Noordzee-class tugboat

The Noordzee class are a class of tugboats used by the Royal Netherlands Navy to dock their larger ships at the Nieuwe Haven Naval Base.

History
In January 2014 it was announced that the older Linge-class tugboat tugboats were not capable enough anymore to handle the newer larger vessels like HNLMS Karel Doorman (A833) and the four oldest ships would be replaced by three Damen build hybrid tugboats. These would become the Noordzee class.

With the arrival of the first new tugboat, HNLMS Noordzee (A871), the older tugboats did not prove completely useless when the power onboard Noordzee shut off due to contaminated fuel along the coast of North-Holland and HNLMS Hunze (A876) had to assist. As an avocation to their main purpose they are used for trips with guests around the harbour.

Namesakes
All the ships are named after seas with current or former Dutch shores:
 * HNLMS Noordzee's namesake is the North Sea.
 * HNLMS Waddenzee's namesake is the Wadden Sea.
 * HNLMS Zuiderzee's namesake is the Zuiderzee.