HNLMS ''Dolfijn'' (Dutch: ''

Dolphin A dolphin is an aquatic mammal in the cetacean clade Odontoceti (toothed whale). Dolphins belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontopori ...

'') was a of the

Royal Netherlands Navy The Royal Netherlands Navy (, ) is the Navy, maritime service branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. It traces its history to 8 January 1488, making it the List of navies, third-oldest navy in the world. During the 17th and early 18th centurie ...

Ship history

The submarine was laid down on 30 December 1954 at the ''Rotterdamse Droogdok Mij'' shipyard in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

and launched on 20 May 1959. 16 December 1960 she was commissioned in the Dutch navy. In March 1962 the boat and '' Zeeleeuw'' where send to the west coast of the US to show the flag. After this ''Dolfijn'', ''Zeeleeuw'' and a number of destroyers were sent to

Netherlands New Guinea Dutch New Guinea or Netherlands New Guinea (, ) was the Western New Guinea, western half of the island of New Guinea that was a part of the Dutch East Indies until 1949, later an overseas administrative territorial entity, overseas territory of ...

because of rising tension between the Netherlands and

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. When the situation calmed down, she returned to the Netherlands. In 1963

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was visited for testing of a new type of torpedo tube. In May 1964 ''Dolfijn'' participated in an exercise called ''Long Look'' held between

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and

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. The next year, on 4 March 1965, ''Dolfijn'' was docked at the shipyard of RDM for modernization, which lasted till 15 February 1967. In January 1968 ''Dolfijn'' and left the port of

Den Helder Den Helder () is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Den Helder occupies the northernmost point of the North Holland peninsula. It is home to the country's main naval base. From here the Royal TESO fe ...

for a war simulation in the northern

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

that would last 5 weeks. In May 1970 an international exercise called ''Rusty Nut'' is held where the boat participated in. Later that year in September she participated in the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

exercise ''Northern Wedding''. In early 1971 she practiced with her sister in the

Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay ( ) is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea. It lies along the western coast of France from Point Penmarc'h to the Spanish border, and along the northern coast of Spain, extending westward ...

. In September 1976 she participated in the ''NATO'' exercise ''Team Work''. In July 1978 ''Dolfijn'', ''Zeehond'', ''Potvis'' and practiced firing exercises. The next year, between 29 March 1979 and 26 November 1979, ''Dolfijn'' was docked at the shipyard of RDM for maintenance. In July 1976 ''Dolfijn'', together with the frigates , , , the destroyers , and the replenishment ship visited

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

in commemoration of the city's 200 years anniversary. On 29 April 1982 the boat was decommissioned. On 22 July 1985 the boat was sold to be scrapped at the yard of the ''Heuvelman'' in

Puttershoek Puttershoek is a village and former municipality in the western Netherlands. It is located on the banks of the Oude Maas, on the island Hoeksche Waard, in the province of South Holland. On 1 January 1984, the municipality of Puttershoek was merge ...

Ship history

References

Further reading