Dutch Warships of World War II

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Lanasta

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DUTCH WARSHIPS OF WORLD WAR II

DUTCH WARSHIPS OF WORLD WAR II henk van willigenburg

Lanasta

Colophon Dutch warships of World War II

Royal Standard H.M. the queen

Minister of the navy

ISBN: 978-90-8616-318-2 Print: ISBN: 978-90-8616-081-5 Print: ISBN: 978-90-8616-058-7 (Dutch edition) NUGI: 681

Flag Officers

1st print, September 2010

Lanasta

www.lanasta.com All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. All correspondence regarding copyrights, translation or any other matter can be directed to: Lanasta, Slenerbrink 206, 7812 HJ Emmen, The Netherlands.

© Copyright 2010 Lanasta, Emmen

Admiral

Vice-Admiral

Rear-Admiral

Admiral

Vice-Admiral

Officers

Captain

Rear-Admiral

Warrant Officers

Commander

LieutenantCommander

Lieutenant

Jack

Petty Officer

Sub-Lieutenant

Chief Petty Officer

Leading Seaman

Seaman

Light cruiser HNethMS De Ruyter in 1936.

JAD

Preface

Sometimes a teacher enkindles a spark within his students. That was what happened in the Amsterdam Tweede Driejarige HBS history lesson in 1964. Triggered by a drawing of a Second World War warship a discussion developed on the importance of Dutch seafaring and the Royal Netherlands Navy, in which Henk van Willigenburg participated actively. He was attracted by the sea and would soon be taking a course at the Amsterdam Nautical College to become a merchant navy officer. I could well understand this. The history of sea power at the time of the Dutch uprising against their Spanish rulers (better known as the Eighty Years War) had been of special interest to me when studying history, while my experiences during the Second World War had already resulted in a vivid interest in naval and air force matters. So I was easily tempted to give a lengthy talk on this subject, during which I produced a copy of Weyers Taschenbuch der Kriegsflotten - 1939, a gift of my old teacher from my own time at college. This triggered Henk van Willigenburg to get more and more involved in the subject, which eventually has led to writing this book on Dutch warships of the Second World War. A wonderful documentation and an excellent companion to important works on that episode that have been published over the years. Writings about warships, their exploits and their courageous contribution to the war at sea deserve our greatest interest. Regretably the importance of the sea and of seafaring have disappeared from the general public’s field of view. Today, underestimating the significance of shipping safety threatens to reduce the Royal Netherlands Navy strength once more to a level that I again would like to characterize as ‘half its minimum’. Because of this we should keep an eye on the vast spaces of seas and oceans. For this, Henk van Willigenburg deserves our commendation. May I allow myself to praise him, after 46 years. After all, that remains a teacher’s privilege. Prof. H.J.L. Vonhoff †

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Acknowledgements Many books on the Royal Netherlands Navy in the Second World War have been published during the last fifty years or so, although mainly in the Dutch language. Authors like Bezemer and Bosscher have been focusing on the operational history of the Dutch Senior Service, while Von Münching and Mark acquitted themselves by describing the various warships that were involved in the fighting. When I set out to produce this book I was able to build on those fundations, taking the matter further by creating a consistent, graphical representation of all important Dutch warships from this episode. Consistency has been achieved by including precise outboard profiles and deck elevations for each ship in this book, using a uniform style of illustration. A graphical element was introduced by applying authentic colours and camouflage patterns that until now could be seen in black-and-white prints only. During the war years a great variety of vessels was commissioned into the service of the Royal Netherlands Navy. In order to keep the size of this publication within realistic limits I had to take some tough decisions, especially where minor and smaller warships were concerned. Some categories, like converted tugs and trawlers taken up from trade, are represented by a single vessel. The same policy was applied to the so-called Gouvernementsmarine, a semi-military fleet of surveying ships and police boats, in peacetime used to enforce control over what is now known as Indonesia, the then Netherlands East Indies. For the same reason obsolete ships, that either saw very little action or no action at all, have been omitted as well. Having said this, I thought it appropriate to include a number of ships that operated under direct control of the British Admiralty or even flew the White Ensign, like the Channel ferryboats of the Zeeland Steamship Company. When organizing this book’s contents I applied the classification system of warships that was well known at the time of WW II. This designates categories like cruisers, destroyers etc., but the book starts off with a short overview of Dutch naval policy during the interwar years. In and out of Dutch parliament this policy was subject of many prolonged and fierce debates, and the outcomes of this struggle were responsible for the size and quality of the Royal Netherlands Navy during the first years of the war. In the same chapter, the

Navy’s operational history during WW II will be related shortly. Finally I must thank all people who encouraged me to write this book and have supported me in creating the artwork. First I want to mention Mr. Hans Dorlas for his professional advice on the subject of warship camouflage and for his genereous help in selecting many photographs from his collection. Another name that must not be ignored is that of Mr. Jac. J. Baart, who contributed many facts and feats on Dutch warships that were seized by the Germans when occupied the Netherlands in 1940. Of course I am much indebted to the late Prof. H.J.L. Vonhoff for his well phrased preface to my book. And last but not least I want to thank Mr. Gerrit J. de Boer, Honorable Secretary of the Koninklijk College Zeemanshoop, for providing me with many previously unpublished photographs. Alphen aan den Rijn, Spring 2010 Henk van Willigenburg

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Photo credits Photographic sources will be acknowledged by acronyms that refer to archives and private collections as given below: GDB Collection G.J. de Boer, Amstelveen HVW Author’s collection JAD Collection J.A. Dorlas, Den Haag KCZ Library of the Koninklijk College Zeemanshoop, Amsterdam NSM Stichting Nationaal Sleepvaart Museum, Maassluis TGB Collection T. Grootenboer, Rosmalen

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Contents 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Half its minimum Battle cruisers and cruisers Destroyers Submarines Gunboats Escort vessels Motor Torpedoboats Minelayers and minesweepers Other warships Abbreviations Notes on vessel data Bibliography Index on vessel names

13 17 41 53 75 83 91 95 113 136 137 138 140

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At the end of the 1930s Dutch government and parliament recognised that the RNethN had to be strengthened to compensate for successive budget cuts in the past. Hence when WW II broke out, the order books of Dutch shipyards had been overcrowded. Here HNethMS O.23 is leaving drydock at 5 December 1939. In the background two destroyers can be seen, Gerard.van.Callenburgh and Tjerk.Hiddes, that were still fitting out at the time. HVW

Change of command on board HNethMS Sumatra in the Dutch East indies, 1938. Just a few moments ago Vice Admiral M.H. van Dulm has rendered his task of Fleet Commander to his successor, Vice Admiral H. Ferwerda. JAD

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HALF ITS MINIMUM

When the First World War had formally been ended in 1919 the Dutch general public expected that in future a similar conflict would never again occur. Not only were millions of victims to be mourned, but the economical damage was incalculable and the geopolitical stage had been changed beyond recognition. On top of that, the Dutch felt reassured by their well established neutrality, which had been honoured by belligerent neighbours during four long years of war. Sustaining a substantial army and navy seemed to have become a superfluous and pointless spending of tax payers’ money. Another issue that beset Dutch national policy in those years was the myth of a worldwide conspiracy of plutocrats and greedy armament traders, which should have been responsible for the outbreak of the war. Socialist circles in the Netherlands got very much attached to this theory and were henceforth passionately embracing pacifism. During the years before 1933 this would lead to fierce clashes between governement and parliament when Navy and Army budgets had to be passed. Consequently, as early as 1919 construction work on a third cruiser of the ‘Java’ class was halted at first and cancelled soon afterwards. It goes without saying that Army and Navy leaders were adhering to a more realistic view of the postwar political situation. Even some members of parliament set about to advocate a credible Dutch naval presence, especially in the Dutch East Indies. Eventually, an official committee was installed by the Navy Minister, which was assigned to establish the future requirements and strength of the Royal Netherlands Navy. A very important element in the counsels of the committee must have been the rise of Japan. The growth of the Japanese Imperial Navy could not be ignored when considering the defence of the Dutch East Indies. This issue was further complicated by the rendering of former German colonies in the Pacific to Japan in return for her support of the Allied cause during the war. Starting from these facts the committee laid down its conclusions in a

proposed new Navy Law, which was presented to parliament in 1922. In it a scenario was outlined that elaborated on defending the Dutch East Indies against an operation aimed at the occupation of Java, however without getting specific about the would-be enemy. To counter this threat the committee thought it necessary to create a modern navy of four light cruisers, supported by 12 destroyers and 32 submarines. However, under considerable political pressure these recommendations were gradually reduced to a planned strength of only two cruisers, 12 destroyers and 11 submarines. Since the cruisers had already been given in hand and would soon be commissioned the law actually provided for a marginal expansion of the Navy. Both supporters and opponents thought very little of the proposed Navy law and refered to it as ‘half its minimum’. Nonetheless, even this very modest proposal was received with much criticism. In 1923 the law was rejected by parliament, although with the slightest possible majority of one vote. Notwithstanding this lack of enthusiasm, characterised by the slogan of ‘no man and not a single penny for the Indies’, the Navy succeeded in getting a small volume of new construction through parliament. After the commissioning of the cruisers JAVA and SUMATRA eight destroyers of the ‘Admirals’ class were launched and completed by the end of the 1920s. Furthermore the Navy’s submarine branch was strengthened with a few boats of the ‘O’ and ‘K’ series, while finally the Navy’s Air Arm or Marine Luchtvaartdienst was equipped with modern Dornier Wal flying boats. Around 1930 the Dutch government renewed its attempts to get parliamental approval for a long-term scheme for new naval construction, called the Deckers-plan after the Navy Minister at the time. This plan envisaged the expansion of the Navy with one cruiser, four destroyers and six submarines, together with a recommendation for replacing two ageing protected cruisers by two modern light cruisers, that, for political reasons, were 13

refered to as flotilla leaders. Although this law got through parliament unscathed the Dutch treasury could not fit the bill, so this time lack of adequate funds made it impossible to implement it. Three more years would pass before the first keel plate for the new cruiser was laid down, during which time much discussion and a prolonged argument developed on issues like size and armament of the new vessel. Only from 1936 on, when the government became aware of the detoriating international situation, planning for the Navy’s expansion was intensified. In addition to new construction from the Deckers-plan more cruisers and submarines were included with the 1938 and 1939 naval estimates. Before its sobering loss in1942 HNethMS De.Ruyter was the pride of the RNethNavy and symbolised Dutch sea power on the world’s oceans.

JAD

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Unfortunately, the Royal Netherlands Navy would hardly benefit from this. Many vessels had not been advanced beyond the drawing board stage, including three 27,000 tons battle cruisers, when the Germans overran the Low Countries on May 10, 1940. Other warships had already been given in hand, but those would be completed and commissioned by the German Navy - with the exception of two cruisers that had been ordered in 1938 and 1939. At the end of the war the unfinished hulls of these vessels were still lying in their respective shipyards. The Royal Netherlands Navy ordered the completion of the ships to a recast design and eventually took them into service, although with a ten years’ delay.

Mobilisation and war, 1939-40 When World War II broke out at 3 September 1939, guarding Dutch neutrality at sea became the Navy’s primay task. This entailed, among other duties, the laying and maintenance of defensive minefields. During one ot these operations, the minesweeper WILLEM.VAN EWIJK hit a Dutch mine and was lost. At the time of the German invasion the Navy tried to get as many warships as possible across the North Sea to Britain, from that moment on an ally. Although the Dutch were gallantly resisting the German onslaught, in the end they would be inevitably be overwhelmed. Of course, Dutch naval forces promptly went into action against the enemy, sometimes successfully, like when on 13 May the gunboat JOHAN.MAURITS.VAN.NASSAU gunned German positions in Friesland and thus thwarted enemy attempts to cross the Afsluitdijk, the dam that seperates the North Sea from the Ysselmeer. Sometimes in vain, when on 10 May an improvised but fruitless operation was staged to dislodge German paratroopers from their foothold at the Rotterdam bridges. To this end, the destroyer VAN GALEN was ordered from the naval base of Den Helder. Before the vessel had come within shooting range of the target she was heavily attacked by German dive bombers. VAN.GALEN had to be abandoned in sinking condition along a Rotterdam quay, damaged by near-misses. Neither the obsolete torpedoboat Z.5 nor the latest addition to the Navy, the motor torpedoboat TM.51, that were thrown into battle, could bring about any results. Apart from a few smaller units that, due to a series of miscommunications, had been left behind in the Ysselmeer, many warships like the cruiser SUMATRA sailed to the other side of the North Sea; even six incomplete vessels were

among them. The cruiser JACOB.VAN.HEEMSKERCK, the destroyer ISAAC SWEERS and the submarines O.21, O.22, O.23 and O.24 made good their escape and were fitted out afterwards by British shipyards. At the other hand many ships that were still on the stocks could not be evacuated and, with a few exceptions, fell mostly intact into German hands. The destroyer PHILIPS VAN ALMONDE, building in the Schelde yard of Flushing, was destroyed in situ by a British Royal Marines detachment. Her sister ship GERARD CALLENBURGH was scuttled in the Nieuwe Waterweg, but could be salvaged by the Germans, who commissioned her as ZH.1 into the Kriegsmarine.

The Royal Netherlands Navy in the UK During this stage of the war Dutch warships presented a welcome addition to the strength of the much-pressed Royal Navy, although it took some time before they got embodied into the British war effort. At first the Dutch government in exile favoured an immediate deployment to the East Indies of all secured vessels and personnel, but the Navy’s leadership justly thought a close co-operation with the British Royal Navy of greater importance. Formally, the Royal Netherlands Navy’s existence was not impaired. In London, the Navy’s headquarters were soon reinstated, but operational decisions were always taken within the Royal Navy’s chain of command. Having said this, it must be remembered that Dutch warships were always manned by Dutch crews and commanded by Dutch officers. In June 1940, SUMATRA and JACOB VAN HEEMKERCK were temporarily released from the Admiralty’s control in order to safeguard the passage of the then Crown Princess Juliana and her two children to Canada. At first, Dutch submarines were sent out from the Scottish base of Dundee to patrol the North Sea and the Norwegian coastal narrows. These operations, however, proved to be very costly. On the Dutch side two subs, O 13 and O 22 were lost in quick succession during 1940. Later on, activities were shifted to the Mediterranean theatre of operations. In those waters the destroyer ISAAC SWEERS with three British destroyers (HMS SIKH, HMS MAORI and HMS LEGION) took part in a night action near Cape Bon, during which two Italian cruisers were surprised and sunk by torpedoes. Dutch minesweepers, among them many fishery vessels taken up from trade as early as 1939, were involved in numerous sweeping operations in British waters from 1940 on.

The struggle in the Dutch East Indies In December 1941 hostilities with Japan broke out but many weeks elapsed before a motley collection of Allied ships were assembled in the Dutch East Indies. Three Dutch cruisers i.e. DE RUYTER (flag), JAVA and TROMP were joined by the American heavy cruiser USS HOUSTON and light cruiser USS MARBLEHEAD, together with the British heavy cruiser HMS EXETER and the Australian light cruiser HMAS PERTH. A screen of light surface vessels was brought together and consisted of Dutch, British and American destroyers. In the weeks thereafter this Combined Striking Force, under the command of Dutch Rear Admiral Doorman, got into several skirmishes with their Japanese opponents and was frequently attacked from the air. These encounters took their toll and Doormans’ strength was soon reduced to the cruisers DE RUYTER, JAVA, HOUSTON, EXETER and PERTH, screened by eight destroyers. During repeated attempts to get at a Japanese troop convoy the squadron was intercepted by a large force of enemy heavy and light cruisers and numereous destroyers. This well-known Battle of the Java Sea resulted in a sharp allied defeat and the loss of the Dutch cruisers.

From1942 till the end of the war The struggle for the East Indies had turned into a major disaster for the Royal Netherlands Navy. Two cruisers and all Dutch destroyers had been lost, except for ISAAC SWEERS, which had not been in the area at the time. Many submarines had been sunk, missed in action or heavily damaged and large numbers of smaller warships had been abandoned or scuttled. After 1942, the Dutch navy could only play a very limited part in the different theatres of war. On top of this, ISAAC SWEERS fell victim to a U-boat in the Mediterranean in November, 1942. The commissioning of two new destroyers stood at the positive side of the balance sheet, taken over from the British while the ships were still building, together with four submarines, MTBs, a frigate and a number of motor minesweepers. Also, Dutch warships distinguished themselves on several occasions, like the sinking of German U.95 by the submarine O.21 when she was returning from a patrol in the Western Mediterranean and the gunnery support provided by the gunboats SOEMBA and FLORES during Allied landings in Italy and in Western Europe. The two light cruisers TROMP and JACOB.VAN.HEEMSKERCK got recognised as reliable and capable vessels when attached to British naval 15

formations, while the cruiser SUMATRA, obsolete by any standard in 1944, still could play a role as breakwater for a Mulberry harbour off the Normandy coast. Also, the achievements of Dutch MTBs against German convoys in the Channel, together with their British counterparts, must be mentioned here. A common thread that runs through all these events is the image of Dutch military and merchant navy personnel, who, far away from home and out of touch with their families, were profoundly committed to their duties, taking everything in their stride. Although this story may be obscured by the neat profiles and technical data in this book, it will never be forgotten.

