Navy Ship Sighted in San Juan Harbor

If you're following Bizzy's Blog, you'll know that we visited Old San Juan again today. As we entered town today, we noticed a new ship in port and it sure looked like a navy ship, but not one of ours. After a little research, Bizzy and I determined it's the Dutch Navy's HNLMS Rotterdam, an amphibious landing platform dock. Here's a link to some info about it: The Rotterdam. The description has some interesting notes about it's medical services capabilities, but says little about it's naval systems, like the fact that has a helicopter landing pad and hanger on the stern. (I found a summary of it's equipment along the right-hand side of the web page.)

Here's a photo from Wikipedia. It doesn't show the small gun on the bow or the CIWS (Close In Weapons System, commonly called on our ships R2-D2 because of it's resemblance to the famous droid.)



Here's the photo Bizzy took of the Rotterdam in port today through the trolley window.

When we realized it was a Dutch ship, we thought that its presence was a little ironic as we had just learned during our Old San Juan tour of El Morro about the Dutch's invasion of Puerto Rico in the 1600s. Think of what the Rotterdam can carry. Hmmm.

For comparison, here's a link to the current US Navy's version of the LPD: San Antonio Class. Very impressive! Perhaps the most famous ship in this class is the USS New York, LPD-21, which was partially constructed using steel from the World Trade Center debris, of which I've emailed previously.