Name Willem van der Zaan Commissioned 28 November 1991 Construction started 6 November 1985 Length 122 m Draft 6.2 m | Laid down 6 November 1985 Decommissioned 25 August 2006 Launched 21 January 1989 Weight 2,800 tons Beam 14 m | |
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Namesake Schout-bij-nacht Willem van der Zaan Builder KMS, Flushing (Netherlands) | ||
Louise-Marie (F931) is a Karel Doorman-class frigate of the Marine Component of the Belgian Armed Forces that was commissioned in 2008. It is the second of the two frigates of this class that were purchased from the Royal Netherlands Navy on 22 December 2005. During its service in the Netherlands, it was known as HNLMS Willem van der Zaan (F829).
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Service
HNLMS Willem van der Zaan was rechristened Louise-Marie (F931) on 8 April 2008 in Antwerp by Queen Paola of Belgium. It was named after Louise-Marie, the name of a naval vessel purchased by the Belgian navy in 1840, which in turn was named after Queen Louise-Marie of Belgium, the wife of Leopold I.
Louise-Marie is under command of commander Carl Gillis.
Missions
In September 2010, Louise-Marie was reported to be preparing for a second deployment to the Horn of Africa.
On 29 November 2013, the ship arrived in London, UK as part of the preparations for the centenary of the start of World War I delivering soil from 70 World War I battlefields collected by British and Belgian schoolchildren for the Flanders Fields Memorial Garden in London's Wellington Barracks.