The Combined Striking Force under attack by Japanese bombers on op 15 February 1942 in the Gaspar Straits. To the right HNethMS De Ruyter can be seen. The warship in the middle is HNethMS Tromp, at the left an unidentified Dutch destroyer can be made out. JAD

HNethMS De Ruyter’s bells have been recovered from the wreck of the unfortunate warship and one of them is presently on display in the Kloosterkerk, The Hague.

HVW

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BATTLE CRUISERS AND CRUISERS

Battle cruisers: THREE planned vessels Displacement

27,988 (full load 31,396) tons

Dimensions

241.2 x30.9 x 7.8 m

Machinery

8 Werkspoor boilers, geared Werkspoor turbines, 4 shafts: 180,000 SHP = 35 kn

Range

4,500 nm at 20 kn

Protection

WL 40 - 225 mm, D 30 - 100 mm, GT 100 - 300 mm, CT 60 -150 mm

Armament

9 - 28 cm (3 x 3), 12 - 12 cm (6 x 2), 14 - 40 mm AA (7 x 2), 8 mg - 20 mm AA (8 x 1), 2 aircraft

Complement

1,050

The 1939 and 1940 Dutch battle cruiser designs have seemingly been inspired by Gneisenau (photo) and Scharnhorst that were taken into Kriegsmarine service shortly before, but apart from their main armament the vessels would have had few features in common. HVW

During World War I the Imperial Japanese Navy or Teikoku Kaigun had become an important powerful maritime force. The Washington Naval Treaty of 1922, an international agreement that halted the naval arms race which was developing at the time, restricted the size of the Japanese navy to basically 60 percent of the United States Navy’s strength in terms of capital ships. Although Japan initially complied to that ratio, in Dutch naval circles it was always realised that the Asian nation posed a major threat to the Dutch East Indies, especially since the Malayan Archipelago offered strategic raw materials that the Japanese empire could not supply, like oil, rubber and tin. To meet this challenge several strategic

models were developed, all based on the false assumption that a potential enemy could be deterred with the barest minimum of military assets. As we have seen, during the interwar years consecutive Dutch governments took a rather optimistic view at the political situation in the Far East to justify one budget cut after another. Only when Japan extended its sphere of influence into South East Asia and signs of a new world war appeared at the horizon from 1937 on, a naval rearmament program was drafted with the specific goal of reinforcing the East Indian defenses. A battle cruiser class would be the corner stone of this plan and in 1938 a committee of senior naval officers set out to establish the 17

requirements for the vessels. In the resulting paper of February 1939 a main armament of nine 28 cm (11 in) guns in triple turrets was recommended, on the lines of the German ‘Scharnhorst’ class that had been commissioned into the German navy shortly before. A secondary armament of 12 cm (4.7 in) guns was specified, after the same pattern that had already entered production for the destroyers of the ‘Gerard Callenburgh’ class. The required levels of protection were based on a belt armour of 250 mm. Also, the crew numbers were given – 50 officers, 100 non-commissioned officers and 800 ratings. The Navy’s Bureau of Ships or Bureau Scheepsbouw set out to convert these specifications into a design which was completed in July 1939. In the drawings a battle cruiser of 26,000 tons was shown with a power plant developing 160,000 SHP. Dutch 18

expertise in this field of naval engineering however was partly based on knowhow and practices dating back as far as 1914, when the Navy had been involved in designing capital ships for the first time. To compensate for this the Dutch turned to the German industry and German naval authorities as soon as April 1939. The Dutch shipbuilding industry was well advanced and would be able to construct the hulls and machinery for the battle cruisers, but artillery and armour would, in all probability, have to be manufactured in Germany. In exchange for these large orders, the Dutch wanted the Germans to make technical data and drawings of the ‘Scharnhorst’ class available to them. The Germans were reluctant to go along with this, but they offered to prepare a new design, based on Dutch requirements, which was completed in August of that year. That became the

Left Page The battle cruiser design for the Dutch East Indies which was conceived as Project 1047 by Nevesbu in 1939 was largely based on a preceding German design study.

starting point for two separate designs by the Dutch, called Project.323 and Project.1047, to be drawn independently by two naval engineering offices in the Netherlands. Important details in which they differed from each other were the lighter armour belt of Project.1047 (225 mm), the length profiles of the hull, the machinery and the conning tower. On request of the Dutch, the German designers had divided the boiler and engine room spaces into two groups, by which the risk of losing all power by one unlucky hit was considerably reduced – a concept that was to be applied to the Dutch postwar cruisers, too. This configuration was used in both variants, both resulting in a trials speed of 34.8 knots, a figure

Bottom left Vertical armour distribution over the hull, as envisaged by Nevesbu’s Project 1047. Bottom right Based on the same design a simplified cross section is pictured here, in which armour thickness has been indicated.

Top Highly speculative, but still very interesting are these side elevations that yield an impression of the battle cruisers, with a camouflage pattern applied that was in use by the RNethN in the Dutch East Indies at the time.

References

Armour thickness figures in mm

BR ER CW OF AS

Boiler Room Engine Room Construction Waterline Oil fuel Air Space

Armour thickness figures in mm

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Battle cruiser design for the Dutch East Indies as Project 323 of the Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw (IvS), with an armoured belt of 250 mm (10 in).

Displacement

29,815 (full load 33,200) tons

Dimensions

238.4 x 29 x 8.4 m

Machinery

8 Germania boilers, geared Deschimag turbines, 4 shafts: 180,000 SHP = 35 kn

Range

4,500 nm at 20 kn

Protection

WL 60 - 250 mm, D 150 mm, GT 130 - 300 mm, CT ... mm

Armament

9 - 28 cm (3 x 3), 12 - 12 cm (6 x 2), 14 - 40 mm AA (7 x 2), 16 mg - 12.7 mm AA (8 x 2), 3 aircraft

Complement

1,050

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that would have been exceptionally high, especially for this type of vessel. Speed calculations were based on North Sea conditions. In tropical waters, the higher sea water temperature would have produced a lesser value, since a steam plant’s efficiency will be reduced when cooling water temperatures rise. In the Dutch East Indies a more conventional 32 knots would have been reached. Project.323 retained the Germania boilers and Deschimag turbines, while for Project.1047 Yarrow boilers and Werkspoor turbines were selected. Main and secondary armament were not changed in either design, and did still provide the 12 cm calibre for the latter. In some preserved drawings however twin turrets can be made out that strongly resemble the 10.5 cm Kriegsmarine HA/LA stabilized guns, that were shipped by all major German warships at the time. The number of 40 mm and 12.7 mm machine guns (20 mm in Project 1047) would have been rather low, judged by developments later in the war, but was comparable to contemporary designs. At the time of the German invasion in May 1940 it was expected that the battlecruisers would have been completed during the year 1944. All design activities came to a halt however, when project drawings and documents were seized by the enemy. Because of this it can not be established which design would have been selected by the Navy. Based on the number of drawings that were recovered it is assumed that Project 1047 held the best papers. Looking at the impressive characteristics of the planned battle cruisers it is hard to withstand the temptation to speculate about the outcome of the project and how the presence of a powerful naval force of capital ships in the Dutch East Indies could

have influenced events. A typical Dutch conclusion is that the construction of the three ships would have resulted in a prolonged and heavy financial burden for the Navy – initially 213 million guilders, by today’s standards amounting to something around two billion Pounds. Apart from investments in the ships, funds should have been made available to improve the Navy’s shore facilities in the East Indies, like the building of a suitable drydock and the upgrading of the Surabaya naval base, and to provide the battle cruisers with a proper reconaissance and screening force of light cruisers and destroyers. Also, it would have been necessary to extend barracks and training schools, both at home and in the Dutch East Indies. At the tactical side, the combat value of battle cruisers might be questioned, especially since later events were to show that aircraft carriers, not battle cruisers, had become the decisive factor in naval warfare.

Top 3-view of Fokker C-XI W, the float plane that had been developed for the RNethN Fleet Air Arm and could be shipped by TROMP and DE RUYTER. The battle cruiser designs did also envisage aircraft facilities. Technical Specification: Span, 13 m; length, 10.4 m; height, 4.5 m; wing area, 40 m2; weight, 2,550 kg. Fitted with a 775 h.p. Wright Cyclone SR 1820 F 52 engine the maximum speed was 280 km/h.

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Light cruisers: CELEBES, JAVA and SUMATRA

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

CELEBES

WF

-

-

Cancelled 1919

JAVA

NSM

09.08.1921

01.05.1925

Torpedoed by Japanese cruisers Haguro and Nachi in Java Sea, 35 nm S.W. off Bawean, 27.02.1942

SUMATRA

KMS

19.12.1920

26.05.1926

Breakwater Mulberry Ouistreham, 06.1944, scrapped 02.1951

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The design for these light cruisers was completed in 1916 and reflected contemporary thoughts on the distribution of firepower on a cruiser hull. Although mounting heavier gun calibres in turrets had become common practice since the end of the 19th century, for smallers warships like cruisers and destroyers the single gun mount was still favoured at the time. Gunners had to operate their weapons

Displacement

6,670 (full load 8,208) tons

Dimensions

155.3 x 16.0 x 5.5 m

Machinery

8 Schulz-Thornycroft boilers, Germania turbines, 3 shafts: 72.000 SHP = 31 kn

Range

4,800 nm at 12 kn/3,600 nm at 15 kn

Protection

WL 50 - 75 mm, D 25 - 50 mm, GT 100 mm (gun shields), CT 125 mm

Armament

10 - 15 cm (10x1), Sumatra 6 Java 8 - 40 mm AA (3/4 x 2), 4 mg - 12.7 mm AA, 2 aircraft

Complement

525

behind shields of light armour plating, generally with no protection from behind. Weight savings were an important advantage of this arrangement, a relict of the ironclad age, while the effect of a direct hit would basically result in the loss of only one gun. War experience however showed that the system had some drawbacks as well: The vulnerability of the operators and the simple fact that the main armament could hardly ever be fully used in action. When building, progress was hampered by material shortages, labour conflicts and politically inspired interventions, resulting in considerable time losses in the area of machinery construction. Already delays had been caused by a workshop fire that had destroyed SUMATRA’s turbines. Eventually, the ships entered service after a prolonged building time of ten years, but without their sister CELEBES. This vessel had been laid down at the Fijenoord Shipyard as late as 1917. When the order for a third cruisers had been cancelled, the incomplete hull was broken up on the slipway. The long interval between designing and commissioning contributed much to the fact that the brandnew cruisers were already ageing in many respects.

From 1941 on warships in the Dutch Indies carried camouflage patterns to thwart observation and recognition. Starboard and port side were different. JAD

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JAVA and SUMATRA were sent to the Dutch East Indies and showed the flag during a number of goodwill cruises in the region. During the 1930s the ships underwent some modifications when they were due for their regular overhauls, and in that guise have been portrayed in this book. The 10th of May, 1940 found SUMATRA in Dutch home waters, but the next day the ship escaped to England. She acquired some laurels by carrying the then Princess Juliana and her daughters Beatrix and Irene from Great Britain to Canada. When war broke out with Japan, the cruiser had arrived in the East Indies but did not see action. During 1942 the ship returned to the United Kingdom and was taken out of service at Portsmouth, so that her complement could be assigned to other vessels. SUMATRA’s guns were eventually used to replace the worn-out 15 cm guns of SOEMBA and FLORES. The derelict hulk played a final role as breakwater for Mulberry A, one of the two artificial harbours off the Normandy coast in June 1944.

Top With the assistance of a harbour tug HNethMS Java is swung at the compass buoy in Rotterdam, probably in January 1938.

JAD

Bottom HNethMS Sumatra at anchor in Funchal harbour on the island of Madeira, 28 October 1938. JAD

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Left, top and bottom HNethMS Sumatra berthed in the Den Helder Nieuwe Diep, at the end of the 1930s. The photographs on this page have been taken during a visitor’s day. In the photo below the Fokker C-XI W float plane can be seen in close-up.

KCZ

JAVA was stationed in the Dutch East Indies when the Germans occupied the Netherlands, and was mainly assigned to convoy duty. When the Japanese advanced through the Dutch East Indies archipelago JAVA was subjected to bombing attacks at several occasions. During the Battle of the Java Sea the cruiser was hit by a torpedo from the heavy cruiser NACHI and went down within half an hour, with heavy loss of life, in the night of 27 February 1942. 25

Light cruiser: DE RUYTER Name

Builder Launched

Completed Fate

DE RUYTER

WF

03.10.1936

11.05.1935

Torpedoed by Japanese cruiser HAGURO 35 nm S.W. off Bawean in Java Sea, 27.02.1942

Displacement

6,442 (full load 7,548) tons

Dimensions

170.8 x 15.6 x 4.9 m

Machinery

6 Yarrow boilers, Parsons geared turbines, 2 shafts: 60,000 SHP = 32 kn

Range

5,000 nm at 12 kn

Protection

WL 30 - 75 mm, D 30 mm, GT 30 - 100 mm, CT 30 mm

Armament

7 - 15 cm (3 x 2 and 1 x 1), 10 - 40 mm AA (5 x 2), 8 mg 12.7 mm AA (4 x 2)

Complement

436

When further construction of the ‘Java’ class was cancelled laying down a third cruiser had become something of a remote future, but in 1930 the Deckers plan made it possible to add this vessel to the fleet after all. Within and outside the Navy immediately a vivid discussion developed on the ideal characteristics of the new warship. Some people even rose the question whether the available funds would not be better spent on building submarines or even on buying long-range bomber aircraft. All kinds of armament alternatives of 15 cm and 20 cm guns were put forward, with and without torpedo tubes. Keeping the country’s poor financial state of affairs in mind the Navy Minister was prepared to accept a smaller vessel than JAVA and SUMATRA, gunned with three 15 cm twin turrets, but even this modest plan was not well received by the Finance Ministry and had to be postponed. In the meantime, naval professionals were publicly protesting against the low combat value of only six guns. After many talks a compromise was reached in 1932. Due to a required speed of 32 knots the final design had resulted in a greater hull length, which made it possible to mount a fourth 15 cm twin turret. However, a main battery of eight guns was politically out of the question. Six guns were obviously too few, and so 26

Top HNethMS De Ruyter in the port of Amsterdam, shortly after her commissioning, Fall 1936. JAD

Right HNethMS De Ruyter was fitted out with an advanced antiaircraft battery of 40 mm guns. HVW

Right This picture of the A.A. deck was taken from the search light platform at the back of the funnel. The director is in the middle, with 40 mm Bofors twin mounts around it. JAD

politicians and the Navy finally compromised at seven. Secondary armament consisted of five twin mounts of 40 mm machine guns, that were directed by an advanced firing control system. This anti-aircraft battery was situated abaft and made use of optical and radiographic directors. The concept had been developed by the Dutch firm of Hazemeijer, established in 1919 by Siemens, as an undercover company for the safeguarding of German weapons technology of the time. The 40 mm machine gun, in fact a quick-firing gun with an automatic loading system, had been designed by Krupp at the end of the First World War. In 1919, the patents had been transferred to the Swedish Bofors company. The Hazemeijer weapon system proved to be very effective. When demonstrated

in 1940 on board of VAN.KINSBERGEN to American delegates and naval officers the design was promptly copied and put into large scale production by the US Navy. During all war years the 40 mm Bofors, manufactured in single, twin and quadruple mountings would provide the backbone of every US vessel’s AA capability, ranging from battleships and carriers to minesweepers and auxiliaries. The new cruiser was the only Dutch man-of-war that was equipped with a catapult installation. This was manufactured in Germany by the Heinkel aircraft company and enabled launching a float plane without the need of having the ship heave to, what was common practice at the time. Accordingly the Fokker 27

aircraft company had developed a single engined float plane, the C-XI W. Recovering the airplane however was only possible under favourable wind and swell conditions. DE RUYTER could ship two float planes, although in contemporary photographs only one plane can be seen, or none at all. The design of DE RUYTER was easily identifiable by its upper works, reminiscent of the profiles of the German pocket battleships SCHEER and GRAF SPEE. The smoke deflector plating around the funnel top was rather unique, too, and was more effective in keeping the decks free of exhaust fumes than the previous device that had been part of the original design. Like JAVA, DE RUYTER was stationed in the Dutch East Indies when the Germans occupied the Netherlands, and was mainly used in escorting convoys. During the Japanese campaign in the Malay Barrier both cruisers engaged the enemy at several occasions and were subjected to bombing attacks by the Japanese air force. In the night of 27 February 1942 DE RUYTER too fell victim to a torpedo, launched by the heavy cruiser HAGURO, and foundered the next day, taking 365 crew members with her, amongst them her captain, Commander Lacomblé, and the Striking Force commander, Rear Admiral Doorman.

