Belgium and the Netherlands Give Seven Minehunting Vessels to Bulgaria

HNLMS Schiedam, one of the Dutch MCM vessels slated for transfer (Torsten Batge / CC BY SA 3.0)

Belgium and the Netherlands will be transferring seven older Tripartite-class mine countermeasure vessels to the government of Bulgaria under a newly-ratified agreement, enhancing MCM capabilities where they are needed most within NATO. On Wednesday, Bulgaria's parliament approved a sale agreement to acquire three of the vessels from the Netherlands, and Belgium has previously agreed to transfer its last four remaining hulls.

The Tripartite-class were designed in the Cold War for use by three allied nations - Belgium, the Netherlands and France. The 500-ton fiberglass vessels were delivered over the course of a 20-year span, from 1977 up through 1995. Depending upon nationality of service and degree of modernization, they are fitted with a variety of sonar, ROV, minesweeping, dive support and low-noise propulsion capabilities, plus basic defensive weaponry.

35 of these hulls were built and several are still in service with other navies - including Bulgaria, which bought one previously from Belgium in 2007 and two more from the Netherlands in 2019.

Last year, facing a frequent need to find and clear drifting sea mines from the Russia-Ukraine war, Bulgaria reached out to express an interest in buying the surviving Belgian and Dutch Tripartite-class sister ships. Belgium agreed last year. In July, the three nations signed an MoU to transfer seven of these vessels (four from Belgium and three from the Netherlands) to Bulgaria in support of the Black Sea Mine Countermeasures Task Group, the joint Bulgarian-Romanian-Turkish mission to clean up drifting mines from the conflict zone. Bulgaria will pay for the repair and modernization required to bring them back into service.

The delivery date may be contingent upon the terms of the Montreux Convention, which gives Turkey the right to close the Bosporus to warships in time of war - a right it has exercised due to ongoing hostilities in the Black Sea. Turkey has given no exceptions so far, and has blocked the passage of mine countermeasures vessels donated to and operated by Ukraine.