Ostend

Mercator is a steel-hulled barquentine built in 1932 as a training ship for the Belgian merchant fleet. She was named after Gerardus Mercator (1512–1594), a Belgian cartographer. She was designed by G.L. Watson & Co. and built in Leith, Scotland and launched in 1932. Besides being a training ship, she was also used, mainly before World War II, for scientific observations, or as ambassador for Belgium on world fairs and in sailing events. In 1961, she became a floating museum, first in Antwerp and, from 1964, in the marina of Ostend, just in front of the city hall. As of 2019, she remains open to visitors.

The Mu.ZEE is a museum in Ostend, Belgium, specializing in Belgian art from 1830 onwards. It was created in 2008 by the fusion of the former Provinciaal Museum voor Moderne Kunst (PMMK, the museum for modern art of the Province of West-Flanders) and the Museum voor Schone Kunsten Oostende (Museum of Fine Arts Ostend), both located in Ostend. The museum has two dependencies, the Ensorhuis (house of James Ensor) in Ostend, and the Permekemuseum in Jabbeke. Mu.ZEE is an abbreviation of "Kunstmuseum aan Zee" ("Art Museum at the Sea").

Sint-Petrus-en-Pauluskerk (Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul) is a Roman Catholic church in Ostend, Belgium. The neo-Gothic building was constructed on the ashes of a previous church that occupied the site. King Leopold II enthusiastically supported a plan to build a new and more magnificent church. Construction started in 1899 and was completed and consecrated by Bishop Waffelaert on 31 August 1908. Its stained glass windows were destroyed during the two World Wars and were replaced by windows by Michiel Martens. The church is 70 metres (230 ft) long and 30 metres (98 ft) wide. Its spires are 72 metres (236 ft) high. The church was built in the neo-Gothic style according to plans by the architect Louis Delacenserie, who based his design on the Gothic Cologne Cathedral and the neo-Gothic Votivkirche in Vienna.

Oostende railway station (Dutch: Station Oostende, French: Gare d'Ostende) is a railway station in Ostend, West Flanders, Belgium. It is operated by the National Railway Company of Belgium (NMBS/SNCB).

The siege of Ostend was a three-year siege of the city of Ostend during the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo–Spanish War. A Spanish force under Archduke Albrecht besieged the fortress being held initially by a Dutch force which was reinforced by English troops under Francis Vere, who became the town's governor. It was said "the Spanish assailed the unassailable; the Dutch defended the indefensible." The commitment of both sides in the dispute over the only Dutch-ruled area in the province of Flanders, made the campaign continue for more than any other during the war. This resulted in one of the longest and bloodiest sieges in world history: more than 100,000 people were killed, wounded, or succumbed to disease during the siege.Ostend was resupplied via the sea and as a result held out for three years. A garrison did a tour of duty before being replaced by fresh troops, normally 3,000 at a time keeping casualties and disease to a minimum. The siege consisted of a number of assaults by the Spanish, including a massive unsuccessful assault by 10,000 Spanish infantry in January 1602 when governed by Vere. After suffering heavy losses, the Spanish replaced the Archduke with Ambrosio Spinola and the siege settled down to one of attrition with the strong points gradually being taken one at a time.Ostend was eventually captured by the Spanish on 20 September 1604 but the city was completely destroyed and the overall strategy had changed since the siege had started. The loss of Ostend was a severe blow strategically for the Republic but Spanish propaganda and strategic objectives were frustrated by the Dutch and English conquest of Sluis to the northeast a few weeks before the surrender of Ostend. In addition, the economic cost of such a long campaign and the enormous number of casualties sustained turned the result into a Spanish pyrrhic victory and effectively the siege contributed largely to Spanish bankruptcy three years later which was followed by the Twelve Years' Truce.

SM UC-70 was a German Type UC II minelaying submarine or U-boat in the German Imperial Navy (German: Kaiserliche Marine) during World War I. The U-boat was ordered on 12 January 1916 and was launched on 7 August 1916. She was commissioned into the German Imperial Navy on 20 November 1916 as SM UC-70. In ten patrols UC-70 was credited with sinking 33 ships, either by torpedo or by mines laid. On 28 August 1918, UC-70 was spotted lying submerged on the sea bottom and attacked by a Blackburn Kangaroo patrol aircraft of No. 246 Squadron RAF and then was then sunk by depth charges from the British destroyer HMS Ouse. The wreck is a Protected Wreck managed by Historic England.

The First Ostend Raid (part of Operation ZO) was the first of two attacks by the Royal Navy on the German-held port of Ostend during the late spring of 1918 during the First World War. Ostend was attacked in conjunction with the neighbouring harbour of Zeebrugge on 23 April in order to block the vital strategic port of Bruges, situated 6 mi (5.2 nmi; 9.7 km) inland and ideally sited to conduct raiding operations on the British coastline and shipping lanes. Bruges and its satellite ports were a vital part of the German plans in their war on Allied commerce (Handelskrieg) because Bruges was close to the troopship lanes across the English Channel and allowed much quicker access to the Western Approaches for the U-boat fleet than their bases in Germany. The plan of attack was for the British raiding force to sink two obsolete cruisers in the canal mouth at Ostend and three at Zeebrugge, thus preventing raiding ships leaving Bruges. The Ostend canal was the smaller and narrower of the two channels giving access to Bruges and so was considered a secondary target behind the Zeebrugge Raid. Consequently, fewer resources were provided to the force assaulting Ostend. While the attack at Zeebrugge garnered some limited success, the assault on Ostend was a complete failure. The German marines who defended the port had taken careful preparations and drove the British assault ships astray, forcing the abortion of the operation at the final stage. Three weeks after the failure of the operation, a second attack was launched which proved more successful in sinking a blockship at the entrance to the canal but ultimately did not close off Bruges completely. Further plans to attack Ostend came to nothing during the summer of 1918, and the threat from Bruges would not be finally stopped until the last days of the war, when the town was liberated by Allied land forces.

