Enforcer (ship design)

The Enforcer is a ship design jointly developed by the Royal Netherlands Navy and the Spanish Navy.

Development began in the 1980s, when the Royal Netherlands Navy began investigating ways to provide an amphibious transport capability. In 1994, preliminary design work began. The Spanish government proposed in 1990 to collaborate on the design. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed in June 1992. Development of the base design occurred during 1993, after which the navies turned local companies for further design work and construction: Royal Schelde in the Netherlands, and Bazán (which became Navantia in 2005) in Spain.

Royal Schelde completed one ship to the Rotterdam class, with HNLMS Rotterdam (L800) constructed between 1995 and 1998. A second ship, HNLMS Johan de Witt (L801) was ordered in 2002 and commissioned in 2007. After building Rotterdam, Royal Schelde developed the "Enforcer Family": four variants of the Enforcer design intended for export sale. Increased modularity, less powerful propulsion systems, and increased use of commercial construction standards allowed the company to offer the export variants at lower prices. Bazan/Navantia completed two ships to the Galicia class design.

The Enforcer design also served as the basis of the British Bay class landing ships. Four vessels were built for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary by two shipyards between 2002 and 2007, with one sold in 2011 to the Royal Australian Navy.