Right HNethMS De Ruyter is getting underway to the Dutch East Indies. Den Helder, 12 January 1937. JAD

28

Top We know that HNethMS De Ruyter has actually carried the camouflage pattern that has been pictured in these side elevations. Right HNethMS De Ruyter berthed at a pier, called the Steenen Hoofd, in the Amsterdam docks when visiting the Dutch capital in 1936.

GDB

Top HNethMS De Ruyter after completion, still with her designed funnel cap. The general idea was that smoke should be dispersed by it, but in practice this hood proved less satisfactory. HVW

3D-Computer graphics have made it possible to virtually bring to life a warship like HNethMS De Ruyter. We have attemted to reconstruct the original colour scheme, that was conceived at the time, taking local conditions of sea and air in the Dutch Indies into account.

29

Light cruisers: TROMP and JACOB VAN HEEMSKERCK

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

Displacement

3,787 (full load 4,025) tons

TROMP

NSM

24.05.1937

18.09.1938

Scrapped 01.1969

Dimensions

132 x 12.4 x 4.3 m

Machinery

4 Yarrow boilers, Werkspoor geared turbines, 2 shafts: 56,000 SHP = 33.5 kn

Range

.. nm at .. kn

Protection

WL 15 - 32 mm, D 25 mm, GT 15 mm, CT 15 mm

Armament

6 - 15 cm (3 x 2), 8 - 40 mm AA (4 x 2), 4 mg -12.7 mm AA (2 x 2), 6 TT - 53.3 cm (2 x 3), 1 aircraft

Complement

295 - 380

Top This illustration represents the original design of HNethMS Tromp and Jacob van Heemskerck.

30

To forestall any politically inspired argument when using the term ‘cruisers’ the Decker-plan provided for laying down two ships that were designated as ‘flottilla leaders’. However, their main armamament of six 15 cm guns enabled TROMP and her sister JACOB VAN HEEMSKERCK to perform light cruiser tasks as well. The specifications above relate to the original design, that was characterised by a relatively heavy main armament, combined with a minimum of armour protection. Vertical armour was distributed over a 15 mm (.59 in) belt and longitudinal bulkheads, tapering from 32 to 15 mm (1.25 - .6 in) Like in DE RUYTER the A.A. battery consisted of 40 mm Bofors machine guns, assisted by a number of 12.7 mm (.50 in) machine guns. Initially, a float plane could be carried abaft the funnel, but in practice this facility was seldom used. During the war, the TROMP’s armament underwent several modifications. The A.A. battery was reinforced with 4 – 7.6 cm (3 in) guns (4 x 1). The original 40 mm machine guns were replaced by twin mountings of the same calibre, but of a more modern type. Next, the light 12.7 machine guns were exchanged for six 20 mm Oerlikons (6 x 1). The gunnery directing equipment of JACOB VAN HEEMSKERCK had to be left behind in Holland. Without it, the ship’s fighting efficiency would be considerably hampered. This prompted the decision to rebuild the ship as an anti-aircraft cruiser. The 15 cm guns were landed and the barbettes were used to support three 10.2 cm (4 in) twin turrets. These turrets were being produced for the Royal Navy at the time and could be used against surface and air targets. The triple torpedo tubes foundations were used to support another pair of 10.2 cm twins. Also, a quadruple two-pounder replaced the eight 40

Top Camouflage patterns of HNethMS Tromp were subject to changes over the years. On top the 1942 livery in Australia has been reproduced, at the bottom the simplified pattern shown was used at the end of the war, better known as Admiralty Standard.

Right HNethMS Tromp during trials, in Scottish waters, steaming at full speed. GDB

31

mm Bofors guns. The British two-pounders had the same calibre as the Bofors, but had a lower rate of fire and a lesser range. In spite of this, the English remained loyal to the Vickers product, an eightbarrelled version of which could be found on board of many British men-of-war and informally were known as ‘pom-poms’. Finally, six 20 mm Oerlikons (6 x 1) were mounted on board. During the war, the pom-poms gave way to four modern 40 mm Bofors twins, while the number of 20 mm Oerlikons growed from six (6 x 1) to eight (4 x 2). On 10 May 1940 TROMP was in the Dutch East Indies and until 1942 performed mainly convoy duties. On 1 February of the same year the ship was attached to the Combined Striking Force and took part in several actions against the Japanese navy. On 20 February an enemy force was encountered in Badung Straits. TROMP took several hits and was seriously damaged. After repairs in Australia the ship became part of the American 7th Fleet and made a large number of convoy voyages. From January 1944 on, TROMP joined the British Eastern Fleet and was involved in many operations against the Japanese in the Dutch East Indies, like on 25 July 1944 in Sabang Bay.

Top left Watched by a large crowd HNethMS Tromp is launched at 24 May 1937, signalling a new era of growth and improvement for the Dutch navy. However, the damage done by many years of budget cuts could not be repaired in time.

GDB

Bottom left HNethMS Tromp in Sydney harbour. Judging by the camouflage pattern this photo must have been taken in 1944 or 1945. JAD

32

JACOB.VAN.HEEMSKERCK, which had been lying in the fitting-out bassin of the NSM Yard in Amsterdam on 10 May 1940, reached the safety of the British Isles manned by a skeleton crew under her own power. The vessel was not send to a British yard right away but had to escort SUMATRA on her way to Canada with Princess Juliana and her two children on board. Eventually, the ship was completed by the Portsmouth Navy Yard. Between February 1941 and January 1942 the cruiser made several convoy voyages on the Atlantic Ocean, after which she was sent to the Dutch East Indies. When crossing the Indian Ocean word was received of the Dutch surrender. Consequently, the cruiser was attached to the British Eastern Fleet. From January 1944 until the end of the war the cruiser was back in European waters and took part in a number of operations in the Mediterranean Sea.

Top After almost seven years HNethMS Tromp comes home. On her way to Amsterdam the cruiser passes the Hem Bridge in the North Sea Canal, 3 May 1946.

Right HNethMS Tromp, donned with hull number C 804. NATO pennants were introduced in 1950. JAD

JAD

33

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132 m

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

Displacement

4,150 (full load 4,860) tons

JACOB VAN HEEMSKERCK

NSM

16.09.1939

10.05.1940

Scrapped 07.1970

Dimensions

132 x 12,4 x 4.3 m

Machinery

4 Yarrow boilers, Werkspoor geared turbines, 2 shafts: 56,000 SHP = 33.5 kn

Range

.. nm at .. kn

Protection

WL 15 - 32 mm, D 25 mm, GT 15 mm, CT 15 mm

Armament

10 - 10.2 cm AA (5 x 2), 4 - 40 mm AA ( 1 x 4 ), 6 mg - 20 mm AA

Complement

420

34

Top From 1942 till 1944 HNethMS Jacob van Heemskerck was attached to the British Eastern Fleet

and carried the camouflage pattern that is shown here (better known as Admiralty Disruptive). Starboard and port sides were not identical.

Bottom left In this photograph the differences between HNethMS Jacob van Heemskerck and HNethMS Tromp can be clearly seen. JAD

Bottom right A postwar picture of HNethMS Jacob van Heemskerck. The many antennas in the foretop mark the advance of electronics during the war.

GDB

35

Light cruisers: DE ZEVEN PROVINCIËN and EENDRACHT

Name

Builder Launched

Completed

Fate

DE ZEVEN PROVINCIËN (ex-KIJKDUIN)

WF

24.12.1944

18.11.1953

Commissioned as DE RUYTER, 23.05.1973 ALMIRANTE GRAU (Peru)

EENDRACHT

RDM

22.08.1950

17.12.1953

Commissioned as DE ZEVEN PROVINCIËN, 17.08.1976 AGUIRRE (Peru), scrapped 09.2000

36

Displacement

8,350 (full load … ) tons

Dimensions

186 x 17.3 x 5.4 m

Machinery

8 Yarrow boilers, Parsons geared turbines, 2 shafts: 78,000 SHP = 32 kn

Protection

WL 50 - 75 mm, D 20 - 30 mm, GT 50 - 125 mm , CT 50 -125 mm

Armament

10 - 15 cm (2 x 3 and 2 x 2), 12 - 40 mm AA (6 x 2), 8 mg 12.7 mm AA, 6 TT - 53.3 cm (2 x 3), 2 aircraft

Complement

700

Using the design of DE RUYTER as a starting point a new cruiser class took shape on the drawing boards of the Ministry of Defence Bureau of Ships or Bureau Scheepsbouw in 1938, in order to replace the ageing JAVA and SUMATRA. At first a main armament of eight 15 cm (5.9 in.) guns was selected, but eventually this was stepped up to 10, mounted in triple and twin turrets. The A.A. battery consisted of two groups of three 40 mm Bofors twin mounts, situated abaft and afore of the upper works. Also, eight 12.7 mm machine guns in twin mounts were provided for close A.A. defence. The armament was to be rounded off by two triple mountings of 53.3 cm (21 in.) torpedo tubes. Until 10 May 1940 construction went according to plan. Much material had already been worked in the vessels and with Bofors in Sweden production of the 15 cm turrets was in full swing, when the Kriegsmarine took charge of the project with the goal of finishing the hulls as KH.1 and KH.2. For a number of reasons the cruisers got never anything near completion, although KIJKDUIN received a modified ‘Atlantic’ bow after German naval fashion. During the last years of the war all activities came to a halt, so two unfinished cruiser hulls could be recovered by the Royal Netherlands Navy when Holland was liberated.

Top After a ten years’ delay Eendracht leaves the slipway as HNethMS De Zeven Provinciën at the Rotterdam Drydock Company, 22 augustus 1950.

GDB

Bottom HNethMS De Ruyter can be seen in drydock at Wilton-Fijenoord’s after construction was resumed in 1950. GDB

37

In 1946 it was decided to complete the cruisers after a recast design, in which war experience and the latest tactical concepts in naval warfare were taken into account. The specifications shown above refer to the original 1938 plans. In comparison, postwar data are given below:

Displacement

9,735 (full load 11,926) tons

Dimensions

186 x 17.3 x 6.7 m

Voortstuwingsinstallatie

4 Yarrow boilers, Parsons geared turbines, 2 shafts: 85,000 SHP = 34 kn

Range

… nm at … kn

Protection

WL 50 - 75 mm, D 20 - 30 mm, GT 50 - 125 mm , CT 50 - 125 mm

Armament

8 - 15 cm (4 x 2), 8 - 57 mm AA (4 x 2,) 8 - 40 mm AA (8 x 1)

Complement

957 - 973

When commissioned in 1953 both ships were fitted out with a propulsion plant that was divided into two separate units, each comprising of a boiler room and an engine room. Another complication of the new design had been the large number of modern electrical devices that had to be shipped in support of navigation, gunnery direction, aerial defence and so on. Before the advent of micro-electronics this equipment consumed a relatively large volume inside a 1938 hull. To operate and service it, 300 additional crew members had to be accomodated, so it is not surprising that the ships gained a reputation of being rather crowded between the decks. In the meantime the Swedes had found ways to utilize the triple and twin turrets that the Bofors company had manufactured in 1940. Two light cruisers, GÖTA LEJON and TRE KRONOR were built around them, construction of which started in 1943.

Both light cruisers are berthed here while paying a visit to Devonport from 13 to 16 November 1970. HNethMS De Zeven Provinciën has already been converted into a JAD guided missile cruiser.

38

Left HNethMS De Ruyter in postwar guise with NATO hull number C 801. The differences to her orignal design are extensive. Bottom left The new assets of the RNethN have extensivily been photographed during the 1950s and 1960s. This is HNethMS De Ruyter. GDB

Bottom right HNethMS De Zeven Provinciën kept her designed bow. In all other respects she was identical to De Ruyter until her conversion into a guided missile cruiser. 0

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187,32 m

HVW

39

A number of guns and turrets that had been ordered for the new cruisers were already in production by May 1940, i.e. two triple and four twin turrets. The Swedish navy equipped two light cruisers with them, Tre Kronor and Göta

Lejon.

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Tre Kronor-class (Sweden) Displacement

8,000 (full load 10,000) tons

Dimensions

182 x 16.5 x 5.9 m

Voortstuwingsinstallatie

De Laval geared turbines, 2 shafts: 100,000 SHP = 33 kn

Protection

WL 75 - 125 mm, D … mm, GT 100 mm, CT … mm

Armament

7 - 15 cm (1 x 3 and 2 x 2), 20 - 40 mm AA (10 x 2), 9 mg - 25 mm AA, 6 TT - 53.3 cm (2 x 3), 120 mines

Complement

648

Right Soon after completion both cruisers were modernised. This photo shows the rebuilt Göta Lejon. Take a closer look at the modified bridge superstructure and the Dutch LW-01 air search radar. HVW

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182 m

3

DESTROYERS

‘Admirals’ class (1st group) EVERTSEN, KORTENAER, PIET HEIN and VAN GHENT (2nd group) BANCKERT, VAN GALEN, VAN NES and WITTE DE WITH

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed Fate

EVERTSEN

BGH

29.12.1926

12.04.1928

Abandoned off Sebuku Besar after gunfire exchange with Japanese surface vessels in Sunda Straits, 1.03.1942

KORTENAER

BGH

30.06.1927

03.09.1928

Torpedoed by Japanese cruiser HAGURO, 43 nm S.W. off Bawean (Java Sea), 27.02.1942

HNethMS Banckert in close-up, photographed in Den Helder at the beginning of the 1930s. GDB

41

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed Fate

PIET HEIN

BGH

02.04.1927

25.01.1928

Sunk in Badung Strait by gunfire and torpedoes from Japanese destroyers, 01.03.1942

VAN GHENT KMS (ex-DE RUYTER)

23.10.1926

31.05.1928

Stranded off Lima Islands and scuttled, 15.02.1942

BANCKERT

BGH

14.11.1929

14.11.1930

Scuttled Surabaya 2.03.1942, salvaged and commissioned by Japanese navy, recovered and constructive total loss 1945, expended as target 09.1949

VAN GALEN (1)

WF

28.06.1928

22.10.1929

Sunk by German bombers, Rotterdam 10.05.1940, salvaged 24.10.1941 and scrapped Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht

VAN NES

BGH

20.03.1930

12.03.1931

Sunk by Japanes aircraft S. off Banka 17.02.1942

WITTE DE WITH

WF

11.09.1928

20.02.1930

Scuttled Surabaya 02.03.1942

When ordering eight ships of the ‘Admirals’ class the Royal Netherlands Navy set out to build its first modern destroyers. The design had been supplied by Yarrow and was largely based on HMS AMBUSCADE, an experimental type built by this British shipyard, taking as much WW I experience into account as possible. The same firm manufactured the propulsion plants, but the ships were constructed in Dutch shipyards. Four ships were laid down in 1925, the others in 1927 and 1928, respectively. The first group could also be used as minelayers, while the second group was fitted out with mine sweeping gear. A float plane could be accommodated amidships, but this was practised occasionally in peace time. All ships of the class were lost during the first war years. As soon as 10 May 1940 VAN GALEN was attacked by German dive bombers in the Nieuwe Waterweg and was severely damaged by near-misses. The vessel managed to berth in a nearby harbour dock, but sank along the quay. The Germans ordered the lifting of the destroyer in 1941, which was broken up in Hendrik Ido Ambacht directly afterwards. The other units met their ends in combat with the Japanese at sea, with the exception of BANCKERT and WITTE DE WITH, that were scuttled in Surabaya on the eve of the Japanese occupation of Java in March 1942.

HNethMS Kortenaer berthed alongside a sister ship, presumably HNethMS Van Ghent, in Den Helder. Both destroyers left for the Dutch East Indies in 1935. GDB

42

Displacement

Group I 1,310, Group II 1,316 (full load 1,640/1,650) tons

Dimensions

98.1 x 9.5 x 3.0 m

Machinery

3 Yarrow boilers, Yarrow geared turbines, 2 shafts: 31,000 SHP = 34 kn

Range

Group I 3,200 nm at 15 kn, Group II 3,300 nm at 15 kn

Armament

4 - 12 cm (4 x 1), Group I 2 Group II 1 – 7.6 cm (1/2 x 1), Group II 4 - 40mm AA (2 x 2), 4 mg – 12.7 mm AA (4 x 1), 6 TT- 53.3 cm (2 x 3), Group I 24 mines

Complement

143

Top The eight destroyers of the ‘Admirals’ class were built in two groups, differing in minor details only. At the previous page HNethMS Evertsen is pictured (1st group), on this page HNethMS Witte de With is shown (2nd group). The second group was built with a changed search lights arrangement and only one 7.6 cm gun. Right Gunnery practice in Dutch Indian waters, on board of an unidentified ‘Admirals’ class destroyer. The photo was published in the 1930s by the Dutch Navy Society (Kon. Ned. Vereniging ‘Onze Vloot’).

