Belgium Navy Oostende Commissioned

Oostende was commissioned into the Belgian Navy on 6 November 2025, arriving at Zeebrugge Naval Base days earlier as the lead ship of the Belgian-Dutch City-class mine countermeasures programme. Launched on 29 March 2023 and built jointly with the Netherlands and prime contractor Naval Group/ECA Group, the 2,800-tonne vessel is designed around unmanned surface and underwater drones for standoff mine detection, identification and neutralisation rather than traditional hull-mounted sonar and divers. It roughly doubles the tonnage of the Belgian Navy's mine warfare fleet as it progressively replaces the ageing Tripartite class.