What is "rijkswerf"

The Rijkswerf (Dutch: State shipyard) in Amsterdam was a Dutch shipyard that build a significant amount of warships for the Royal Netherlands Navy. In 1867 the shipyard was modernized to build armored ships. In 1915 the shipyard ceased to exist. The first armored ships the yard constructed were copies of foreign ships purchased by the Dutch navy. Later ships were built to Dutch designs. The yard built among others ironclads, protected cruisers, coastal defense ships, gunboats, monitors and unprotected cruisers.