GDB

43

Left HNethMS De Ruyter was renamed Van Ghent when construction of the light cruiser with the same name had started. In this photograph the destroyer is shown while docking in Middelburg, probably a short time after her commissioning in 1928. HVW

Top An action photo of an ‘Admirals’ class destroyer, presumably taken during the making of a propaganda movie in 1939, in which a similar scene is present, featuring HNethMS Van Ghent. JAD

Left The Kriegsmarine ordered Van den Tak’s Salvage Company to lift HNethMS Van Galen from the harbour bottom at 24 October 1941. The photo shows clearly why the wreck was directly sent to the broker’s yard.

NSM

44

Destroyers: GERARD CALLENBURGH, ISAAC SWEERS, PHILIPS VAN ALMONDE and TJERK HIDDES Left HNethMS Isaac Sweers is portrayed here as this class of four destroyers had been designed in 1938. Between the funnels a float plane could be carried.

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

GERARD CALLENBURGH

RDM

14.10.1939

-

Kriegsmarine ZH I 11.10.1942, sunk by gunfire British destroyers HMS Ashanti and Tartar, 20 nm N.W. off Ile de Batz (Britanny coast), 09.06.1944

ISAAC SWEERS

KMS

16.03.1940

29.05.1941

Torpedoed by German U 431 off Algiers (Mediterranean), 13.11.1942

PHILIPS VAN ALMONDE

KMS

-

-

Destroyed on the slipway, 17.05.1940

TJERK HIDDES (1)

RDM

12.10.1939

-

Scuttled 10.1940, scrapped 06.1942

These destroyers were the brainchild of Mr. G. ’t Hooft, shipbuilding engineer and designer of the ‘Eendracht’ class. Like the destroyers of the ‘Admirals’ class they were based on a Yarrow design, while specialists from the British shipyard assisted the Royal Netherlands Navy’s Bureau of Ships or Bureau Scheepsbouw in finalising the construction drawings and calculations. The design aimed at creating a destroyer of excellent all-round performance, instead of concentrating on speed or firepower alone. The result was a stable, seaworthy and effective fighting platform. Unfortunately, only ISAAC SWEERS would serve with the RNethNavy, and only then for a short period of time. In May 1940 the Dutch were successful in bringing ISAAC SWEERS, which had been launched only six weeks before, in tow of the tug ZWARTE ZEE from Flushing Roads to England. Following the example set by JACOB VAN HEEMSKERCK it was decided to make use of the 10.2 cm (4 in) twin turrets, that were currently in production for the Royal Navy. The British had developed this weapon for smaller warships, like the escort destroyers of the ‘Hunt’ class. Other modifications included a tripod main mast aft of the bridge upperworks and a single pole mast behind the after funnel. As we have seen in Chapter I ISAAC SWEERS managed to sink two 45

Left This profile shows HNethMS Isaac Sweers as completed by Thornycroft’s shipyard of Southampton.

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106,4 m

Displacement

1,628 (full load …. ) tons

Dimensions

106.3 x 10.3 x 3.5 m

Machinery

3 Yarrow boilers, Yarrow geared turbines, 2 shafts: 31,000 SHP = 34 kn

Range

2,700 nm at 17 kn

Armament

As designed 5 - 12 cm (2 x 2 and 1 x 1), 4 - 40 mm AA (2 x 2), 4 mg – 12.7 mm AA (4 x 1), 8 TT – 53.3 cm (2 x 4), 24 mines, 1 aircraft Isaac Sweers 6 - 10.2 cm AA (3 x 2), 2 mg - 20 mm, 8 mg -12.7 mm AA (2 x 4) , 8 TT 53.3 cm (2 x 4)

Complement

46

143

Italian lights cruisers, in company of three British destroyers, during a night action off Cape Bon at 13 December 1941.The next year, after a refit in Great Britain, ISAAC SWEERS took part in Operation Torch, the Allied landings in Northern Africa. On 13 November 1942 the ship passed in front of the launching tubes of the German U.431 and was sunk by two torpedo hits. GERARD CALLENBURGH, which had been launched at the RDM shipyard some months before the German attack, was scuttled on 15 May 1940 in the Nieuwe Waterweg. Two months later the Kriegsmarine had the ship salvaged and returned to RDM. The shipyard would complete the destroyer as ZH.1 (for Zerstörer.Holland.1). Apart from dropping the float plane and putting typical German smoke deflecting caps on top of the funnels the vessel was fitted out according to the original Dutch design. The new owners were especially satisfied with her speed of no less than 42 knots, attained during trials. After that the ZH I was accepted by the Kriegsmarine, which commissioned the destroyer on 11 October 1942. The destroyer’s war career started in the Baltic Sea as an indifferent working up period with intermittent repair jobs, until she was eventually transferred to Bordeaux at the end of 1943. Some months later the Allies landed in Normandy and ZH.1 was rushed into action against the invasion fleet, together with two other destroyers and a torpedo boat. Already at an early stage of the foray the formation was intercepted and beaten off by a vastly superior force of Allied destroyers off the Brittany Peninsula. ZH.I got heavily damaged and had to be scuttled.

During May 1940 the other class members, PHILIPS VAN ALMONDE and TJERK HIDDES had been damaged beyond repair and were scrapped in the same year. Their power plants however, already completed at the time but not yet put on board, survived the war unscathed. In the 1950s this machinery was used in two submarine chasers of the ‘Holland’ class.

Top When operating in the Mediterranean HNethMS Isaac Sweers carried this camouflage pattern, which would have made enemy observation and recognition in daylight more difficult.

Bottom Isaac Sweers sister ship Gerard Callenburgh was launched at 12 October 1939 but was seized by the Germans in 1940. The Kriegsmarine ordered her completion to a virtually unchanged design, which was judged very favourably by German experts. During trials ZH 1 should have achieved an extraordinarily high speed of 42 knots.

Bottom HNethMS Gerard Callenburgh is salvaged by Van den Tak at 14 July 1940 and will continue her career as ZH 1 with the Kriegsmarine.

NSM

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47

Top left HNethMS Isaac Sweers after completion by Thornycroft. The British pennant number G83 had not yet been applied. KCZ

Bottom left HNethMS Gerard Callenburgh is being launched at the RDM shipyard, 12 October 1939.

JAD

Bottom HNethMS Isaac Sweers had been fitted out with the same type of 10.2 cm (4 in) guns as HNethMS Jacob van Heemskerck. One of these twin turrets has been preserved and is on display at the Den Helder Navy Museum.

HVW

48

Destroyer: CAMPBELTOWN

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Completed

Fate

CAMPBELTOWN (ex-BUCHANAN)

Bath Iron Works

02.01.1919

17.01.1941

Returned Royal Navy 15.10.1941

Displacement

1,090 (full load 1,247) ton

Dimensions

94 x 9.3 x 2.8 m

Machinery

4 Normand boilers, Parsons geared turbines, 2 shafts: 26,000 SHP = 35 kn

Range

2,200 nm at 10 kn

Armament

3 - 10.2 cm (3 x 1), 1 - 7.6 cm AA, 2 mg - 12.7 mm tl (2 x 1)

Complement

146

90

95,8 m

Although several Dutch sources report that CAMPBELTOWN was flying the Dutch national ensign in 1941 this could not be confirmed by recent British historical research, although documental evidence reveals that the Dutch exiled government did file a request with the Royal Navy to rename the old destroyer into MIDDLEBURG. That apparently came to nothing, for in 1941 the vessel undertook several convoy voyages as CAMPBELTOWN. In the same year the ship was returned to the Royal Navy, so that her complement could be reassigned to the working up of VAN GALEN (2). Next, the flushdecker would rise to fame in the St. Nazaire raid of March 1942, when the vessel was used to blast the locks of a strategically important drydock. The above specifications refer to the destroyer’s service in the Royal Navy. The British received 50 ships out of the ‘Wickes’ class of 273 destroyers, built between 1917 and 1922 for the United States Navy, to satisfy an urgent need of escort ships for the North Atlantic convoys. Since the destroyers would be used in anti-submarine warfare only, the Royal Navy removed all torpedo tubes and reduced the main armament to three guns of 10.2 cm (4 in). Later on, one boiler room was stripped and converted into an oil bunker to extend their range.

49

Top right USS Buchanan belonged to a class of 273 destroyers which were built by the U.S. Navy between 1917 and 1920. In this photograph USS Cole is shown in company of USS Langley. The latter was sunk by the Japanese at 27 February 1942 on her way to Java, carrying fighter aircraft to the Dutch East Indies. JAD

Top left This photo illustrates that HNethMS Campbeltown (ex-Buchanan) did actually fly the Dutch national ensign.

JAD

Left USS Buchanan with hull number DD 131 in U.S. Navy livery. The destroyer was turned over to Great Britain in 1940, together with 49 sister ships.

50

Destroyers: VAN GALEN (2) and TJERK HIDDES (2)

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

VAN GALEN (2) (ex-NOBLE)

Wm. Denny (Dumbarton)

17.04.1941

11.02.1942

Scrapped 8.02.1957

TJERK HIDDES (2) (ex-NONPAREIL)

Wm. Denny (Dumbarton)

25.06.1941

06.05.1942

01.03.1951 Indonesian GADJAH MADA, scrapped 1961

Displacement

1,760 (full load 2,325) ton

Dimensions

108.7 x 10.9 x 3.7 m

Machinery

2 Admiralty boilers, Parsons geared turbines, 2 shafts: 40,000 SHP = 32 kn

Range

3,700 nm at 20 kn

Armament

6 - 12 cm (3 x 2), 1 - 10.2 cm AA, 4 - 40 mm AA (1 x 4), 4 mg - 20 mm AA (4 x 1), 5 TT - 53.3 cm (1 x 5)

Complement

246

To replace destroyer VAN GALEN, lost in Rotterdam in May 1940 and to reinforce the Navy the Dutch exiled government took over two ‘N’ class destroyers from the British, that at the time were building on the Clyde for the Royal Navy. When the last of these two ships were commissioned however, all Dutch destoyers except ISAAC SWEERS had been lost. VAN GALEN was sent to the Dutch East Indies at once, but because of the Japanese advance could not reach her destination. Eventually she was attached to the British Eastern Fleet, and took part in the occupation of Madagascar. In 1943 VAN GALEN came under operational control of the U.S. Navy and performed escort duties in Australian waters, to return to the Eastern Fleet at the beginning of 1944. She joined TROMP in action when bombarding Sabang in July 1944 and left for Britain in November of the same year. The war career of TJERK HIDDES followed roughly the same pattern as her sister ship, but in three risky operations during December 1942 the destroyer managed to lift 300 Dutch and 250 Australians troops from the island of Timor, who had been engaged in guerilla warfare against the Japanese. At the same time over 400 Dutch and Portuguese fugitives were embarked.

51

Previous page HNethMS Van Galen was like HNethMS Tjerk Hiddes one out of eight vessels of the ‘N’ class, pictured here in her initial looks with tripod foremast. Top left HNethMS Tjerk Hiddes at the end of the war. The tripod mast has been replaced by a lattice mast while the camouflage pattern has been simplified.

Left HNethMS Tjerk Hiddes stood in the service of the RNethN as late of 1951. This picture was taken on 1 October 1949 when the vessel returned from the former Dutch colony, nowadays known as Indonesia. JAD

Bottom Nearly all vessels of the ‘N’ class went straight from the builders to the navies of Australia (4), Poland (1) and of the Netherlands (2). Only HMS Napier (photo) was commissioned into the Royal Navy. HVW

52

4 SUBMARINES O8

The British ‘H’ class of submarines were built after a Vickers design that could also be found with the navies of Russia, the U.S., Italy and Canada. H.6 stranded off Schiermonnikoog on 19 January 1916 and after a period of internment the boat was purchased by the RNethN. By 1940 O.8 had become completely obsolete. but the Kriegsmarine seized the boat and pressed her into service as training submarine UD.1. Some time afterwards, in 1943, the former O.8 paid off in Kiel and was scuttled there in May 1945. O.8’s claim to fame is based on the three naval ensigns that she flew during her career. Good pictures of HNethMS O 8 are sparse. In this photo the sub is berthed in Den Helder around 1930.

CKZ

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

O8 (ex-H.6)

Canadian Vickers (Montreal)

.. .. 1915

.. .. 1915

Taken over from RN 7.05 1917 Kriegsmarine UD 1 20.11.1940 Scuttled Kiel 05.1945

Displacement

343/433 tons

Dimensions

44.7 x 4.9 x 3.9 m

Machinery

2 8-cyl. MAN diesel engines/electric motors, 2 shafts: 480/320 BHP/SHP = 11.5/8 kn

Range

1,350 nm at 11 kn

Armament

1 - 37 mm AA, 4 TT - 45.7 cm (bow)

Complement

26

53

Submarine: K VII The design of K.VII was of British origin but in practice turned out to be not entirely satisfactory. Although the sub had become virtually obsolete by 1941 it was still kept in service. As a precautionary measure K.VII had dived to the Surabaya harbour bottom when on 18 February 1942 an air raid was imminent. Unfortunately, during the ensuing attack the submarine received a direct hit, killing all of the crew.

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

K VII

WF

8.03.1921

05.09.1922

Sunk by Japanese air attack, Surabaya 18.02.1942

Displacement

560/640 tons

Dimensions

54 x 5.1 x 3.8 m

Machinery

2 6-cyl. Sulzer-diesel engines/electric motors, 2 shafts:1,200/500 BHP/SHP = 13.5/8 kn

Range

3,500 nm at 13 kn/13 nm at 8 kn

Armament

1 -7.6 cm, 1 mg - 12.7 mm AA, 6 TT - 45 cm (2 bow, 2 stern, 2 deck)

Complement

31

This picture of HNethMS K.VII was taken in Surabaya around 1928. The Minister of Defence has boarded the vessel, since his flag is clearly visible in the foretop. JAD

54

Sumarines: K VIII - K X The construction drawings for these submarines were supplied by the American Electric Boat Company and represented in fact an enlarged version of the O.8 design. While the ‘K VIII’ class were 10m longer the number of torpedo tubes were kept at the same level, but now distributed equally over bow and stern positions. The external deck tubes of K VII were dropped. Like K VII, these boats had become largely obsolete as well, but two of them made good their escape to Australia in March 1942. Since they were operationally useless the subs were taken out of service there. K X, that had managed to deliver an attack at the Japanese invasion fleet had been damaged by depth charges in the process and had to be scuttled in Surabaya. Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

K VIII

KMS

28.03.1922

15.09.1922

Scrapped 07.1942, Fremantle, Australië

K IX

KMS

23.12.1922

21.06.1923

Oil hulk 07.1942, Fremantle

KX

KMS

02.05.1922

21.09.1923

Scrapped 1945/46, Surabaya

Displacement

520/715 tons

Dimensions

54 x 5.1 x 3.8 m

Machinery

K VIII 2 8-cyl. MAN diesel engines/electric motors, 2 shafts: 1,800/630 BHP/SHP = 16/9.5 kn

In company of K VIII HNethMS K IX made good her escape to Australia, but saw no more action afterwards. CKZ

K IX-X 2 6-cyl. Sulzer diesel engines/electric motors, 2 shafts: 1,500/630 BHP/SHP = 15/9,5 kn Range

3,500 nm at 12 kn/12 nm at 8.5 kn

Armament

1 - 8.8 cm AA, 1 mg -12.7 mm AA, 4 TT - 45 cm (2 bow, 2 stern)

Complement

31

55

HNethMS K.XIII passes the Panama Canal in 1926 on her way to the Dutch East Indies.

GDB

56

Submarines: K XI - K XIII

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

K XI

WF

24.04.1924

24.03.1925

Scrapped 04.1945, Australië

K XII

WF

15.07.1924

19.05.1925

Scrapped 10.1944, Australië

K XIII

WF

23.12.1924

29.03.1926

Scuttled Surabaya 02.03.1942

The submarines of the ‘K XI’ class were of a Dutch design and saw much action in operations against Japanese targets during 1941 and 1942. Later on during the war maintenance of the ageing subs became more and more difficult. Eventually they were paid off to make their crews available for manning more modern submarines, taken over from the Royal Navy. Especially K.XII undertook some successful patrols during the opening stages of the war, sinking two Japanese transports. Together with K.XI the sub made good her escape to Colombo in Ceylon, nowadays better known as Sri Lanka. K.XIII was not so fortunate. After a battery explosion in Singapore on 21 December 1942 the sub returned to Surabaya, but could not be repaired in time and had to be scuttled there on 2 March 1942.

