Frigate HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerck

The author was born in 1944 during the Battle of Arnhem. In his eighth year, in Paramaribo where he lived at the time, he discovered modelling kits by the father of a friend. And, because one could not only play with these but also build, he became addicted to model building. Many models of ships, aircrafts, cars, weapons and figurines have been assembled by him since then. Especially the background information given with the models awoke his historical curiosity. In the course of the years the model building of Dutch navy ships of the recent past intensified. Some models were christened on board the real ship. Now and then he embarked for a short trip. Even after being pensioned in 2009 as rector of a comprehensive school, building models fills a good part of his time.

• Jacob van Heemskerck, Ships with the name Jacob van Heemskerck, Development of the L-frigate, Weapon Systems, Goalkeeper CIWS, Standard Missile (SM), Harpoon SSM (Surface-To-Surface Missile), Torpedo MK. 46 MOD 5, NATO Sea Sparrow, Operations, Stanavforlant and Stanavformed, Descriptions of some Operations, Decommissioning, References.