The Royal Naval College was the service academy 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 ...

. From 2005 it is part of the ("Royal naval institute" or KIM) as part of the ("Netherlands defence academy") in

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 ...

. It offers a program of four or five years and also a short course of 16 to 22 months. Upon the completion of the program a graduate is awarded a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

and is commissioned in the Royal Netherlands Navy.http://www.nlda.nl/content/php/index.php?id=1083&cat_id=700066&lang=NL 24 August 2008 The training of officers for the

Royal Netherlands Army The Royal Netherlands Army (, KL) is the Ground warfare, land branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. Though the Royal Netherlands Army was raised on 9 January 1814, its origins date back to 1572, when the was raised making the Dutch standing a ...

and

Royal Netherlands Air Force The Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF; , "Royal Air Force") is the military aviation branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. It was created in 1953 to succeed its predecessor, the ''Luchtvaartafdeling'' () of the Dutch Army, which was founded ...

is done by the

Koninklijke Militaire Academie The Royal Military Academy ( or ''KMA'') is the service academy for the Dutch Army, the Dutch Air Force and the Royal Marechaussee. Located in Breda, Southern Netherlands, the KMA has trained future officers since 1828. Description The KMA o ...

Breda Breda ( , , , ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant. ...

History

The

was officially founded in 1815, but existed in various forms since 1488. In the early years of the Navy, officers were trained in service aboard ships. In 1785, the 'Kweekschool voor de Zeevaart' the first land-based training school for future officers, opened. This school was the predecessor of the KIM. During the time of the

Batavian Republic The Batavian Republic (; ) was the Succession of states, successor state to the Dutch Republic, Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. It was proclaimed on 19 January 1795 after the Batavian Revolution and ended on 5 June 1806, with the acce ...

(1795–1806), as the Dutch Navy began to become more organized, the training school was improved as well. With the forming of the

Kingdom of the Netherlands The Kingdom of the Netherlands (, ;, , ), commonly known simply as the Netherlands, is a sovereign state consisting of a collection of constituent territories united under the monarch of the Netherlands, who functions as head of state. The re ...

on 10 January 1816, an institute for training naval officers was founded in

Delft Delft () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, ...

. Twelve years later, it was moved to a site near Medemblik, and many improvements were made for the move. A boarding school system was introduced, and the institute applied for officer training. On 28 August 1829, the opening of the institute was celebrated in the great church of Medemblik. That date is now observed as the anniversary of KIM's founding. In 1854, the current campus at Willemsoord in

was opened. In 2005 the academy was incorporated in the newly founded 'Nederlandse Defensie Academy' (NLDA), which was followed by the arrival of a lot of army and air force cadets in technical studies, and the transfer of midshipmen that followed non-technical studies to Breda, effectively ending its role as a 'maritime' academy.

Alumni

* Piet de Jong '34, former

Prime Minister of The Netherlands The prime minister of the Netherlands () or, before 1945, the chairman of the Council of Ministers () is the ''de facto'' head of government of the Netherlands.''Grondwet voor het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden'' onstitution of the Kingdom of the N ...

(1967–1971) * Eugène Lacomblé '17,

posthumous Posthumous may refer to: * Posthumous award, an award, prize or medal granted after the recipient's death * Posthumous publication, publishing of creative work after the author's death * Posthumous (album), ''Posthumous'' (album), by Warne Marsh, 1 ...

recipient of the

Military William Order The Military William Order, or often named Military Order of William ( Dutch: , abbreviation: MWO), is the oldest and highest honour of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is named after St. William of Gellone (755–814), the first Prince of Ora ...

* Hans Larive, escapee from Colditz, recipient of the Military William Order

Ranks

References

External links

Official website in Dutch
{{authority control Naval education and training in the Netherlands Defunct military academies Universities and colleges established in 1829 Military academies of the Netherlands Naval academies Organisations based in the Netherlands with royal patronage Organisations based in Den Helder 1829 establishments in the Netherlands