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HNLMS Zuiderkruis (A832)

HNLMS Zuiderkruis (A832) Cartagena Colombia.jpg
Zuiderkruis (A832)
History
Netherlands
Name: Zuiderkruis
Namesake: Southern Cross (Crux)
Owner: Royal Netherlands Navy
Laid down: 16 July 1973
Launched: 15 October 1974
Commissioned: 27 June 1975
Decommissioned: 10 February 2012
Out of service: 15 December 2011
Identification: A832
Honours and
awards:
Operation Blue Nose, Operation Desert Shield, Operation Desert Storm, Operation Sharp Guard, UNMIL, Counter-drugs Operations in Caribbean.
Status: Decommissioned, to be scrapped in 2013
General characteristics
Class and type: Auxiliary Replenishment Ship
Displacement: 16,900 tons
Length: 170 metres (560 ft)
Beam: 20 metres (66 ft)
Draught: 8.4 metres (28 ft)
Speed: 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph)
Complement: 170–190
Armament: 1 x Goalkeeper CIWS system, up to 8 12.7 mm machine guns, up to 3 helicopters

HNLMS Zuiderkruis (A832) (Dutch: Hr.Ms. Zuiderkruis) was a replenishment ships operated by the Royal Netherlands Navy. Zuiderkruis entered service in 1975 and was decommissioned on 10 February 2012. Her design was based on the earlier replenishment ship Poolster. The ship has been stripped for parts and left Den Helder for scrapping in Turkey on 21 February 2014.

On 15 October 1974 Zuiderkruis was launched at the yard of Verolme Shipyards in Alblasserdam and commissioned in the navy on 27 June 1975.

In 1981 Zuiderkruis was the first ship in the Dutch navy to have female sailors aboard.

8 February 1982 the ship together with the frigates Tromp, Callenburgh, Van Speijk, Piet Hein and the destroyer Overijssel departed from Den Helder for a trip to the USA to show the flag and for 200 years diplomatic relations. The ships returned to Den Helder on 19 May 1982.

In 1988 Zuiderkruis and the frigates Jan van Brakel, Kortenaer and Witte de With made a trip to the far east and Australia to show the flag and for practice.

She, Philips van Almonde and Jacob van Heemskerck participated in the Gulf War and were sent to replace Witte de With and Pieter Florisz on 4 and 5 December 1990.

Zuiderkruis rescued 14 Sri Lankan refugees on 25 April 1996 Adriatic Sea and dropped them off at the Italian port of Bari.

On 17 February 2003 a combined Belgian-Dutch squadron left for practice on the Atlantic Ocean. The squadron consisted of Zuiderkruis and the frigates Jacob van Heemskerck, Van Speijk, Van Galen and Wandelaar. Several ports in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States were visited and the squadron was expected to return on 24 April.


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