Hi, thanks for joining and Welcome Aboard!

[Pim vW]

I'll start off by introducing myself. My name is Pim van Wijngaarden, administrator of this forum, as well as the MuseumShips website and the Museumships Facebook page.

Served 12 years in the Royal Netherlands Navy and sailed on the Roofdier-class frigate HNLMS Jaguar (F822) as well as the Kortenaer-class frigate HNLMS Abraham Crijnssen (F816).

On the Crijnssen I visited Albany for it's tricentennial in 1986, followed by a visit to New York for the 100 year anniversary of the Statue of Liberty, 4th of July and OpSail, all rolled in one, what a blast!

In 1989 I was assigned to the Netherlands Embassy in Washington, DC, working in the Naval attaché's office. Left the Navy in 92 and stayed at the embassy in various capacities, finally landing my dream job in 2000 as the IT systems manager.

Started the museumships website and facebook page in late 2014, and judging by the number of followers there was a clear need for it!
As I don't know if Facebook will be around in five years, I got the idea of this forum. This proven platform is clearly not a novel one, but I like the organization of forums as well as the ability to find everything relatively easily.

Thanks for joining, hope to hear from you, and post away!

Pim