''Potvis'' (Dutch:

Sperm whale The sperm whale or cachalot (''Physeter macrocephalus'') is the largest of the toothed whales and the largest toothed predator. It is the only living member of the Genus (biology), genus ''Physeter'' and one of three extant species in the s ...

) was a ''Potvis''-class submarine (a modified ) 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 17 September 1962 at the ''Wilton-Fijenoord'' shipyard in

Schiedam Schiedam () is a large town and municipality in the west of the Netherlands. It is located in the Rotterdam–The Hague metropolitan area, west of the city Rotterdam, east of the town Vlaardingen and south of the city Delft. In the south, Schi ...

and launched on 12 January 1965. 2 November 1965 she was commissioned in the Dutch navy. In January 1968 ''Potvis'' 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. The boat was overhauled in 1970 at the ''Wilton-Fijenoord'' shipyard. From October until November 1976 ''Potvis'' and the tender ''Mercuur'' perform torpedo system trials at

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. From 2 to 21 July 1978 ''Potvis'', ''Dolfijn'', and practiced firing exercises. On 19 November 1982 a refit of the boat started at the Naval Yard in Den Helder. This lasts until 8 August 1983. In 1984 she made a visit to

Willemstad Willemstad ( ; ; ; ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of Curaçao, an island in the southern Caribbean Sea that is a Countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It was the cap ...

Curaçao Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea (specifically the Dutch Caribbean region), about north of Venezuela. Curaçao includ ...

. The following years she made several visits to

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

and

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. On 18 June 1992 she was finally decommissioned and broken up 1994, wearing a special ceremony painting of a

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Potvis 1965 ships Dolfijn-class submarines Submarines built by Wilton-Fijenoord