HNLMS Holland (D808)

HNLMS Holland (D808) (Hr.Ms. Holland) was the lead ship of her class of four destroyers built for the Royal Netherlands Navy in the early 1950s. HNLMS Holland is named after a former province of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and was the twentieth ship with this name. In 1978 the ship was taken out of service and sold to Peru where it was renamed Garcia y Garcia. The ship's radio call sign was "PAOP".

History
The provisional building contract for the HNLMS Holland was issued on 2 January 1948. The keel was laid on 21 April 1950 and the ship was launched on 11 April 1953. Mrs. A.J. Moorman - Wijtenburg, wife of the State Secretary for Marine, H.W.C. Moorman, performed the baptism ceremony. A powerful ax hit the ship smoothly to the water. A large number of invitees, including senior navy authorities, including from America, England and Canada, witnessed this. Between 16 and 19 January 1954 The field trips took place, while the official test tours began on 2 March 1954 in Den Helder and lasted until 15 April 1954.

The "great test trip" - as the RDM called it - took more than six weeks and made the HNLMS Holland visit several locations. It began on 2 March 1954 when Holland sailed via Den Helder to Scotland for a week full of speed trials. On the way there the sea was rough and according to the staff magazine of the Rotterdam yard "many promptly made the famous sacrifice". In order to measure the exact speed, speed tests were carried out on the island of Arran, because the nautical mile was precisely measured and visualized on the basis of markings on land. After some tourist trips in Scotland, ship, shipyard personnel and crew set sail once again for the south to test the ventilation systems. After the Holland had left Scotland, it was again in a storm. The speed had to be limited to 4 to 5 knots, while life on board was seriously hindered because the ship made large swings.

As Las Palmas was approached, the thick coats were exchanged by deck chairs. Then the Holland steamed up to Dakar (Senegal) where again several tests were done. During these tests the destroyer was only docked for a short time. On the way to Casablanca (Morocco), the surging turned out to be too much for the new naval ship to keep pace. After three hours in Casablanca the sea was chosen again, this time to the north. At the height of Portugal, the Holland was placed transversely to the waves for pendulum tests. Three days later it was back in Den Helder where it was subjected to tests at the Rijkswerf. On 15 April the Holland moored again at the RDM in Rotterdam. In addition to speed and ventilation, issues such as sailing behavior, controllability, operation of the equipment and housing were also examined. After these tests, the HNLMS Holland was put into service on December 30, 1954 and was the twentieth ship in the Royal Netherlands Navy at the time.

In July 1978 Holland, together with the frigates HNLMS Tromp, HNLMS Van Nes, HNLMS Van Galen, the destroyer HNLMS Zeeland (D809), the submarine HNLMS Dolfijn (S808) and the replenishment ship HNLMS Poolster (A835) visited New York in commemoration of the city’s 200 years anniversary.

HNLMS Holland was sold to Peru in 1978 as the BAP "Garcia y Garcia" (DD75), which was taken out of service by Peru in 1986.

Design
The ship was completely electrically welded and assembled on the slope from sections produced in the RDM workshops. There are no portholes in the hull, so that all rooms are artificially illuminated and ventilated. The main armament consists of 4 12 cm guns, arranged in two double towers, which can be used for both sea and air targets. Furthermore, there are 1 machine gun of 40 mm, 2 rocket depth bombers, 2 depth bomb racks and no helicopters. The crew consists of 246 heads.