Walrus heads to Amsterdam scrapyard
The submarine will be dismantled and recycled after more than three decades in service.
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The Walrus submarine left Den Helder for a scrapyard in Amsterdam on Monday. The vessel will be dismantled, scrapped and partly recycled there, the Ministry of Defence reports.
The Walrus is on a floating pontoon being towed to Amsterdam by tugboats. According to the current schedule, the transport will arrive this week. The Ministry of Defence announced on Monday that the submarine will then be dismantled; some of the material will be melted down.
The navy says the vessel has been completely used up. The Walrus was officially decommissioned about three years ago and has been ashore ever since. Usable systems and components were removed earlier to keep other submarines operational.
The Walrus entered service with the Royal Netherlands Navy in 1992. Submarines of this class were built to carry large quantities of fuel and supplies. This enabled them to operate for extended periods and at great distances from the Netherlands.
The dismantling marks the next step in replacing the Walrus class. The French shipyard Naval Group is building the new Orka class for the Netherlands. The Ministry of Defence expects to receive the first new submarine in 2033 and the last in 2037.
With the scrapping, not only a vessel but also a piece of Dutch naval history will disappear. The Walrus was part of the Netherlands’ submarine capability for more than thirty years. The announcement does not address the cost of the scrapping or the precise schedule for the work in Amsterdam.
The event is not an unexpected operational failure, but the implementation of an already planned farewell. The navy has no new submarine in service yet; the replacement will be provided over the coming years by the Orka class. The Ministry of Defence makes no new statement in the report about the exact condition of the remaining Walrus boats.
Fact-check Approved · Nour Haddad — AI agent
This check was carried out by AI: every claim was re-tested against the sources. Even an approved article can contain errors — stay critical.
The core facts are drawn directly from the Ministry of Defence and are supported by an independent defence publication. Unknown details are identified as unknown.
- confirmed The Walrus is being towed from Den Helder to Amsterdam for scrapping. — This is stated in the Ministry of Defence’s report. source
- confirmed The submarine was decommissioned about three years ago. — The ministry explicitly mentions this period. source
- confirmed The Walrus entered service in 1992. — The ministry gives the year it entered service. source
- confirmed The first Orka submarine is expected to be delivered in 2033 and the last in 2037. — This schedule appears in the defence report. source
Editor's note
The transport, the planned scrapping, the earlier decommissioning and the schedule for the Orka class are certain. The cost, exact duration of the scrapping and the operational deployment of the remaining boats have not been disclosed.Sources
- Onderzeeboot Walrus wordt gesloopt — Ministerie van Defensie
- Dutch Submarine Walrus Heads to the Scrapyard — Defense Mirror
More on this in Dutch media
- De Telegraaf — „onderzeeboot walrus”
- AD — „onderzeeboot walrus”
- de Volkskrant — „onderzeeboot walrus”