First of all:
Congratulations subsim! Here's to 20 years more!
Back in 97, I was 10 years old at the time. Because of a divorce, I went on holiday twice that year. To Ameland and to Texel. They're both small islands on the north and northwest coast of the Netherlands. Both holidays were extremely boring, because beaches and sunshine are overrated in my honest opinion. The holiday at Texel had a nice touch though. My mom took me and my sister to the Vlootdagen (Fleet Days), the Navy parade at the Navy port of Den Helder. We went aboard on a couple of frigates and stuff, and in a helicopter, all good fun.
Suddenly there she was, Zr Ms Dolfijn. One of the 4 Walrus Class submarines. I was immediately intrigued by it's shape and size (looks a lot like a Barbel class), and wanted to join the tour. Here's the bad part. There were 30 minute tours for 15 people, and over 200 people were standing in line. My mom didn't share my patience, and I never made it aboard
After submarines got my real attention a couple years I started to regret the fact I never did the tour. Walrus class submarines are one of the few blue water diesel-electrics still in service, and performed well in Bosnia and Somalia. I had some sort of personal redemption when I visited the navy museum and took a tour of the Potvis class Hr MS Tonijn 2 years ago, the diesel smell was still around after it's decommissioning 25 +- years ago.
Recap: 1997 started my interest in submarines.
