The Dutch like to watch…through a periscope.
Odds are, if you are a sneaky non-nation party rogue state operator and NATO wants to keep ears on you, that cigarette
burning in the corner just offshore may be that of a Dutch submarine skipper.
Commissioned 25 April 1990, the Zeeleeuw (Dutch for Seal) is over twenty years old but is a master of littoral combat. The Dutch have used their quartet of 222-foot long Walrus-class subs, capable of floating in as little as 20-feet of water and submerging in as little as 60, to lie just offshore the bad-guy’s coastline listening for intel while on NATO missions.
These boats have done yeoman’s service off the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, followed by Iraq, then off Libya a couple years ago, and, as shown in the video, off Somalia and the Horn of Africa. Its rumored that when Hugo Chavez started talking smack about invading the Dutch Antilles in the Caribbean, a Walrus-class sub wandered around the Venezuelan coastline making notes and taking names.
They are well suited for hanging out in shallow waters and soaking up radio intercepts while their radar and sonar get a fix on just what is moving around and where it is going to and from. They have a specialized L-3 KEO mast that is optimized to capture HD footage both day and night– so that beautiful bean footage can be shown round the world if needed.
The Zeeleeuw (center) was fitted with an extended mounting on her sail to diffuse her signature and diesel exhaust while near
surface/snorting. All the better to be on the low low with.
Specs
Displacement: 2,350 t surfaced,
2,650 t submerged,
1,900 t standard
Length: 67.73 m
Beam: 8.4 m
Draft: 6.6 m
Propulsion: 3 diesels, diesel-electric, 5,430 shp (4 MW), 1 shaft, 5 blades
Speed: 13 knots (24 km/h) surfaced,
20 knots (37 km/h) submerged
Range: 18,500 km at 9 knot
Test depth: >300 m
Complement: 50 to 55
Sensors and processing systems: • Surface Search Radar: Signaal/Racal ZW 07
• Sonar Systems: Thomson Sintra TSM 2272 Eledone Octopus, GEC Avionics Type 2026 towed array, Thomson Sintra DUUX 5 passive ranging and intercept
Armament: 4 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes (20 × Honeywell Mk 48 or Honeywell NT 37 torpedoes, mines,
SubHarpoon SSM)