1990s In 1995 the ship assisted in the response after
Hurricane Luis at the island of
Sint Maarten in the
Netherlands Antilles.
2000s The ship was deployed in a multinational force in the Oman Sea in 2001/2002 in
Operation Enduring Freedom. In September 2005 the ship assisted in the
Dutch response to Hurricane Katrina by sending its sailors ashore to southern Mississippi to distribute aid supplies to hurricane victims in conjunction with Mexican marines, U.S. Navy sailors, and U.S. Marines.
2010s On 11 May 2012,
Van Amstel apprehended 11
Somali pirates after the ship's
Lynx helicopter sighted a suspicious fishing dhow towing two
skiffs, off the Somali coast. When the ship's boarding team approached the
dhow, the team found 11 suspected pirates of Somali origin and a total of 17 hostages on board. After taking the suspected pirates to the
Van Amstel, the boarding team found significant evidence that linked the 11 men to an armed attack on the motor tanker
Super Lady a few days prior. The 17 hostages were freed. They were Iranian fishermen. In 2016,
Van Amstel joined
Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 (SNMG2). That same year
Van Amstel also rescued migrants in the
Mediterranean Sea. In April 2017,
Van Amstel seized nearly of
cocaine in two separate drug busts. The busts happened in waters between
Curaçao and Colombia. From 26 June to 6 July 2018,
Van Amstel participated in Exercise Dynamic Mongoose 2018 along with units from other nations.
2020s In May 2022,
Van Amstel participated in the Mjølner exercise off Andøy Island, Norway. On 9 October 2022,
Van Amstel along with deployed to conduct drills with the aircraft carrier . In June 2025
Van Amstel, together with
HNLMS De Ruyter, participated in the maritime combat exercise Polaris. Two months later, in August 2025,
Van Amstel departed Den Helder for the Dutch Caribbean. During her time there she operated as temporary
guard ship. At the end of September
Van Amstel left the Caribbean for the Netherlands after she was replaced by
Groningen as guard ship. On 10 November 2025
Van Amstel replaced
Johan de Witt as flagship of
Standing NATO Maritime Group One (SNMG1). That same month she took, as flagship, part in the
anti-submarine warfare exercise Playbook Merlin 2025. During that exercise
Van Amstel hunted on German and Swedish submarines. She also patrolled, together with the
German frigate Hamburg and
HMCS ''St. John's'', the
waters between
Svalbard and Norway. ==References==