Displacement

612/820 tons

Dimensions

66.7 x 6.2 x 3.7 m

Machinery

2 6-cyl. MAN diesel engines/electric motors, 2 shafts: 2,400/725 BHP/SHP = 15/8 kn

Range

3,500 nm at 13 kn/12 nm at 8 kn

Armament

1 - 8.8 cm AA, 1 mg - 12.7 mm AA, 2 TT - 53.3 cm (bow), 4 TT - 45 cm (2 bow, 2 stern), 12 torpedoes (6 in TT and 6 reloads)

Complement

31

In the foreground HNethMS K XII and HNethMS O.11 are fitting out at the Fijenoord shipyard. The photograph was taken in Rotterdam in 1925. JAD

57

Submarines: O 9 - O 11 The submarines of the ‘O 9’ class can be seen as downsized versions of the ‘K XI’ class and were built to operate in European waters (the prefix ‘K’ designated subs that were paid for by the Dutch East Indies government). The first two boats of the class managed to escape to the United Kingdom in May 1940, but O 11 had been damaged in a collision some months before and was awaiting repairs at the Den Helder Navy Yard when the Germans overran the Netherlands. The Kriegsmarine had no immediate use for the boat, and eventually she was scuttled to block the Den Helder harbour entrance in September 1944. Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

O9

KMS

07.04.1925

18.01.1926

Scrapped 1946

O 10

NSM

30.07.1925

01.09.1926

Scrapped 1946

O 11

WF

19.03.1925

18.01.1926

Sunk as blockship by Kriegsmarine, Den Helder 09.1944; scrapped 10.12.1947

Displacement

483/645 tons

Dimensions

54.7 x 5.7 x 3.5 m

Machinery

2 6-cyl. Sulzer diesel engines/electric motors, 2 shafts: 900/610 BHP/SHP = 12/8 kn

Range

3,500 nm at 8 kn/11 nm at 8 kn

Armament

1 - 8.8 cm AA, 1 mg 12.7 mm AA, 2 TT – 53.3 cm (bow), 3 TT - 45 cm (2 bow, 1 stern), 10 torpedoes (5 in TT and 5 reloads)

Complement

29

58

HNethMS O 11 was seized by the Germans, but her two sister ships spent the war in Great Britain as ASDIC training subs. GDB

Submarines: O 12 - O 15

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

O 12

KMS

08.11.1930

20.07.1931

Kriegsmarine UD 2 30.01.1943, scuttled Kiel 05.1945

O 13

KMS

08.11.1930

01.10.1931

Missed in North Sea 06.1940

O 14

KMS

03.10.1931

04.03.1932

Scrapped 09.1943

O 15

WF

17.05.1931

28.07.1932

Scrapped 10.1946

Displacement

548/715 tons

Dimensions

60.6 x 5.7 x 3.6 m

Machinery

2 6-cyl. Sulzer O 15 MAN diesel engines/electric motors, 2 shafts: 1,800/600 BHP/SHP = 15/8 kn

Range

3,500 nm at 10 kn/12 nm bij 8 kn

Armament

2 - 40 mm AA (2 x 1), 5 TT - 53.3 cm (4 bow, 1 stern)

Complement

31

When designing the ‘O 12’ class, model tests results were used for the first time to achieve an optimum hull form for the subs. Other improvements included the use of electrical welding and strengthening the pressure hull and hatches, so that the maximum diving depth could be increased. Also, they were the first Dutch submarines that were equipped with 53.3 cm (21 in) launching tubes only. The deck gun was omitted, but instead two 40 mm AA machine guns were mounted afore and abaft the bridge. O.12 underwent a periodical overhaul in the Den Helder Navy Yard on 10 May 1940 and had to be scuttled on 14 May. The Kriegsmarine lifted the sub and had it repaired. In 1943 she was commissioned as UD.2 and served as anti-submarine warfare training boat. O.13 managed to escape to Britain but the sub was lost in the North Sea on her first patrol out of Dundee in June 1940. O.14 and O.15 arrived in Britain from the Dutch West Indies in 1940 and performed yeoman service during the war as ‘Asdic boats’ - live baits in training escort vessel crews.

59

Top left HNethMS O.14, O.15 and O.12 berthed alongsides while paying a visit to Amsterdam. All three would serve as live baits for training escort vessels crews, although under different colours: O.12 as UD.2 with the Kriegsmarine, the others in the RNethN.

KCZ

Bottom left HNethMS O.12 arrives in Den Helder. GDB

Bottom HNethMS O 14 carrying her British pennant number of P14 in Scottish waters as ASDIC training submarine.

GDB

60

Top This picture of HNethMS K XIV was taken in Den Helder. A dinghy is either being lowered or recovered. In the background a minelayer is visible, possibly HNethMS Van Meerlant or her sistership HNethMS Douwe Aukes.

JAD

Left HNethMS O.12 in the Ymuiden locks, possibly on her way to Amsterdam. The picture could well have been taken around the same time as the photograph on the previous page.

JAD

61

Submarines: K XIV - K XVIII

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

K XIV

RDM

11.07.1932

06.07.1933

Discarded 01.06.1946

K XV

RDM

10.12.1932

30.12.1933

Discarded 01.06.1946

K XVI

RDM

04.04.1933

30.01.1934

Torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-66 off Kuching 25.12.1941

K XVII

WF

26.07.1932

19.12.1933

Lost 12.1941

K XVIII

WF

27.09.1932

23.03.1933

Scuttled Surabaya 02.03.1942

62

Displacement

765/1,020 tons

Dimensions

73.8 x 6.5 x 3.8 m

Voortstuwingsinstallatie

2 8-cyl. MAN diesel engines/ electric motors, 2 shafts: 3,200/860 BHP/SHP = 17/9 kn

Range

10,000 nm at 12 kn/26 nm at 8 kn

Armament

1 - 8.8 cm AA, 2 - 40 mm AA (2 x 1), 8 TT - 53.3 cm (4 bow, 2 stern, 2 deck)

Complement

38

All accumulated improvements in Dutch submarine construction in the years before were applied to the design of the ‘K XIV’ class. Weight was saved by using advanced welding techniques while more powerful, 8-cylinder diesel engines were installed. The 8.8 cm gun returned on deck, while an external twin torpedo mount augmented the fixed tubes inside the pressure hull. In December 1941, K.XIV sank three Japanese transports and a tanker in Kuching Roads. She managed to escape to Colombo in March 1942. K.XV was successful, too, in sinking a Japanese tanker. K.XVI sent a Japanese destroyer to the bottom, but was sunk herself the next day. K XVII did not return from a patrol in the same month, and like O.16 most probably struck a Japanese mine off the Malayian coast. K.XVIII got damaged while attacking Japanese transports off Balik Papan. While the boat was being repaired in Surabaya, she had to be scuttled at the time of the Dutch surrender.

Top left HNethMS K XIV in a prewar photograph.

KCZ

Bottom left This picture was taken from the foc’s’le of HNethMS K XVII. The sub is laying at anchor, as can be judged by the anchor ball at the signal yard.

GDB

Top right This is K XIV again, but now later on in the war. The bridge has been reconstructed, causing the deletion of the forward 40 mm guns. HVW

Bottom In their modernised guise the sideview of a ‘K XIV’ class sub shows a great resemblance with the ‘O 21’ class. The Dutch livery has been replaced by a British paint scheme.

63

Submarine: O 16 O.16 was developed out of the ‘K XIV’ class and her construction had been made possible by the cancellation of the planned submarines K.XIX and K XX. Again, a number of technical improvements could be implemented, mainly concerning pressure hull strength and weights distribution. Unfortunately, the sub’s operational career was rather short. On 15 December 1941 O.16 struck a Japanese mine, laid by the enemy as soon as 7 December, and sank instantly. Only one crew member survived, who managed to swim ashore after having been in the water for more than 24 hours. Nowadays it is assumed that K XVII fell victim to the same Japanese minefield.

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

O 16

KMS

27.01.1936

26.10.1936

Mined off Malaysian coast, 15.12.1941

Displacement

892/1,170 tons

Dimensions

76.5 x 6.5 x 3.9 m

Machinery

2 8-cyl. MAN diesel engines/electric motors, 2 shafts: 3,200/860 BHP/SHP = 17/9 kn

Range

10,000 nm at 12 kn/26 nm at 8,5 kn

Armament

1 - 8.8 cm AA, 2 - 40 mm AA (2 x 1), 8 TT - 53.3 cm (4 bow, 2 stern, 2 deck)

Complement

36

This photo of HNethMS O 16 was taken in Den Helder. The sub was the forerunner of the submarines of the ‘O 21’ class. JAD

64

Submarine minelayers O 19 and O 20

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

O 19 (ex-K XIX)

WF

22.09.1938

03.07.1939

Scuttled after stranding, South China Sea 10.07.1945

O 20 (ex- K XX)

WF

31.01.1939

28.08.1939

Depth charged and scuttled, Gulf of Siam 19.12.1941

Displacement

967/1,492 tons

Dimensions

80.7 x 7.5 x 3.9 m

Machinery

2 7-cyl. Sulzer diesel engines/electric motors, 2 shafts: 5,000/1,000 BHP/SHP = 19/9 kn

Range

10,000 nm at 12 kn/27 nm at 8.5 kn

Armament

1 - 8.8 cm AA, 2 - 40 mm AA (2 x 1), 1 mg - 12.7 mm AA, 8 TT - 53.3 cm (4 bow, 2 stern, 2 deck), 14 torpedoes (8 in TT and 6 reloads), 40 mines

Complement

55

When the ‘O 19’ class was building the RNethN decided to drop the K-designation for new construction. Instead the O-prefix would be applied. Apart from this, the subs differed from their predecessors in carrying 40 mines in shafts outside the pressure hull. Another feature of O.19 and O.20 was a unique Dutch invention that enabled a submarine to run her diesel engines when travelling at periscope depth. The system was copied and perfectioned by the Germans later in the war, who dubbed it the Schnorchel. From the beginning of the war with Japan both boats went into action against Japanese shipping, resulting in O.20’s loss as soon as 19 December 1941. Her sister ship made good her escape to Colombo and operated out of Britain until 1943. From 1944 on she was based at Fremantle in Australia. Only weeks before the end of hostilities O.19 stranded at the Ladd Riff in the South China Sea and had to be abandoned.

65

Top left HNethMS O.19 in Den Helder, shortly before her departure to the Dutch East Indies, July 1939.

GDB

Bottom left HNethMS O.19 when working up in Scotland after her 1943 refit in Britain. The sub is surfacing and one of her periscopes has not yet been lowered. JAD

Next page, left HNethMS O.19 in close-up. The typical hull form was necessary to accommodate the mine shafts. In each shaft two mines could be carried. JAD

66

Top HNethMS O 19 stranded on the Ladd Riff in the South China Sea, 8 July 1945. TGB

Bottom USS Cod has come to the aid of the Dutch sub and would make several fruitless attempts to drag her from the reef.

JAD

67

Submarines: O 21 - O 27

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

O 21

KMS

21.10.1939

10.05.1940

Scrapped 24.01.1958

O 22

KMS

20.01.1940

10.05.1940

Failed to return from war patrol, 11.1940

O 23

RDM

05.12.1939

13.05.1940

Scrapped 04.1949

O 24

RDM

18.03.1940

13.05.1940

Scrapped 09.1963

O 25

WF

01.05.1940

-

Kriegsmarine UD 3 08.06.1941, scuttled Kiel 03.05.1945

O 26

RDM

23.11.1940

-

Kriegsmarine UD 4 01.11.1941, scuttled Kiel 03.05.1945

O 27

RDM

26.09.1941

13.07.1945

Kriegsmarine UD 5 01.03.1941, recovered RNethN 1945, scrapped 23.12.1960

68

Apart from the minelaying capability of O 19 and O 20, the ‘O 21’ class had much in common with their predecessors. Their operational careers, however, were very different. Three boats of the class were seized by the Germans and actually saw action against Allied convoys, but were mainly used as live baits in training escort vessel crews in the art of anti-submarine warfare. One of them, UD 5, was recovered after the war and until 1959 served with the RNethN under her original name of O.27. The first four boats, although still fitting out in May 1940, managed to escape and have been completed in British shipyards. The submarines operated in the North Sea and the Norwegian coastal waters at first, resulting in the loss of O.22. In 1941 the remaining boats shifted their activities to the Mediterranean and enjoyed a number of successes in this theatre. O.21, for example, torpedoed German U.95 on 28 November of the same year. During the last years of the war the subs operated out of Australia against Japanese shipping. When the war had ended, the boats were virtually worn out and had to be relegated to minor tasks like crew training and testing torpedoes. At the end of the next decade they all had been sent to the broker’s yard.

Left HNethM O 21 carrying a camouflage pattern used by British subs in the Mediterranean. Below, HNethMS O 21 is pictured, painted in RNethNavy’s postwar livery, displaying her NATO hull number S 801. Bottom HNethMS O.24 photographed postwar at sea, carrying hull number S 804. GDB

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

77,8 m

Displacement

987/1,488 tons

Dimensions

77.7 x 6.6 x 4.4 m

Machinery

2 7-cyl. Sulzer diesel engines/el. motors, 2 shafts: 5,000/1,000 BHP/SHP = 19/9 kn

Range

10,000 nm at 12 kn/28 nm at 9 kn

Armament

1 - 8.8 cm AA, 2 - 40 mm AA (2 x 1), 1 mg -12.7 mm AA, 8 TT - 53.3 cm (4 bow, 2 stern, 2 deck), 14 torpedoes (8 in TT and 6 reloads)

Complement

60

69

Left O.27 was seized by the Germans when she was still on the slipway and was completed by them as UD 5. Bottom O 25 was lifted by the Germans after having been scuttled on 14 May 1940. The sub would be commissioned by the Kriegsmarine as UD 3.

NSM

Left After the christening ceremony on 5 December 1939 HNethMS O 23 is being towed out of drydock at the RDM shipyard. In the background the destroyers Gerard Callenburgh and Tjerk Hiddes can be seen, still fitting out.

KCZ

Bottom UD 5 was recovered after the war and eventually commissioned as HNethMS O 27. GDB

70

Submarine: ZEEHOND

0

10

20

30

40

50

60,2 m

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

ZEEHOND (exSTURGEON)

H.M. Dockyard (Chatham)

08.01.1932

11.10.1943

Returned RN 14.09.1945, scrapped 01.1947

Displacement

640/935 tons

Dimensions

61.8 x 7.3 x 3.2 m

Machinery

2 6-cyl. Davey-Paxman diesel engines/electric motors, 2 shafts: 1,550/1,300 pk = 13.5/10 kn

Range

3,690 nm at 8 kn/10 nm at 10 kn

Armament

1 - 7.6 cm, 1 mg - 20 mm AA, 6 TT - 53.3 cm (6 bow), 12 torpedoes (6 in TT, 6 reloads)

Complement

44

To compensate for war losses the RNethN received a number of submarines from the Royal Navy, to start with ‘S’ class STURGEON. The RN had been building these vessels from the beginning of the 1930s and the type fitted a requirement for a small, highly manoeuvrable submarine which could be operated in coastal waters as well as on the oceans. The success of the design can be measured by the number of almost 70 boats that have been built up to 1945. As live bait for training escort vessel crews ZEEHOND made a limited, although essential contribution to the Allied war effort. When naming this sub the RNethN practice of assigning letter and number combinations was discontinued. In future, all Dutch submarines would be named after sea mammals.

Right Very few photographs can be found of HNethMS Zeehond. We therefore included a picture of a sister ship, i.e. HMS Seahorse. HVW

71

Submarines: ZWAARDVISCH and TIJGERHAAI

ZWAARDVISCH

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

ZWAARDVISCH (ex-TALENT)

VickersArmstrongs (Barrow)

17.07.1943

06.12.1943

Scrapped 12.07.1963

TIJGERHAAI (exTARN)

VickersArmstrongs (Barrow)

29.11.1944

06.04.1945

Scrapped 05.11.1965

80

83,4 m

Displacement

1,019/1,567 ton

Dimensions

87.3 x 8.1 x 4.7 m

Machinery

2 6-cyl. Vickers diesel engines/electric motors, 2 shafts: 2,500/1,450 pk = 15/8 kn

Range

8,000 nm at 10 kn

Armament

1 - 10.2 cm, 1 mg - 20 mm AA, 11 TT - 53.3 cm (8 bow, 3 stern), 19 torpedoes (11 in TT, 8 reloads)

Complement

65

72

Two boats of another successful type, the ‘T’ class, were taken over by the Royal Netherlands Navy. The design had been optimised for operations in the Far East, e.g. by a minimum endurance of 42 days at sea. The large number of launching tubes was the result of adding four tubes outside the pressure hull. Initially two extra bow tubes were fitted in this way, and two stern ones later on as field modification. TIJGERHAAI was commisioned too late in the war to see action, but ZWAARDVISCH at the other hand completed a number of successful war patrols in the Java Sea. She bagged German U.168 and the Japanese minelayer ITSUKISHIMA. After the war, the boats stayed in commission with the RNethN well into the 1960s.

Top left HNethMS Tijgerhaai and HNethMS Zwaardvisch shortly after the war berthed in Rotterdam, where the RNethNavy’s submarine service was based for a number of years. JAD

Top right In this photograph HNethMS Dolfijn (II) can be seen, another sister ship of HNethMS Zwaardvisch, taken over from the RN shortly after the war.

