Royal Netherlands Navy HNLMS Makkum (M857), HNLMS Vlaardingen (M863) with the French FS Sagittaire, Tripartite class mine hunters
The Tripartite class is a class of minehunters developed from an agreement between the navies of Belgium, France and the Netherlands. A total of 35 ships were constructed for the three navies. The class was constructed in the 1980s–1990s in all three countries, using a mix of minehunting, electrical and propulsion systems from the three member nations. In France, where they are known as the Éridan class they are primarily used as minehunters, but have been used for minesweeping and ammunition transport in Belgium and the Netherlands, where the Tripartites are known as the Alkmaar class. In 1992, the Pakistan Navy acquired three vessels from France, one that was already built, one to be built in France and one built in France and Pakistan. Known as the Munsif class, all three are still in service. The Indonesian Navy acquired two minehunters in the 1990s from the Dutch to a modified design. Known as the Pulau Rengat class, the two ships are still in service. In 1997, France purchased three of the Belgian vessels. In 2007, the Latvian Naval Forces acquired five ships from the Netherlands which had been taken out of service at the beginning of the decade. The Bulgarian Navy acquired a former Belgian minehunter in 2007. The Netherlands and Belgium had a competition in 2018 to build a replacement class for their Tripartite/Alkmaar-class ships.
Size: 6518px × 4407px
Location: Govan, Glasgow, Scotland, UK
Photo credit: © Jim Gibson / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: alkmaar, armed, class, dutch, forces, french, fs, hnlms, holland, m650, m857, m863, makkum, marine, minehunter, nationale, navy, netherlands, port, sagittaire, tripartite, visit, vlaardingen, warship, Éridan
