Damen Naval is a Dutch shipyard, and a continuation of the Koninklijke Maatschappij De Schelde, responsible for a number of ships used by the Royal Netherlands Navy. It is owned by the Damen Group. Damen Naval is situated in Vlissingen.
The company was founded on 8 October 1875 as the NV Koninklijke Maatschappij De Schelde (KMS) after shipbuilder Arie Smit had taken over the Marine Etablissement, the wharf owned by the Dutch navy. Besides shipbuilding and repair, the company also builds machines, engines, steam turbines, airplanes, and light-metal products.[1] Koninklijk is a royal title granted by the Dutch Crown.
In 1965 the company merged with the NV Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij (RDM) and the NV Motorenfabriek Thomassen of De Steeg, which resulted in the founding, on 4 March 1966, of the Rijn-Schelde Machinefabrieken en Scheepswerven NV (RSMS).[2] Pressured by the Dutch government the Verolme Verenigde Scheepswerven NV was added, and this was the start of Rijn-Schelde-Verolme Machinefabrieken en Scheepswerven NV (RSV). RSV went under and split up, and its shares were taken over by the government and the province of Zeeland. Its name was changed to Koninklijke Schelde Groep BV (KSG) in 1991. In 2000 the government and the province sold their shares to the Damen Group of Gorinchem, and KSG became the company's branch charged with building larger ships for naval and coastguard duty.[3]