GDB

Bottom right A rare photograph of HNethMS Dolfijn (I), which also was taken over from the Royal Navy. JAD

73

Submarine: DOLFIJN HNethMS Dolfijn in a livery designed for Northern European waters (top) and wearing the camouflage pattern used in the Mediterranean Theatre of Operations.

Initially the British ‘U’ class to which DOLFIJN belonged were designed as unarmed training subs. Already in an early stage of construction it was decided to equip the type with a limited number of launching tubes after all, so that short patrols should become feasible. Combined with its modest size and great manoeuvrability the class turned out to be very well suited for operations in the shallow waters of the Mediterranean, where every patrol area normally could be assigned within a day’s sailing range. DOLFIJN made a number of successful patrols in this theatre, during which the Italian submarine MALACHITE was sunk, apart from a number of merchant ships. 0

10

20

Name

Builder

DOLFIJN (ex-P 47)

Vickers-Armstrongs (Barrow)

30

40

50

Tewaterlating dd.

Completed

Fate

27.07.1942

07.11.1942

Scrapped 05.1952

60 m

Displacement

540/730 tons

Dimensions

60 x 4.9 x 4.5 m

Machinery

2 8-cyl. Paxman-Ricardo diesel engines/electric motors, 2 shafts: 615/825 BHP/SHP = 11/9 kn

Range

3,800 nm at 10 kn/20 nm at 8 kn

Armament

1 – 7.6 cm, 1 mg 20 mm AA, 4 TT – 53.3 cm (4 bow), 8 torpedoes (4 in TT, 4 reloads)

Complement

44

74

In most photographs of HNethMS Dolfijn the aft part of the hull has been omitted. To compensate for this we have included a 1944 picture of her sister ship HMS United (pennant number P 44). HVW

5 GUNBOATS

BRINIO, FRISO and GRUNO All vessel types portrayed so far were actually designed to operate in the Dutch East Indies. The three gunboats of the ‘Brinio’ class were, however, especially conceived to defend the estuaries along the Dutch coast. Thanks to their main armament of four 10.5 cm guns the ships possessed a relatively heavy fire power. All were part of the Ysselmeer Flottilla in May 1940, but only GRUNO managed to escape to Britain. Her sister ships were less fortunate and were left behind at Enkhuizen on May 14, due to a number of causes. They had to be scuttled when the Dutch surrendered to the Germans.

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

Displacement

530 - 545 (full load 634 - 573) tons

BRINIO

RWA

12.08.1912

08.09.1914

Scuttled Ysselmeer, 14.05.1940, salvaged and scrapped 1943

Dimensions

52.7 x 8.5 x 2.7 m

Machinery

2 6-cyl. Sulzer/MAN/Germania diesel engines, 2 shafts: 1,200 – 1,500 BHP = 14 kn

Range

1,440 nm at 6 kn

Protection

WL 55 mm, D 17 mm, GT 50 mm, CT 50 mm

Armament

4 -10.5 cm, 2 mg - 12.7 mm (1 x 2) AA

Complement

63

FRISO

RWA

29.08.1912

12.07.1915

Scuttled Ysselmeer, 14.05.1940, salvaged and scrapped 1943

GRUNO

RWA

26.05.1913

15.07.1915

Scrapped 1950

75

Top left In this photo HNethMS Brinio still sports an aft mast. This was landed in 1939 to provide a clear arc of fire to the new twin 12.7 mm machine guns. CKZ

Top right HNethMS Friso prewar in Den Helder. CKZ

Left HNethMS Flores photographed prewar when manoeuvering in a Dutch East Indian port. JAD

76

Gunboats: FLORES and SOEMBA

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

FLORES

WF

15.08.1925

25.03.1926

Scrapped 12.11.1968

SOEMBA

WF

24.08.1925

12.04.1926

Scrapped 12.07.1985

70

75,6 m

These relatively modern gunboats had been built in the 1920s as ‘flotilla vessels’ for service in the Dutch East Indies. Their assigned task was to protect minefields off the coast and in harbour entrances. When going into action they would be supported by coastal batteries. This concept had become completely outdated by the time of WW II, due to the rise of air power. Sporting a main armament of three 15 cm (5.9 in) guns FLORES and SOEMBA still proved their worth as mobile gun platforms. Especially during the Allied landings in Italy and France they were able to operate close to the landing zones, thanks to their shallow draft, and so could promptly answer fire support calls from troops fighting ashore. After a term in the Mediterranean both vessels had their worn out barrels replaced by identical guns, taken from the decommissioned cruiser SUMATRA.

77

Displacement

1,457 (full load 1,793) tons

Dimensions

75.6 x 11.5 x 3.6 m

Machinery

4 Yarrow boilers, 2 triple expansion engines, 2 shafts: 2,000 SHP = 15 kn

Range

…. nm at .. kn

BeProtection

D 25 - 50 mm, GT 14 - 80 mm, CT 50 mm

Armament

3 - 15.0 cm (3 x 1), 2 - 40 mm (1 x 2) AA, 4 mg - 20 mm (4 x 1) AA

Complement

132

Top left HNethMS Soemba wearing the camouflage pattern which was implemented by the RNethN as of 16 December 1941. The grey-green faces would reduce the visibility of the vessels at sea by suggesting an island-like profile.

Top right HNethMS Flores in company of HNethMS Vulkaan and HNethMS Zwaardvisch, dressed for an official ocassion, probably the crowning of Queen Juliana in 1948. GDB

Right HNethMS Flores preparing for Operation Neptune, the naval component of Overlord, 1944. JAD

78

Gunboat: JOHAN MAURITS VAN NASSAU Next after FLORES and SOEMBA a virtually identical vessel was laid down for service in the West Indies. During the German invasion the JOHAN MAURITS VAN NASSAU happened to be present in Dutch waters and managed to take out German positions near the Afsluitdijk on the Frisian shore, firing her main armament under direction of forward observers. Unfortunately, the gunboat was sunk by German aircraft off Callantsoog the next day when she attempted to escape to Britain.

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

JOHAN MAURITS VAN NASSAU

KMS

20.08.1932

05.04.1933

Sunk by German aircraft, North Sea 14.05.1940

79

Before the war, HNethMS Johan Maurits van Nassau served mainly in the West Indies. In May 1940, the gunboat was instrumental in the successful defence of the Afsluitdijk. GDB

HNethMS K 3 was laid down in 1940 as the last vessel from a series of three gunboats, but was completed by the Kriegsmarine. In 1945 the ship was recovered by the RNethN and taken into service as HNethMS Van Speijk with pennant no. N 5.

JAD

80

Displacement

1,537 (full load 1,814) tons

Dimensions

78.7 x 11.6 x 3.8 m

Machinery

4 Yarrow boilers, 2 triple expansion engines, 2 shafts: 2,100 apk = 15 kn

Range

…. nm at .. kn

BeProtection

D 25 mm, CT 25 mm

Armament

3 -15.0 cm (3 x 1), 2 - 40 mm (1 x 2) AA, 4 mg 12.7 mm (2 x 2) AA

Complement

124

HNethMS Van Speijk’s machinery were replaced after the war by the diesel engines of O 23 that was being scrapped. Reclassified as fregat the former gunboat received the NATO hull number F 805.

GDB

Gunboats: THREE vessels

0

20

10

30

40

50

60

70

77,9 m

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

Kanonneerboot nr. 1

PS

23.11.1940

-

Kriegsmarine K 1, sunk by allied air attack, Aarhus 5.05.1945

Kanonneerboot nr. 2

WG

28.06.1941

-

Kriegsmarine K 2, constructive total loss 1945, scrapped 1947

VAN SPEIJK (exKanonneerboot nr. 3)

PS

22.03.1941

18.06.1946

Kriegsmarine K 3, recovered RNethN 1945, VAN SPEIJK 18.06.1946, scrapped 29.08.1960

After the Dutch surrender three incomplete gunboats were seized by the German Kriegsmarine. The vessels belonged to a series of seven. The other four had not yet been ordered at the time, but the Germans ordered the completion of running orders in accordance with the original schedule. The main armament was supplied by Wilton-Fijenoord, the firm of Piet Smit built the engines under license from B & W and the State Arms Company or Artillerie Inrichting Hembrug manufactured the shells and charges. The foundations for the 40 mm MGs were used to mount four 37 mm guns, while four 20 mm machine guns were put on board instead of the 12.7 mm MGs. This number was to be extended to twelve later in the war. K I was lost at Aarhus, Denmark during the last days of the war. K 2 and K 3 were recovered at Horten, Norway. Both vessels were towed to the Netherlands, but K2 was damaged beyond repair and had to be written off. The remaining unit was eventualy commissioned by the Royal Netherlands Navy as VAN SPEIJK and was discarded in 1960. In 1953 her machinery were replaced by the Sulzer engines from O.23, which was being scrapped at the time.

81

Left The Kriegsmarine had the gunboats completed virtually without modifications. Only the AA armament was changed.

Bottom The 12 cm mountings of the three gun boats were of the same type as the envisaged main armament of Isaac Sweers and her sisters. One of HNethMS Van Speijk twin turrets is on display at the Dutch Navy museum in Den Helder.

HVW

Displacement

1,268 (full load 1,425 ) tons

Dimensions

77.9 x 10.2 x 3.2 m

Voortstuwings-installatie

2 6-cyl. B&W Van Speijk Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz diesel engines, 2 shafts: 3,500 BHP = 14 kn

Range

…. nm at .. kn

Armament

4 - 12 cm (2 x 2), design 4 - 40mm AA (2 x 2), 4 mg - 12.7 mm AA (2 x 2) Kriegsmarine 4 - 37 mm (2 x 2), 4 - 20 mm (2 x 2)

Complement

106

82

6 ESCORT VESSELS

Gunnery training vessel: VAN KINSBERGEN Although VAN KINSBERGEN was classified as a training vessel the designers had envisaged an antisubmarine capability for escort duties. In that role the ship operated in the Carribean during all war years. One of the highlights from this episode is the demonstration of the stabilised 40 mm Bofors anti-aircraft machine guns to U.S. Navy specialist officers and naval authorities on 20 August 1940. As we have seen in Chapter I this resulted in the large scale production of this weapon system by the Americans. The Swedish Bofors company were financially compensated for the use of their patents, although only after the end of the war.

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

VAN KINSBERGEN

RDM

05.01.1939

24.08.1939

Scrapped 19.02.1974

Displacement

1,760 (full load 2,006) tons

Dimensions

100.2 x 11.6 x 3.4 m

Machinery

2 Yarrow boilers, Stork geared turbines, 2 shafts: 17,000 SHP = 25 kn

Range

… nm at .. kn

Armament

4 - 12 cm (4 x 1), 4 - 40 mm AA (2 x 2), 4 mg - 12.7 mm AA (4 x 1)

Complement

190

83

Top HNethMS Van Kinsbergen in 1942. The ship’s appearance has hardly changed since her first commissioning in 1939. Top and bottom right These pictures of HNethMS Van Kinsbergen have been probably taken after her 1943 refit, as can be concluded from the plating over of hull openings below shelter deck level. Bottom left HNethMS Van Kinsbergen at the Nieuwe Waterweg on her trials during the summer of 1939. GDB

84

JAD

Corvette: FRISO

Between the wars the Royal Navy paid only minimal attention to anti-submarine warfare, and this resulted in an acute shortage of escort vessels when the convoy system was reinstated 1939. As a stop-gap measure an existing whale catcher design was classified as corvette. In order to put as many vessels to sea in the shortest possible period of time the type was ordered in large numbers with commercial shipyards. Out of this ‘Flower’ class the Royal Netherlands Navy received HMS Carnation on loan in 1943.

No previously unpublished photographs could be found of HNethMS Friso. Instead, her sister ship HMCS Barrie is pictured here. JAD

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

FRISO (2) (exCARNATION)

Grangemouth D.Y.

03.09.1940

26.03.1943

Returned RN 04.10.1944

Displacement

940 (full load 1,180) tons

Dimensions

62.5 x 10 x 4.4 m

Machinery

2 Scottish boilers, 1 triple expansion engine, 1 shaft: 2,750 SHP = 16 kn

Range

5,000 nm at 10 kn

Armament

1 - 10.2 cm (2 x 1), 3 - 20 mm AA (3 x 1)

Complement

85

85

This illustration shows Friso’s port side. Several camouflage patterns were designed by the British Admiralty for escort vessels in the North Atlantic.

The launch of HNethMS Johan Maurits van Nassau (II), a ‘River’ class frigate, already painted in camouflage colours. Glasgow, 23 April 1943. JAD

86

Frigate: JOHAN MAURITS VAN NASSAU Initially the Royal Navy planned to provide escorts for convoys in and around Britain only, but when the Germans virtually controlled the entire Western and Northern European coast line from the North Cape to the Spanish border U-boats began to attack shipping in more distant areas of the Atlantic Ocean. To counter this threat a larger type of vessel was needed with greater endurance, optimised for anti-submarine warfare. The ‘River’ class were designated as frigates because they were better suited to operate in the Northern Atlantic than the ‘Flower’ class corvettes. One frigate that was building for the Royal Navy as HMS RIBBLE, was purchased by the Dutch exiled government, and commissioned into the Royal Netherlands Navy.

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

JOHAN MAURITS VAN NASSAU (2) (ex-RIBBLE)

Wm. Simons & Co. (Renfrew)

23.04.1943

14.06.1943

Scrapped 15.01.1959

HNethMS Johan Maurits van Nassau (II) postwar contributed to the United Nations’s naval forces during the Korean conflict and undertook a number of voyages to Dutch New Guinea and the Dutch West Indies. GDB

Displacement

1,370 (full load 1,830) tons

Dimensions

91.9 x 11.2 x 4.4 m

Machinery

2 Admiralty boilers, triple expansion engines, 2 shafts: 5,500 SHP = 20 kn

Range

7,200 nm at 12 kn

Armament

2 - 10.2 cm (2 x 1), 7 mg - 20 mm AA (7 x 1), depth charge throwers

Complement

140

87

Submarine chaser: QUEEN WILHELMINA In the summer of 1942 U.S. President Roosevelt was personally involved in transferring a brandnew U.S. Navy submarine chaser to the Royal Netherlands Navy, as a personal gift and a gesture towards Queen Wilhelmina, exiled in Britain. He insisted on assigning the name of the Dutch head of state to the vessel. After that QUEEN WILHELMINA performed escort duties in the Carribean until March 1944, when the ship was paid off and saw no more action for the duration of the war.

QUEEN WILHELMINA

0

10

40

30

20

50

53,1 m

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

QUEEN WILHELMINA (ex-PC 468)

George Lawley, Neponset, Mass.

30.04.1942

06.08.1942

Nigerian OGOYA 26.07.1963, foundered 10.1969

Seen from a distance USS PC 468’s design had some resemblance to the Dutch subchasers of 1939 that were never built. JAD

Displacement

280 (full load 335) tons

Dimensions

53 x 7 x 2.2 m

Machinery

2 Fairbanks Morse diesel engines, 2 shafts: 2,880 apk = 20 kn

Range

… nm at .. kn

Armament

1 - 7.6 cm, 1 - 40 mm AA, 5 mg - 20 mm AA (5 x 1)

Complement

52

88

Submarine chasers : SIX planned vessels As part of the expansion and modernisation programme of the RNethNavy on which the Dutch embarked after 1936 six vessels were envisaged for anti-submarine warfare in coastal waters. When the Germans invaded the Low Countries these submarine chasers had been given in hand, although actual construction had not yet begun. Three ships had been ordered to the same design in the Dutch East Indies, which would have been equipped with diesel engines. It appears that some of the latter had actually been laid down, but were destroyed on the slipways in March 1942.

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

ONDERZEEBOOTJAGER 1 - III

NDM

-

-

Cancelled 1940

ONDERZEEBOOTJAGER IV - VI

JKS

-

-

Cancelled 1940

Displacement

390 (full load … ) tons

Dimensions

65 x 6.7 x 3.2 m

Machinery

2 boilers, geared turbines, 2 shafts: 5,500 SHP = 24 kn

Range

… nm at .. kn

Armament

4 - 40 mm AA (2 x 2)

Complement

..

89

Top HNethMS TM 52 and TM 53 had been virtually completed on 10 May 1940 but for unknown reasons could not be prevented from falling into German hands. In this photograph one of these boats, designated S 201 or S202, can be spotted while on trials with her new owners, who eventually handed them over to the Bulgarian navy. JAD

Top Photographs of HNethMS TM 51 are hard to come by. This picture could have been made while on trials in Britain. The design went into large scale production in the United States and in Canada, so this picture may have been taken at a later time in the war. JAD

Right With the exception of their construction numbers S 151 - 158 had nothing in common with TM 51 but to complete the history of the class a profile of their half sisters has been included. The boats displaced 57 tons and were armed with two 53.3 cm (21 in) torpedo tubes and one 20 mm machine gun.

