The Royal Netherlands Navy is the naval force of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is one of the four Netherlands Armed Forces. It was founded on 8 January 1488, making it the third-oldest naval force in the world.
The Battle of Scheveningen in 1653 during the First Anglo-Dutch War
HNLMS Java, ca. 1941
Piet de Jong, commanding officer of HNLMS Gelderland in 1958
The Standing NRF Maritime Group 1 in 2007 with HNLMS Evertsen second from the right
The Netherlands Armed Forces are the military services of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The core of the armed forces consists of the four service branches: the Royal Netherlands Navy, the Royal Netherlands Army, the Royal Netherlands Air Force and the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee. The service branches are supplemented by various joint support organisations. In addition, local conscript forces exist on the Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba (AruMil) and Curaçao (CurMil). These operate under the auspices of the Royal Netherlands Navy and the Netherlands Marine Corps. The armed forces are organisationally part of the Ministry of Defence.
Chief of Defence general Onno Eichelsheim during the acceptance ceremony of the command over the Netherlands Armed Forces, April 2021
HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën during exercise At-Sea Demo/Formidable Shield 2021 on the Atlantic Ocean
Troops of 11 Air Assault Brigade disembarking a CH-47 Chinook in Mali
RNLAF F-35A Lightning II during cannon trials in October 2018
