On Wednesday 21st May at Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding (DSNS) Yard in Vlissingen Oost, The Netherlands, an evacuation test deployment of a single LSA 20m MES and 100 person capacity self-righting liferaft was conducted from the new Royal Netherlands Navy Joint Support Ship, HLNMS Karel Doorman.
The deployment exercise involved the evacuation of 100 Royal Netherlands Navy personnel. Naval personnel were given detailed training by LSA personnel prior to the exercise. The simulated evacuation training exercise was timed and the full 100 person complement was evacuated in just under 5 minutes. HNLMS Karel Doorman is the sixth Royal Netherlands Navy vessel to have LSA MES installed. LSA MES is also installed on LPD vessel, HNLMS Johan de Witt along with the four Holland Class Offshore Patrol vessels. All vessels were constructed at DSNS Vlissingen. LSA MES was chosen by the Royal Netherlands Navy as it is proven to be the simplest, safest and most reliable MES in the world. LSA MES is suitable for all types and sizes of passenger and personnel carrying vessels.