The Second Ostend Raid (officially known as Operation VS) was the later of two failed attempts made during the spring of 1918 by the United Kingdom's Royal Navy to block the channels leading to the Belgian port of Ostend as a part of its conflict with the German Empire during World War I. Due to the significant strategic advantages conferred by the Belgian ports, the Imperial German Navy had used Ostend as a base for the U-boat campaign during the Battle of the Atlantic since 1915. A successful blockade of these bases would have forced German submarines to operate out of more distant ports, such as Wilhelmshaven, on the German coast. This would expose them for longer to Allied countermeasures and reduce the time they could spend raiding. The ports of Ostend and Zeebrugge (partially blocked in the Zeebrugge Raid three weeks previously) provided sea access via canals for the major inland port of Bruges. Bruges was used as a base for small warships and submarines. As it was 6 mi (5.2 nmi; 9.7 km) inland, it was immune to most naval artillery fire and coastal raids, providing a safe harbour for training and repair. The First Ostend Raid on 23 April 1918 was largely a failure, the blockships grounded too far from the channels to obstruct them. The second attempt also failed, due to heavy German resistance and British navigational difficulties in poor weather. In anticipation of a raid, the Germans had removed the navigation buoys and without them the British had difficulty finding the narrow channel into the harbour in poor weather. When they did discover the entrance, German resistance proved too strong for the operation to be completed as originally planned: the obsolete cruiser HMS Vindictive was sunk, but only partially blocked the channel. Despite its failure, the raid was presented in Britain as a courageous and daring gamble that came close to success. Three Victoria Crosses and numerous other gallantry medals were awarded to sailors who participated in the operation. British forces had moderate casualties in the raid, while German losses were minimal.

The Flanders Marine Institute (Dutch: Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee, VLIZ) provides a focal point for marine scientific research in Flanders, northern Belgium. The Flemish government established the institute in 1999 together with the province of West Flanders and the Fund for Scientific Research. VLIZ promotes the accumulation of knowledge and excellence in research with regard to the ocean, seas, coasts and tidal estuaries. The central focus is on the provision of services to the research community, educators, the general public, policymakers and the industry. VLIZ promotes and supports Flemish marine research. Within this scope, VLIZ focuses on open, useful networking and the promotion of an integrated and cross-disciplinary approach. VLIZ serves as a national and international point of contact in the field of marine research. In this respect, it supports the image of Flemish marine research in the four corners of the globe and can hold mandates to represent this research landscape. The institute also supports and accommodates international organisations on behalf of the Flemish government: the IOC Project Office for IODE, the European Marine Board secretariat and the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet) secretariat in Ostend, and the Joint Programming Initiative on Healthy and Productive Seas and Oceans (JPI Oceans) secretariat in Brussels. VLIZ also manages RV Simon Stevin a marine research vessel. Making the research vessel Simon Stevin, marine robots as well as other research equipment and infrastructure available is one of the services provided to marine scientists in Flanders. Within a European context, VLIZ offers technical and operational expertise for the use of this infrastructure. It stimulates and initiates research based on these innovative technologies. VLIZ also develops data systems, products, technologies and infrastructure. It collects new data by means of innovative techniques and valorises the increasing volume of marine data for the benefit of researchers, policymakers and the industry. In partnership with Flemish research groups, it develops permanent measurement networks at sea and presents itself to the world as a high-quality oceanographic data centre. The institute has developed and hosted the World Register of Marine Species and associated taxonomic subregisters, and hosts the Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera, and the Sea Level Monitoring Facility of the Global Sea Level Observing System. In November 2011 VLIZ was officially recognized as a World Data Center by the Paris-based International Council for Science (ICSU).VLIZ manages an extensive collection of marine scientific literature in Flanders and makes it publicly available to the broadest possible target group via its library. The Open Marine Archive makes it possible to remotely consult tens of thousands of publications free of charge. In addition, VLIZ initiates and conducts innovative and multidisciplinary research in collaboration with and complementary to the Flemish and international marine research groups. By identifying needs and opportunities, it provides oxygen to the Flemish marine knowledge economy of the future. VLIZ develops policy-relevant products and services for the marine research community and policymakers as well as to support the blue economy. The ‘Compendium for Coast and Sea’ is a reliable guide listing who does what within this field in Flanders. VLIZ initiates, promotes and supports multidisciplinary research to fill knowledge gaps and provide a basis for marine policy. It does so in close cooperation with the Flemish marine research community. Finally, VLIZ reaches out to the public at large, the press, educators and coastal guides. The information desk offers knowledge presented in innovative formats and contributes to increasing ocean literacy by means of science popularisation, thus improving the image of the research conducted in Flanders and beyond.

The Japanese Garden of Ostend or Shin Kai Tei is a park in the Belgian city of Ostend. The garden was designed by Japanese architect Takashi Sawano. It is named Shin Kai Tei, which means Deep Sea Garden in Japanese. It was opened in 2001 by Prince Philippe of Belgium.

SM UB-40 was a German Type UB II submarine or U-boat in the German Imperial Navy (German: Kaiserliche Marine) during World War I.

The Equestrian Statue of Leopold II (Dutch: Ruiterstandbeeld van Leopold II) is a monument erected in Ostend, Belgium, in memory of King Leopold II, second King of the Belgians. It is located on the Royal Galleries by the beach. The king was commemorated here as a benefactor of Ostend and the Belgian Congo. The inauguration was on 19 July 1931.Partly due to Leopold II's colonial regime, the monument is the subject of ongoing controversy and has been vandalised several times.