August 3, 2007:
The Dutch navy
has four diesel-electric submarines, but is a few dozen sailors short of being
able to keep all of them in service. The 2,500 ton Walrus class boats were
built in the 1990s, and each requires a crew of about 52. To allow for leave
and being away for training, each boat actually requires about 70 sailors, for
there to be sufficient crew to take the boat to sea. But instead of a trained
force of nearly 300 submarine sailors, the Dutch navy has only been able to
recruit, train and keep about 200. So one of the four boats is being taken out
of service, and another will only be sent to sea in an emergency. The navy
blames the problem on too many submarine sailors leaving the navy for more
lucrative civilian jobs.