2005–2015 From 2005 until 2007
De Ruyter was commanded by
Rob Bauer, during which period she was deployed to the Mediterranean as part of
Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 as part of the NATO Response Force in
Operation Active Endeavour. In late 2006, Bauer was deployed to Bahrain for five months as Deputy Commander of
Combined Task Force 150 in
Operation Enduring Freedom. From 12 January 2007 to July 2009
De Ruyter was commanded by Commander
Jeanette Morang, the first woman to command a frigate of the Royal Netherlands Navy. Commander Harold Liebregs was
De Ruyters commanding officer from December 2012. In September and October 2007, satellite television channels in Israel were plagued with signal disruptions, with the north of the country particularly badly affected. Eventually the
Ministry of Defense intervened, and with the help of the
Israel Defense Forces and
Israeli Sea Corps, discovered that the problems had been caused by the radar systems of Dutch
UNIFIL ships patrolling off the coast of
Lebanon.
De Ruyter, anchored off the coast of the Lebanon, allegedly transmitted signals onto frequencies adjacent to those used by the satellite operator. On 12 January 2012
De Ruyter sailed from her
home port of
Den Helder to take up the role of
flagship for
Standing NATO Maritime Group 1. The group, led by Dutch Commodore Ben Bekkering, was under Dutch command for the remainder of the year, beginning on 23 January when
De Ruyter assumed the flagship role in the Italian port of
Taranto.
De Ruyter took part in maritime operations and
exercises in the Mediterranean and counterpiracy operations around the
Horn of Africa, before being replaced by her sister ship in April. In early 2013
De Ruyter deployed with
Operation Atalanta, the EU's
anti-piracy mission off the Horn of Africa. On 19 February
De Ruyter was tasked to locate a group of suspected pirate
skiffs reported by a Panamanian merchant ship.
De Ruyter located two
skiffs north east of
Eyl, which split up when approached. One was stopped and detained by the
De Ruyter, the other was apprehended by the Spanish frigate . Nine suspected pirates were then detained aboard the
De Ruyter. On 27 March
De Ruyters
NH90 NFH helicopter carried out a series of exercises involving landing on the Spanish patrol vessel , the "first helicopter from another Operation Atalanta unit to land on the Spanish warship". On 9 April 2013
De Ruyter hosted
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte,
Defence Minister Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, and the
Chief of Defence General
Tom Middendorp on an official visit while
De Ruyter was operating off the Somali coast.
De Ruyter served as the flagship for the maritime component of the
NATO exercise "Steadfast Jazz 2013", which took place in the Baltic Sea in October and November 2013.
2016–present In September 2016 she became flagship of Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 in the Aegean Sea, replacing the German frigate in the role.
De Ruyter was in turn replaced in December 2016 by the German frigate . On 29 January 2016
De Ruyter assisted two lifeboats of the
Royal National Lifeboat Institution with the rescue of the cargo vessel . Following engine failure the stricken
Verity was drifting towards the coastline and had to be taken under tow by the lifeboats to keep it clear of the coast. Shortly after
De Ruyter arrived and took over the tow, the captain maintained the position of the stricken vessel with before it could be towed out to anchor prior to the arrival of a tug.
De Ruyter was then involved in Exercise Formidable Shield off the Scottish coast in 2017.
De Ruyter was tasked with providing data from her
Thales Nederland SMART-L long-range air and surface surveillance radar to a US destroyer launching a
SM-3 missile against a ballistic missile target. On 3 July 2018
De Ruyter once again became the flagship of Standing NATO Maritime Group 2, taking over from the
Royal Navy's , with Dutch Commodore Boudewijn G.F.M. Boots succeeding British Commodore Mike Utley. In September 2018
De Ruyter and Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 took part in the
Hellenic Navy's biennial multinational naval Exercise Naias 2018. On 25 October 2018, the frigate was scheduled to take part in the NATO exercise
Trident Juncture which was held in and around Norway in 2018. On 28 January 2020,
De Ruyter left
Nieuwe Haven to join the French-Led Task Force,
European-led Maritime Awareness in the Strait of Hormuz (EMASOH), in the Persian Gulf. Between 7 and 8 February 2020, the vessel participated in a joint training operation with the
Maritime Squadron of the Armed Forces of Malta which involved various scenarios at sea. She was joined by the Maltese patrol vessel
P62. The onboard
NH90 NFH was joined in the air by the Maltese
AW139. During its mid-life upgrade the
De Ruyter was equipped with an improved Thales SMART-L multi-mission radar that can spot incoming ballistic missiles. On 12 March 2025,
De Ruyter fired a
Tomahawk off the coast of
Norfolk, becoming the first Dutch vessel to do so. In February 2026 it was announced that
De Ruyter will deploy in mid-April for five months to the
Indo-Pacific. During her deployment in the Indo-Pacific,
De Ruyter will participate in exercises with partner nations and visit several ports in the region. The purpose of the deployment is to strengthen ties with countries in the region and to promote maritime security and stability, which are a Dutch national interest. ==Gallery==