90

0

10

20

28,3 m

7 MOTOR TORPEDOBOATS TM 51, TM 52 and TM 53

0

10

20

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

TM 51

BPH

1939

06.11.1939

Transferred RN MGB 46 25.11.1942

TM 52

WG

1940

-

Kriegsmarine S 201, Bulgarian S1 1942

TM 53

WG

1940

-

Kriegsmarine S 202, Bulgarian S2 1942

TM 54 - 61

WG

1940

-

Completed to German design as S 151-158

TM 63 - 70

WG

-

-

Cancelled by Kriegsmarine

Displacement

32 tons

Dimensions

21.3 x 6.1 x 1.4 m

Machinery

3 12-cyl. Rolls Royce aircraft engines, 3 shafts: 3,300 SHP = 42 kn

Armament

4 TT - 45.7 cm (4 x 1), 4 mg - 12.7 mm tl (2 x 2)

Complement

9

21,4 m

Around 1938 the Royal Netherlands Navy ordered a series of 20 MTBs with North Sea operations in mind. The first of these boats, TM51, was built by the British Powerboat Co. that had designed the type and would try in vain to sell it to the Royal Navy. The next batch of ten boats was given in hand of the Gusto shipyard at Schiedam, and on 10 May 1940 TM 52 and 53 had been almost completed. They could easily have been made ready for sea, but for inexplicable reluctance displayed by local naval authorities. On 14 May preparations were made to destroy the boats, but this also came to nothing. TM 51, already in commission, made good her escape to Britain. The eight other boats were eventually built under their originally assigned construction numbers, but to a completely different design by the German shipyard of E-boat fame, Lürssen at Vegesack. Later in the war these vessels have seen action in the Mediterranean and did achieve some measure of success there. Construction of the series TM 63.-.70 was cancelled in December 1940, due to supply problems with the engines and other critical components. Assembled materials, possibly with a number of incomplete hulls, were sold to Romania and Bulgaria during 1941 and 1942.

91

Motor Torpedoboats: MTB 202 - MTB 204 From 1942 on the Royal Netherlands Navy took part in operations against German shipping in the English Channel, which was made possible by the transfer to the Dutch of a number of RN motor torpedo boats and motor gun boats that were building at a group of British shipyards, led by Vosper. The MTBs mentioned above belonged to a series of twelve boats (MTB 201 - 212) that had been designed by Vosper and were built by White. Later on in the war, their Sterling engines were replaced by more powerful and reliable 12-cylinder Packard VM 2500 engines.

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

MTB 202

JSW

1942

13.08.1943

Discarded 02.1946

MTB 203

JSW

1942

03.03.1942

Mined off Boulogne, 18.05.1944

MTB 204

JSW

1942

27.03.1942

Discarded 02.1946

Displacement

33 (full load 41) ton

Dimensions

22.3 x 5.5 x 1.7 m

Machinery

3 ..-cyl. Sterling engines, 3 shafts: 3,360 BHP = 39 kn

Range

… nm at .. kn

Armament

2 TT – 53.3 cm (2 x 1), 2 mg – 12.7 mm tl (1 x 2), 2 mg – 7.7 mm (2 x 1)

Complement

12

92

Until the Normandy landings in 1944 Dutch MTBs have operated in the British Channel. In this picture HNethMS MTB 203 enters a port in the South of England. JAD

Motor Torpedoboats: MTB 222, MTB 229, MTB 231, MTB 235, MTB 236 and MTB 240 Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

MTB 222

VLP

1942

17.04.1942

On loan from RN, returned 5.06.1942

MTB 229

VLP

1942

13.07.1943

Discarded 01.07.1946

MTB 231

VLP

1942

20.08.1943

Discarded 02.1946

MTB 235

VLP

1942

16.06.1942

Discarded 02.1946

MTB 236

VLP

1942

24.08.1943

Discarded 02.1946

MTB 240

VLP

1942

06.06.1943

Discarded 02.1946

Displacement

40 (full load ..) tons

Dimensions

22.1 x 5.8 x 1.9 m

Machinery

3 12-cyl. Packard VM-2500 engines, 3 shafts: 4,050 BHP = 39 kn

Range

400 nm at 20 kn

Armament

2 TT - 53.3 cm (2 x 1), 2 mg -12.7 mm AA (1 x 2), 2 mg - 7.7 mm (2 x 1)

Complement

13

Until 1940 the choice of suitable engines to equip MTBs was very limited. From then on, however, the American 12-cylinder Packard VM 2500 aeroplane engine became available in sufficient numbers, which prompted Vosper to recast the 70 ft-design used for the first series of 31 boats. The result of this was a new version with a greater length of 72 ft 6 in., that stayed in production until May 1944, totalling 130 boats. The six boats that were commissioned by the RNethN in 1942 and 1943 belonged to this series.

The Dutch TM-boats were developed by the British Power Boat Company, but the RN preferred the design of their competitor Vosper, of which hundreds were built, like HMS MTB 35 which is pictured here. The RNethN also operated with the type.Together with their English collegues they scored some notable victories when operating in the Channel. HVW

93

Motor Torpedoboats: MTB 418, MTB 432, MTB 433, MTB 436, MTB 437 and MTB 453 Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

MTB 418 (ex - MGB 418)

BPH

1944

27.06.1944

Discarded 23.09.1945

MTB 432 (ex - MGB 432)

BPH

1942

18.04.1942

Discarded 23.09.1945

MTB 433 (ex - MGB 114)

BPH

1942

29.12.1942

Discarded 1955

MTB 436 (ex - MGB 436)

BPH

1943

10.04.1944

Discarded 23.09.1945

MTB 437 (ex – MGB 437)

BPH

1943

08.04.1944

Discarded 23.09.1945

MTB 453

BPH

1943

04.1944

Discarded 01.01.1946

Displacement

37 (full load ..) ton

Dimensions

21.9 x 6.31 x 1.8 m

Machinery

3 12-cyl. Packard VM-2500 engines, 3 shafts: 4,050 BHP = 42 kn

Range

… nm at .. kn

Armament

2 TT - 45.7 cm (2 x 1), 1 - 40 mm AA, 2 mg - 20 mm AA (1 x 2), 4 mg - 7.7 mm (2 x 2)

Complement

17

These boats had been equipped with 45.7 cm (18 in) torpedo tubes and were built by British Powerboat. As tactical requirements changed, weapons carried by all MTBs and MGBs were frequently modified. In practice this entailed the mounting on board of more and of heavier guns during the war. Nothwithstanding this, the British had always to operate at a disadvantage when encountering the larger and more heavily armed Germans E-boats. Later in the war, when MTBs and MGBs went in action they were often backed by destroyers or frigates, that gave gunnery support and used their radars to keep track of enemy movements.

94

This picture shows a British sister ship to the Dutch MTBs during builder’s trials on 18 March 1943 in the Solent near Portsmouth.

HVW

8 MINELAYERS AND MINE SWEEPERS VAN MEERLANT and DOUWE AUKES

0

20

10

30

40

50

54,8 m

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

VAN MEERLANT

WG

24.11.1920

25.07.1922

Transferred RN 14.03.1941; mined Thames Estuary 04.06.1941

DOUWE AUKES

WG

23.02.1922

02.11.1922

Transferred RN 29.04.1941; returned RNethN and depot ship 1945, scrapped 1962

Displacement

687 (full load … ) tons

Dimensions

54.8 x 8.7 x 3.2 m

Machinery

2 Yarrow boilers, triple expansion engines, 2 shafts: 1,170 SHP = 13 kn

Range

…. nm at .. kn

Armament

3 – 7.5 cm (3 x 1), 2 mg – 12.7 mm tl (2 x 1), 60 mines

Complement

60

The design of these two minelayers was a followup of HYDRA and MEDUSA. In 1939 HYDRA and MEDUSA were the oldest RNethN’s minelayers but nevertheless have seen action, although on a modest scale. As a result of this, HYDRA got severily damaged by German shore batteries and had to be abandoned. MEDUSA on the other hand, made good her escape from Den Helder to England, and served there as a depot ship until her return to the Netherlands in 1945. Although VAN MEERLANT and DOUWE AUKES were slightly larger they could ship 10 mines less. Both minelayers escaped to Britain in May 1940, where VAN MEERLANT was transferred to the Royal Navy in 1941. Some months later, the vessel struck a mine in the Thames Estuary and was lost. DOUWE AUKES went to the Royal Navy, too, but was returned to the RNethN in 1945 and spent the rest of her days as a depot ship.

95

Top HNethMS Douwe Aukes in a prewar photograph, taken in Den Helder. Her sister ship Van Meerlant was lost in 1941.

KCZ

Bottom left From March on 1932 HNethMS Prins van Oranje was stationed in the Dutch East Indies, the then Lieutenant Commander, later Rear Admiral K.W.F.M. Doorman commanding. GDB

Bottom right HNethMS Prins van Oranje in Den Helder, shortly after her commissioning in February 1932. KCZ

96

Minelayers: GOUDEN LEEUW and PRINS VAN ORANJE After DOUWE AUKES three similar minelayers were built by the RNethN, which differed only in minor details and were commissioned as PRO PATRIA (1922), KRAKATAU (1924) and NAUTILUS (1929). In 1932 they were followed by GOUDEN LEEUW and PRINS.VAN ORANJE. Both vessels were stationed in the Dutch East Indies. At the beginning of the struggle against Japan the ships laid a large number of defensive minefields off harbours and in shipping channels. When retreating to Surabaya from a minelaying mission PRINS VAN ORANJE was intercepted off Tarakan and sunk by the Japanese destroyer YAMAKAZE. Some weeks later her sister ship was sunk as blockship off Surabaya when the Dutch army surrendered. 0

20

10

30

40

50

60

66 m

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

PRINS VAN ORANJE

SMM

10.07.1931

02.02.1932

Sunk by Japanese surface units off Tarakan 12.01.1942

GOUDEN LEEUW

SMM

09.09.1931

24.02.1932

Sunk as blockship Surabaya 7.03.1942

Displacement

1,291 (full load … ) tons

Dimensions

66 x 11 x 3.6 m

Machinery

.. boilers, triple expansion engines, 2 shafts: 1,750 SHP = 15 kn

Range

.. nm at .. kn

Armament

2 - 7.5 cm (2 x 1), 2 mg - 40 mm AA (2 x 1), 2 mg - 12.7 mm AA (2 x 1), 150 mines

Complement

121

97

Minelayer: JAN VAN BRAKEL

0

20

10

30

40

50

58,7 m

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

JAN VAN BRAKEL

KMS

08.02.1936

25.06.1936

Scrapped 1957

HNethMS Jan van Brakel photographed postwar with NATO hull number. GDB

98

Displacement

715 (full load 955) tons

Dimensions

58.7 x 10 x 3.5 m

Machinery

2 Yarrow boilers, triple expansion engines, 2 shafts: 1,600 SHP = 15 kn

Range

…. nm at .. kn

Armament

2 - 7.5 cm (2 x 1), 1 - 37 mm AA , 4 mg - 12.7 mm AA (4 x 1), 60 mines

Complement

65

JAN VAN BRAKEL was the next new construction after GOUDEN LEEUW and PRINS VAN ORANJE and was designed to operate in Dutch home waters. After her escape to Britain in May 1940 JAN VAN BRAKEL was sent to the West Indies and until the end of the war was assigned to escort tasks in the region. During a regular refit in the U.S. she received the striking camouflage pattern of which both starboard and port sides have been pictured here.

Top left HNethMS Jan van Brakel visits Amsterdam and has berthed near the city’s Central Station, 1936. KCZ

Right, top and bottom These photographs have been taken during the war and show HNethMS Jan van Brakel after a U.S. refit. On that side of the

ocean all new and repaired warships were methodically photographed.

JAD

99

Minelayer: WILLEM VAN DER ZAAN WILLEM VAN DER ZAAN should become the last – and largest – minelayer built for the RNethN. On 13 May 1940 the ship was still involved in minelaying operations in the Dutch home waters, but made good her escape to England later that day. After some adjustments to enable the handling of British mines WILLEM VAN DER ZAAN performed a number of minelaying missions from the U.K., but at the end of 1940 was sent to the Dutch East Indies. Until the Japanese occupation of Java another series of mine barrages were laid there. She was assigned to convoy duty in the Indian Ocean from 1942 till the end of 1944, when the ship returned to England, from where on as late as March 1945 WILLEM VAN DER ZAAN took part in minelaying operations.

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

WILLEM VAN DER ZAAN

NDM

15.12.1938

21.08.1939

Scrapped 06.10.1970

Displacement

1,269 (full load 1,407 ) tons

Dimensions

58.7 x 10 x 3.5 m

Machinery

2 Yarrow boilers, triple expansion engines, 2 shafts: 2,200 pk = 15 kn

Range

5,900 nm at 9 kn

Armament

2 - 12 cm (2 x 1), 4 mg - 40 mm AA 2 x 2), 4 mg - 12.7 mm AA (2 x 2), 120 mijnen

Complement

92

100

HNethMS Willem van der Zaan in Britain. The 40mm-Bofors guns have been replaced by a quadruple 2-pdr. mounting. The same calibre, but less effective. A prewar photograph of HNethMS Willem van der Zaan in Den Helder. The minelayer had also been fitted out as a training vessel for midshipmen, but because of the war she was never used in that capacity. KCZ

This photo of HNethM Willem van der Zaan has been taken later in the war. When the camouflage pattern was carried is unknown. JAD

101

Minesweepers: M 1 - M 4

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

M 1 (exMARIE I)

Van der Kuy & Van der Ree (Rotterdam)

20.12.1916

31.10.1918

Kriegsmarine LAZ 46 09.1940, RNethN RS-21 1945, sunk North Sea off Nordeney 23.12.1949

M 2 (exMARIE 2)

Van der Kuy & Van der Ree (Rotterdam)

12.07.1918

03.12.1918

Kriegsmarine LAZ 47 07.1940, FAIRPLAY X 09.1941, scrapped 02.07.1964

M 3 (exANNA)

Van der Schuyt (Papendrecht)

.. .. 1916

01.10.1918

Sunk as blockship, Ymuiden 14.05.1940

M 4 (exPAULINE)

Van der Schuyt (Papendrecht)

.. 08.1916

01.10.1918

Kriegsmarine BS 9 1941, RNethN RS-23 1945, Y 8262 1962, discarded 10.01.1992

In the profile on top M.1 has been portayed with the minesweeping gear that was used around 1920, at the right the navy tug is shown in her Kriegsmarine guise as Lazarettschiff (hospital ship) LAZ 46.

102

Gross Tonnage

M 1 238 M 2 300 M 3, M 4 260 (full load …) GRT

Dimensions

M 1 30.5 x 7 x 3.1 M 2 29.7 x 6.3 x 3.8 M 3, M 4 27.5 x 6.6 x 2.8 m

Machinery

1 Scottish boiler, triple expansion engine, 1 shaft, 500 M 3, M 4 450 SHP = 10 kn

Range

…. nm at .. kn

Armament

1 mg – 12.7 mm

Complement

16

At the end of WW I the Royal Netherlands Navy purchased four seagoing tugs from the Bureau Wijsmuller company, which were next converted into minesweepers by the Willemsoord Navy Yard. The boats had not been designed as a class but had many features in common, while M 3 and M 4 were actually twins. At the time of the German invasion the minesweepers were stationed in the port of Ymuiden and were scuttled there on 14 May 1940. With the exception of M 3 all former tugs have been lifted by the Germans and pressed into service as hospital and rescue ships. Former M.4 is still soldiering on as the stationary shipboard restaurant THOR in the Dutch town of Zwolle.

After a short commercial life as seagoing tugs pressed into service as minesweepers: HNethMS M.4, sister ship of M.2 (photo) managed to be kept in the RNethNavy’s service for 74 years, after WWII reclassified as tug and from 1951 on as auxiliary vessel.

GDB

The first ships that were designed as minesweepers were earmarked for service in the Dutch East Indies. In this photo HNethMS A can be seen. GDB

103

Minesweepers: A - D After commissioning the ships were sent under tow to the Dutch East Indies, where they arrived at 20 October 1930. Eventually all were all lost in March 1942. However, the first three sweepers were salvaged by the Japanese and spent their last years on the service of the Rising Sun. In that role they were destroyed by American aircraft during the final stages of the Pacific war.

