laststandonzombieisland

Here we see a recent exercise shot of the Dutch Caribbean Coastguard, a force formed of three 140 -foot Damen Stan Patrol 4100s Coast Guard cutters, the Jaguar, the Panther and Puma, (two of the dark patrol boats) stationed at Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten in the Netherlands Antilles.

The funny little craft bringing up the rear is the 215-foot HNLMS Pelikaan (A804), a logistics ship stationed in the islands for support who usually arrives as the party with a platoon of Royal Dutch Marines in tow.

The large white ships are two Holland-class offshore patrol vessels of the Royal Netherlands Navy, HNLMS Groningen (P843) foreground and HNLMS Zeeland (P841) background, rotate out as the West Indies Guardship to provide over the horizon muscle. What you are seeing above is likely a turnover of that mission.

The diesel-powered 3750-ton Holland-class are a really neat design that uses a 355-foot hull and a 54-man crew (with space for an additional 40) to produce a light frigate that is capable of 21 day/5,000nm patrols. They have a mini-AEGIS style phased array radar, hangar and deck for a medium helicopter, 76mm popgun and a number of small mounts all for about $150 million per ship.

I wonder if the Coast Guard has finalized their Offshore Patrol Cutter plans in which they wanted 25 or so vessels  which will notionally be 360 feet long, powered by diesel engines, mount a medium caliber deck gun, and provide for a medium  helicopter?

If not, maybe they could go Dutch?