Corporal Lisa from Den Helder arrived with ‘her’ ship the Zr. MS. Karel Doorman left for Norway. Together with her colleagues from Sr. Ms. Johan de Witt, she will be part of a large, international exercise involving a total of 90,000 troops.
“We have about 250 people on board. That is the permanent crew of the Karel Doorman, but also the helicopter teams from the Netherlands and England,” says Lisa this morning on the quay in Den Helder. “It’s always exciting to run such an exercise. But if you don’t practice, we can’t do it. So it’s better to practice more often, then we’ll be ready when something really happens.”
The NATO exercise consists of several parts. The Navy is already on the move. Other Dutch soldiers will take action in the coming months. The Netherlands will provide a total of 5,000 troops for exercises on land and sea. The exercise that will be held near Norway in the coming weeks is not unknown territory for the Navy.
Extreme area
“We are now really going to northern Norway. That is an extreme area and also makes it interesting to practice,” says commander Paul Bijleveld of the Zr. Ms. Kareldoorman. “I think this is great. It is now special again. Previously, we often went out in larger groups. Now the two of us are going, with the Johan de Witt and I think that is a nice moment.”
“We have five helicopters on board and we will soon see a lot of movements near Norway. They will fly in and out,” says Corporal Lisa, who stands alone on the quay in her work uniform. Laughing, she says: “I’ll be wearing a jacket when I get to Norway. These are exercises under Arctic conditions. We’ll be on the road for about five weeks in total.”