is another item always associate with navy and subs:



The museum has three old navy ships moored next to the museum. It was absolutely pouring by the time I got there, so I did spend to much time on them. Here a few shots.





There is also a separate exhibition in a separate building on the more recent missions of the Dutch Navy. It deals with among other the action against piracy near Somalia. Pretty impressive stuff.

There is one exhibit which I think is pretty unique. They have take the complete superstructure of an old decommissioned destroyer and put it onshore and its main gun turret. You can go inside to get a feel for it. Walk across the bridge and you can even climb all the way into that huge radar dome! The windows on the bridge have been replaced by monitors and it shows the destroyer steaming through some very heavy stormy seas. Pitching and rolling heavily. Very well done and very disorientating. I have been on many pitching and rolling ships and I start to lean in automatically. That will actually make you fall over, as this is one ship that doesn’t move!









Den Helder is about an hours drive from Amsterdam. All the way north. If you are interested in seeing the Dutch navy this is a nice outing. As I said the museum is right on the navy ship yard and you get a good view of the harbour, you can see all ships. There is also a pretty busy supply operation, fishing and recreational shipping.There are other museums as well with a nautical theme, the Dutch Life boat association has its museum here as well.

So always lots to see and do. And on nice day you can also visit the beach.

The best place to have a coffee or lunch is at restaurant ’t veerhuis Lands End
http://www.veerhuislandsend.nl

its 500 meters from the entrance to the museum. It overlooks the harbour entrance, right next door to the ferry to Texel. Always ships coming and going.


Jeroen

[aah78]

Note from Support: Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[ajitkommini]

Interesting. Thanks for sharing. I saw a rather different example of Dutch naval prowess some years ago at Bataviawerf. In some ways more exciting!

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by ajitkommini

Interesting. Thanks for sharing. I saw a rather different example of Dutch naval prowess some years ago at Bataviawerf. In some ways more exciting!

I know the Bataviawerf. But of a time warp to the times the shops were made of wood and the men who sailed then we're made of steel. As the saying goes.

http://www.bataviawerf.nl

Very impressive too. I'll search for some photographs when I get back home.

There is another similar initiative in Rotterdam as well.

Jeroen

[peterjim13]

Great to see !!

Wish we had similar restored old subs/ships etc at some museum in India.

And thanks for those detailed pics of the SUB. Your knowledge in Ships/Navy has helped in understanding things far better, I would have struggled or rather would have understood what each of those analog dials and handles looked like.

[rajeshsundaram]

Excellent Post. Thanks for the pics. I have seen subs in movies , but seeing the controls too close in your photographs takes the experience to another level.


*sigh* I really wish to experience that "superstructure" display on land. Quite unique.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by rajeshsundaram

*sigh* I really wish to experience that "superstructure" display on land. Quite unique.

Thanks

If you ever find yourself in the UK near Portsmouth, the Submarine museum there has a similar set-up.

http://www.submarine-museum.co.uk/mobile/#about

I also know of several other places where they have museum submarines still in the water and you can visit them too. E.g. Belgium and the USA.

[Foxbat]

Originally Posted by peterjim13

Great to see !!

Wish we had similar restored old subs/ships etc at some museum in India.

And thanks for those detailed pics of the SUB. Your knowledge in Ships/Navy has helped in understanding things far better, I would have struggled or rather would have understood what each of those analog dials and handles looked like.

They exist in India also, here is one :



http://www.vuda.gov.in/kurusra_submarine_museum.html

[GKMahajan]

Dear Jeroen,

Wow!

Totally worth 5 stars!

I have seen Tanks Museum in Ahemadnagar, Maharashtra, India.
I have 'heard' of shipping related museums.

But this is really good.
Thanks for sharing.

Note to self: create a new thread for the Tank Museum.

Girish Mahajan

[alpha1]

Great thread, superb pix.
Though, you know, it misses one very key thing: what about the toilet?
I always get extremely paranoid about cramped places like a sub, more so because of the even more cramped toilets!!!

[peterjim13]

Originally Posted by Foxbat

They exist in India also, here is one :



http://www.vuda.gov.in/kurusra_submarine_museum.html

Great to know.

I infact knew that there was a submarine on display at Vishakapatanam. But didnt know we could enter inside and go through like the ones in the thread. Brilliant!!

at INS Dhronacharya, i have seen old Soviet Missile Boats, shown like we have at HAL. But we cannot enter inside, is there a Naval Museum in India where we have similar ships restored and kept.

INS Vikrant would have made a world class museum.

[chandrda]

Excellent Photos and Details.

Its just amazing to see that they have retained most of the controls on the sub in original state.

I had been to USS Growler at Intrepid, but don't remember seeing so many controls intact.

Thanks for posting

Regards

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by chandrda

Excellent Photos and Details.

Its just amazing to see that they have retained most of the controls on the sub in original state.

I had been to USS Growler at Intrepid, but don't remember seeing so many controls intact.

I visited he Intrepid about 5-6 years ago, whilst living in the USA> Cant quite remember, but I seem to recall it was intact. However, as I tried to explain before; the Dutch submarines are a three cylinder design. Two cylinders next to one another, each containing a diesel engine, electrical motor, batteries etc. On top of that sits one more cylinder which holds the accommodation including the control rooms etc. For a given size of submarine the accomodation space in the three cylinder design is much smaller.

So it could just be an opticial illusion to some extent. Submarines are never roomy, but the old three cylinder versus the old one cylinders subs make a noticeable difference in how cramped (and thus full) it appears.

Many years ago, there used to be an old Russian submarine moored in Den Helder as well. Some enterprising Dutch men bought it and brought it to Den Helder and ran it as a museum. Same size and roughly same era as the Tonijn, but one cylinder design, which seemed huge compared to the very cramped space on the Dutch Tonijn.

That sub is still around, moored these days in Amsterdam, opposite to the Central station. Old Foxtrot class

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h06SzbdFvN0

There is also a Foxtrot museum in Belgium. Have a look a this:

http://www.seafront.be/NL/foxtrot.asp

Jeroen

[Foxbat]

Originally Posted by alpha1

Great thread, superb pix.
Though, you know, it misses one very key thing: what about the toilet?
I always get extremely paranoid about cramped places like a sub, more so because of the even more cramped toilets!!!

Yes submarines have cramped toilets, but what about the cramped swimming pool and gym on Russian Typhoon class subs?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrULRXlAlMU

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Foxbat

Yes submarines have cramped toilets, but what about the cramped swimming pool and gym on Russian Typhoon class subs?
[/url]

Hunt for Red October stuff!

Those Typhoons are in a class of their own! They are absolutely massive!

Actually, they are also in essence three cylinder design. However, at a far larger scale then these old Dutch subs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon-class_submarine


With respect to the toilets;

https://www.google.co.in/search?q=su...C3AfIQ_AUIBigB


Jeroen