History
In 1974, the Royal Netherlands Navy announced, through the Ministry of Defence's 10-year plan , that it wanted to replace its aging s.H. Vredeling, C.L.J. van Lent, A. Stemerdink, pp. 61. Since the 1960s, the Royal Netherlands Navy had been conducting studies and research into a suitable replacement attack submarine. This research initiative concluded that the Netherlands should build conventional diesel-electric submarines, as nuclear submarines were costly and could only be constructed, crewed, and maintained by countries with major navies such as the United States, France and the United Kingdom. Nonetheless, even with the diesel-electric submarine, the Dutch government sought to work together with international allies to reduce construction costs. Between 1975 and 1978, the design of the ''Walrus''-class was for the most part completed, and included many improvements which would result in new, state-of-the-art submarines that would mark a significant improvement over previous submarines used by the Royal Netherlands Navy. For example, a special kind of French-produced steel was used to construct the hull of the ''Walrus''-class submarines; this steel proved to be more elastic, allowing submarines of the class to dive deeper than previous submarines. Furthermore, there was a focus on automation which was aimed at decreasing the manpower required to operate the submarines, while also making them more effective against threats. On 19 June 1979,