The main armament consists of four 12 cm guns, arranged in two double towers, which can be used for both sea and air targets.

Between 16 and 19 January 1954 the sea trials took place, while the official test tours began on 2 March 1954 in Den Helder and lasted until 15 April 1954.

[4] The "great test trip" - as the RDM called it - took more than six weeks and made HNLMS Holland visit several locations.

It began on 2 March 1954 when Holland sailed via Den Helder to Scotland for a week full of speed trials.

After some tourist trips in Scotland, ship, shipyard personnel and crew set sail once again for the south to test the ventilation systems.

In addition to speed and ventilation, issues such as sailing behavior, controllability, operation of the equipment and housing were also examined.

After these tests, HNLMS Holland was put into service on 30 December 1954 and was the twentieth ship in the Royal Netherlands Navy at the time.

[5] In 1969 she attended a naval review at Spithead together with her sisters Zeeland and Noord-Brabant, the cruiser De Ruyter and the frigates Van Nes and Evertsen.