On June 26, 2025, it was announced that two Tripartite minesweepers, withdrawn from the Belgian and Dutch fleets, M 923 Narcis and M 863 Vlaardingen, had been transferred to the Ukrainian Navy at the Belgian Zeebrugge naval base. They received new Ukrainian names "Mariupol" and "Melitopol".
The Tripartite-type minesweeper M 863 Vlaardingen, which was withdrawn from the Dutch fleet and received the Ukrainian name Melitopol, was transferred to the Ukrainian Navy. Zeebrugge (Belgium), June 2025 (c) Belgian Navy
It is reported that at the end of 2025, it is planned to transfer to the Ukrainian Navy another former Dutch ship of this type, M 857 Makkum, which will receive the new name "Genichesk". Since mid-2024, Makkum has been used to train the crews of Ukrainian ships of this type.
The Dutch government has announced a decision to transfer two Tripartite-class minesweepers to Ukraine in March 2023. Belgium later joined this program, deciding to transfer one minesweeper from its fleet to Ukraine. The training of Ukrainian crews for these ships began in the Netherlands and Belgium in the second half of 2023. The Netherlands and Belgium also announced their intention to provide technical support for the transferred ships and train their crews during the service of these units in the Ukrainian Navy.
The minesweepers Makkum (in service since 1985) and Vlaardingen (in service since 1989) were decommissioned from the Dutch Navy in 2024. Narcis has been in service with the Belgian navy since 1991 and was removed from its composition simultaneously with the transfer to Ukraine.
These 600-ton mine-seeking minesweepers of the joint Franco-Belgian-Dutch Tripartite program were built in the 1980s, when 15 minesweepers were built for the Dutch Navy (Alkmaar type) and ten each for the French and Belgian Navies. Now there are five Tripartite-type minesweepers left in the Belgian Navy, and only three in the Dutch Navy. Finally, the Tripartite-type ships in the Belgian, Dutch and French Navies should be replaced by large mine-fighting ships of a new type, which are being built as part of a joint program of the three countries.
The minesweepers underwent major repairs before being transferred to Ukraine. Dutch and Belgian Tripartite-class ships underwent modernization in the 2000s as part of the Belgian-Dutch BENECUP program, and are now equipped with modern mine countermeasures, including the integrated Atlas Elektronik IMCMS mine action control system, Thales 2022 Mk III mine detection gas and Atlas Elektronik Seafox and Saab Double Eagle Mk III Mod 1 underwater mine countermeasures vehicles.
Earlier, in July 2023, the Ukrainian Navy received from the United Kingdom the M 108 Grimsby and M 112 Shoreham Sandown-class minesweepers withdrawn from the British fleet, which received the Ukrainian names M 310 "Chernigiv" and M 311 "Cherkasi". Both of these ships remain in the UK for the time being. Apparently, the Tripartite-type minesweepers received by the Ukrainian Navy will remain in Belgium until the end of hostilities in Ukraine. It is worth noting that the ships of both types transferred to Ukraine (Sandown and Tripartite) use the same complex of anti-mine underwater vehicles.
The ceremony of handing over to the Ukrainian Navy the minesweepers M 923 Narcis and M 863 Vlaardingen of the Tripartite type, which were withdrawn from the Belgian and Dutch Navies, respectively, and received new Ukrainian names "Mariupol" and "Melitopol". Zeebrugge (Belgium), June 2025 (c) The Belgian Navy and the Ukrainian Navy