0

20

10

30

40

42,8 m

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

A

RWW

19.04.1929

04.08.1930

Sunk Japanese aircraft, Surabaya, 1.03.1942

B

RWW

24.09.1929

04.08.1930

Sunk Japanese aircraft, Surabaya, 1.03.1942

C

RWW

1929

04.08.1930

Scuttled Surabaya, 6.03.1942

D

RWW

1929

04.08.1930

Scuttled Surabaya, 6.03.1942

Displacement

179 (full load ..) tons

Dimensions

42.8 x 6.5 x 1.5 m

Machinery

1 … boiler, 2 triple expansion engines, 2 shafts: 700 SHP = 14 kn

Range

…. nm at .. kn

Armament

2 mg - 12.7 mm

Complement

31

104

This picture of HNethMS B was taken in Den Helder. The minesweeper made the voyage to the Dutch East Indies in tow by a seagoing tug, in company of her sister ships. CKZ

Minesweepers: ‘JAN VAN AMSTEL’ class

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

JAN VAN AMSTEL

PS

27.08.1936

15.03.1937

Sunk by gunfire Japanese destroyers, Madura Straits 08.03.1942

PIETER DE BITTER

PS

29.10.1936

26.05.1937

Scuttled Surabaya 06.03.1942

ABRAHAM CRIJNSSEN

WG

22.09.1936

27.05.1937

Preserved RNethN Museum, Den Helder 1996

ELAND DUBOIS

WG

24.10.1936

21.06.1937

Scuttled Madura Straits 08.03.1942

WILLEM VAN EWIJCK (1)

PS

22.02.1937

19.07.1937

Mined off Terschelling 08.09.1939

This class of modern minesweepers initially consisted of eight ships that were designed for service in both the Dutch East Indies and in the Dutch home waters. In 1939 orders were placed for four additional sweepers to an identical design and in 1940 building another two ships was contemplated, but again the German invasion thwarted all RNethN’s careful planning. The first group of four vessels were sent to the Dutch Indies and have been lost there in 1942, except for ABRAHAM CRIJNSSEN, which managed to escape to Australia. Her captain avoided detection by steaming at night and anchoring close inshore of remote islands during daylight hours, extensivily camouflaged by foliage. The second group were assigned to service in the Netherlands. Only a few days after the outbreak of WW II WILLEM VAN EWIJCK struck a Dutch mine and was lost. One ship of the 1940 order was consequently earmarked as a replacement, but like PIETER FLORISZ and ABRAHAM VAN DER HULST, was seized by the Germans. VAN DER HULST was lost in 1944, but after the war the other vessels were returned to the RNethN. JAN VAN GELDER, that made good her escape to Britain, was assigned to escort duties. ABRAHAM CRIJNSSEN has been preserved and is now on display at the Den Helder Naval Museum.

105

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

WILLEM VAN EWIJCK (II)

PS

18.04.1940

15.08.1946

Kriegsmarine M 551 30.08.1940, returned RNethN 1945 as Abraham van der Hulst (2), discarded 1961

PIETER FLORISZ

PS

11.05.1937

13.09.1937

Kriegsmarine M 552 08.1940, returned RNethN 1945, discarded 1961, scrapped 1976

JAN VAN GELDER

WG

17.04.1937

13.09.1937

Royal Navy 1943 - 1946. Discarded 1961

ABRAHAM VAN DER HULST (1)

WG

27.05.1937

11.10.1937

Kriegsmarine M 553 08.1940, mined Baltic Sea 21.04.1944

J..., K... and L...

PS

-

-

Cancelled

Displacement

460 (full load 525 ) tons

Dimensions

55.8 x 7.8 x 2.2 m

Machinery

2 Yarrow boilers, 2 triple expansion engines, 2 shafts: 1,690 SHP = 15 kn

Range

…. nm at .. kn

Armament

1 - 7.5 cm, 4 mg - 12.7 mm (2 x 2)

Complement

45

Top HNethMS Abraham Crijnssen during an excercise, prewar in the Dutch Indies. Other photos from that period show Crijnssen with a pennant letter C. KCZ

Middle HNethMS Eland Dubois was one of a series of four minesweepers built for the Dutch Indies. KCZ

Right M 551 (ex-Pieter Florisz) wearing a camouflage pattern after Kriegsmarine fashion. M 552 (ex-Willem van Ewijck) and M 553 (ex-Abraham van der Hulst) were also donned in this scheme.

106

0

10

20

30

40

50

55,8 m

Minesweepers: ‘MMS 105 ft.’ class

TEXEL

Top Photo’s of Dutch 105 ft Motor Minesweepers are scarce. This is HNethMS Rozenburg. 0

20

10

30

JAD

36,4 m

Name

Launched

Completed

Fate

TEXEL (ex-MMS 73)

13.06.1942

12.11.1942

Discarded 1957

TERSCHELLING (1) (ex-MMS 174)

15.03.1942

06.07.1942

Sunk German aircraft 13.07.1942

VLIELAND (ex-MMS 226)

15.08.1942

05.10.1942

Foundered Dutch New Guinea 11.1951

MARKEN (1) (ex-MMS 227)

15.07.1942

19.10.1942

Mined Thames Estuary 20.05.1944

AMELAND (ex-MMS 231)

30.09.1942

21.12.1942

Discarded 1957

ROZENBURG (ex-MMS 292)

12.12.1942

05.04.1943

Discarded 1957

BEVELAND (ex-MMS 237)

09.01.1943

12.04.1943

Discarded 1957

PUTTEN (ex-MMS 138)

09.11.1942

10.05.1943

Discarded 1957

TERSCHELLING (2) (ex- MMS 234)

1942

21.06.1943

Discarded 1957

MARKEN (2) (ex-MMS 54)

22.09.1941

23.08.1944

Discarded 1957

Top A less well known photo taken of HNethMS Beveland, easily identifiable by the British pennant number FY.237. GDB

107

Displacement

225 (full load 295 ) tons

Dimensions

36.3 x 7 x 2.9 m

Machinery

1 ..-cyl. diesel engine, 1 shaft, 500 BHP = 11 kn

Range

550 nm at 10 kn

Armament

2 mg – 12.7 mm AA (1 x 2), 4 mg – 7.7 mm AA (2 x 2)

Complement

20

By introducing the magnetic mine the Germans effectively put an end to the use of steel vessels as minesweepers. From 1940 on British minesweepers were built of wood and non-ferro metals only, and this task was given to shipyards that at the time were still building wooden fishery craft. To speed up construction an existing design for a 105 ft hull was selected. Due to the multitude of shipyards that were involved in the project the level of standardisation was far from satisfactory. It soon turned out that it would be impossible to supply one single engine type for all vessels of the class, which was referred to as MMS 105 ft. In all, 309 minesweepers were built during the war, of which the RNethN commissioned ten units, all named after Dutch islands. TERSCHELLING and MARKEN were lost and had to be replaced. After the war VLIELAND was shipwrecked in Dutch New Guinea. The rest were stricken from the navy list in 1958.

Top During the war the British designed an enlarged wooden minesweeper type with a length of 126 ft. In this photograph HNethMS Tholen can be seen in Dutch New Guinea with NATO hull number M 823. JAD

Right HNethMS Overflakkee, also photographed in New Guinea. Mark the rolls and capstans for handling sweeping gears. JAD

108

Minesweepers: ‘MMS 126 ft.’ class

0

Name

20

10

Launched

Completed

30

40

Fate

WALCHEREN (ex-MMS 1022)

23.11.1942

22.02.1943 Mined off Balik Papan 19.11.1946

WIERINGEN (ex-MMS 1025)

25.02.1943

14.05.1943 Discarded Indonesia 1949

IJSSELMONDE (ex-MMS 1026)

8.03.1943

THOLEN (ex-MMS 1014)

9.01.1943

20.06.1943 Discarded Dutch New Guinea, 1952

VOORNE (ex-MMS 1043)

15.06.1943

21.08.1943 Discarded Dutch New Guinea, 1952

SCHOKLAND (ex-MMS 1082)

1943

42,6 m

To improve on the 105 ft. minesweepers’ seakeeping qualities and endurance a new type of motor minesweeper was introduced with a length of 126 ft. and a heavier armament. Engine power, however, was kept unchanged, resulting in a speed loss of one knot, compared to their predecessors. To this design the Royal Navy had 106 units built, out of which eight vessels joined the RNethN. Like their British counterparts they were assigned to minesweeping tasks around the British Isles and after the war to sweeping operations in the North Sea. In 1946 all RNethN vessels of the class were sent to the Dutch East Indies. There WALCHEREN struck a mine during a sweep. Two ships were transferred to the Indonesian Navy in 1952 while the others paid off in 1950.

7.06.1943 Transferred Indonesian Navy 23.02.1952

10.01.1944 Discarded Indonesia 1949

OVERFLAKKEE (ex-MMS 1046)

30.10.1943

4.03.1944 Discarded Dutch New Guinea, 1952

DUIVELAND (ex-MMS 1074)

27.01.1944

3.04.1944 Transferred Indonesian Navy 23.02.1952

Displacement

360 (full load 430) tons

Dimensions

42.6 x 7.7 x 3.1 m

Machinery

1 ..-cyl. diesel engine, 1 shaft: 500 SHP = 10 kn

Range

… nm at .. kn

Armament

2 mg - 20 mm AA (2 x 1), 4 mg - 7.7 mm AA (2 x 2)

Complement

24

109

Minesweepers: MIJNENVEEGBOOT I - XII

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

Mv I, II, IV and XII

DVL

1940

-

1940 Kriegsmarine RH 1, RH 2, RH 4, R 206; lost Black Sea, 08.1944

Mv V - X

Abeking & Rasmussen, Lemwerder (D.)

1940

Mv III

DVL

1940

-

29.09.1940 Kriegsmarine RH 3, mined Baltic Sea off Riga 19.11.1941

Mv XI

DVL

1940

-

11.1940 Kriegsmarine R 205, mined Baltic Sea off Riga 01.10.1941

-

Cancelled by Kriegsmarine 31.07.1940

With minesweeping operations in North Sea estuaries and inshore waterways in mind the RNethN ordered six minesweeping craft or Mijnenveegboten (Mv). An order for five sister ships was placed with the German shipyard of Abeking & Rasmussen in Lemwerder, but that was cancelled by the Kriegsmarine after May 1940. 110

Top left Reconstruction of the original RNethN design.

Top right Former Mv II as RA 52 with the Kriegsmarine in the Black Sea.

Bottom De Kriegsmarine camouflaged the boats in the Black Sea with black faces. Displacement

49 (full load … ) tons

Dimensions

23 x 4.5 x 1.1 m

Machinery

2 ..-cyl. diesel engines, 2 shafts: 220 pk = 10 kn

Armament

…

Complement

…

HVW

Trawlers, taken up from trade (35 vessels) In this book Auxiliary Minesweeper no. 7 CLAESJE will represent the 35 trawlers that were taken up from trade by the RNethN in 1940. When the Germans overran the Low Countries the majority of them evaded seizure by crossing the North Sea to Britain and were consequently attached to British mine sweeping flottillas. Inevitable, losses occured during the war. CAROLINE for example (ex-IJM 26) struck a magnetic mine on 28 April 1943 and was lost with all hands. From 1943 on, the arrival of the 105 ft motor minesweepers resulted in the subsequent phasing out of the former trawlers.

Contrary to other auxiliary minesweepers HNethMS Claesje served with the RNethN until the end of the war. HVW

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

CLAESJE (ex-RO 46 )

J. Smit Czn

24.05.1933

02.04.1940

Returned owners 09.1946

Gross Tonnage

229 GRT

Dimensions

39.2 x 7.2 x .. m

Machinery

1 4-cyl. Bolinder diesel engine, 1 shaft: 300 BHP = 12 kn

Range

… nm at .. kn

Armament

1 - 7.6 cm, 2 mg - 20 mm AA (2 x 1)

Complement

17

111

Auxiliary Minesweepers 175 (full load … ) tons

Dimensions

34.6 x 5.7 x 1.9 m

Machinery

1 ..-cyl. Entreprise diesel engine, 1 shaft: 360 pk = 12 kn

Range

… nm at .. kn

Armament

Endeh 2 mg - 7.7mm (2 x 1) others 1 mg – 12.7 mm

Complement

10

In an emergency the Royal Netherlands Navy could call on the Gouvernementsmarine to provide a wide variety of auxiliaries. This ‘Inshore Navy’ was organised on a semi-military footing and contained a collection of ships that in peacetime were used to patrol and survey the vast areas of the Dutch dependency. Within the Gouvernementsmarine a special category of so-called ‘Regional Vessels’ or Gewestelijke Vaartuigen could be distinguished. The ‘DE’ and ‘FG’ class belonged to this group, for which orders were placed with the local Tanjung Priok Shipyard from 1940 on. It is believed that after completion all vessels went straight to the RNethN, which pressed them into service as auxiliary minesweepers, rather than to the Gouvernementsmarine. DJEMBER and ENGGANO were salvaged by the Japanese and recovered after the war, but were not recommissioned by the RNethN.

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

DJEMBER

DMT

1940

….

Scuttled Tanjung Priok 01.03.1942

DJOMBANG

DMT

1942

….

Scuttled Tanjung Priok 01.03.1942

DJAMPEA

DMT

1941

….

Scuttled Tanjung Priok 01.03.1942

ENGGANO

DMT

1941

….

Scuttled Tanjung Priok 01.03.1942

ENDEH

DMT

1941

….

Sunk by Japanese surface vessels, Java Sea 02.03.1942

FLORES

DMT

-

-

Destroyed on slipway, Tanjung Priok 03.1942

FAK-FAK

DMT

-

-

Destroyed on slipway, Tanjung Priok 03.1942

GARUT

DMT

-

-

Destroyed on slipway, Tanjung Priok 03.1942

GRISSEE

DMT

-

-

Destroyed on slipway, Tanjung Priok 03.1942

A picture taken of a Regional Vessel at anchor, possibly HNethMS Djember. The illustrated profile has been based on a drawing of type FG. GDB

112

Displacement

9 OTHER WARSHIPS Torpedoboats: ‘Z.5’ class

0

20

10

30

40

50

58,5 m

The design of these torpedo boats enabled sorties against enemy warships that might appear in the Dutch coastal waters, but that concept had become completely outdated in 1939. Since their tactical value had been greatly diminished Z.5 had been converted into a patrol boat and could be distinguished from her sisters by a longer fo’c’sle, only two funnels and the lack of torpedo tubes. On 10 May 1940 Z.5 took part in an hastily staged operation against German parachutists who had seized the Rotterdam bridges, together with TM.51, however without succes. All ‘Z’ boats made good their escape to England where they spent the war as depot and training ships.

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

Displacement

263 (full load …) tons

Z5

KMS

1.04.1915

08.02.1917

Scrapped 10.1945

Dimensions

58.5 x 6 x 1.7 m

Z6

KMS

15.04.1915

08.02.1917

Scrapped 02.1943

Machinery

Z5 2 Scottish boilers, triple expansion engines, 2 shafts: 3,000 SHP = 22 kn

Range

.. nm at .. kn

Armament

2 – 7.5 cm (2 x 1), 2 mg – 12.7 mm AA (1 x 2), 4 Z 5 none TT - 45.6 cm (2 x 1 and 1 x 2)

Complement

34

Z7

WF

10.05.1915

08.09.1916

Scrapped 1947

Z8

WF

23.06.1915

22.09.1916

Scrapped 08.1944

113

Top This picture - reproduced from a contemporary post card - dates back to before 1931 because the fo’c’sle of HNethMS Z 5 has not yet been extended here. Also the ship still has her fore funnel, which was deleted during her conversion into a patrol vessel.

JAD

Middle HNethMS Z 8 is keeping station off the Hook while guarding Dutch non-belligerent policy. Mark the neurality colours at the bow.

JAD

Bottom When WW II broke out in 1939 HNethMS Z 5 was virtually obsolete. Nevertheless, the ship was sent into action in a futile attempt to dislodge German paratroopers from the Rotterdam Meuse bridges. TGB

114

Fleet Tanker: TANKBOOT I

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

TANKBOOT 1

VDG

3.05.1941

-

Kriegsmarine Kärnten 30.9.1941, USSR 1945, scrapped 1993

Deadweight/Gross tonnage

5,660 tons/6,900 GRT

Dimensions

132.1 x 16.2 x 7.5 m

Machinery

2 8-cyl. Werkspoor diesel engines, 2 shafts: 7,000 BHP = 15 kn

Range

…. zm bij .. kn

Armament

Design 2 -12 cm (2 x 1), 4 mg – 40 mm AA (2 x 2)

Complement

..

At 14 May 1940 the fleet tanker TANKBOOT 1 was building at the Van der Giessen shipyard at Krimpen aan den Yssel as construction no. 667. The hull was seized by the Kriegsmarine, which launched the ship at 3 May 1941 as Hilfstroßschiff KÄRNTEN. Delayed by a number of technical issues she was eventually commissioned at 30 September 1941 and attached to Troßschiffverband Nord (Auxiliary Flottilla North) at 15 March 1942. KÄRNTEN operated in Norwegian waters out of the Kirkenes U-boats base. After the German collapse the oiler was allotted to the USSR and was commissioned by the Soviet navy as VB 415 at 28 December 1945. Renamed POLYARNIK in 1964 she was still mentioned in the 1986/87 edition of Weyer’s Flotten Taschenbuch.

115

Submarine Depot Ship: COLOMBIA

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

COLOMBIA

PS

24.05.1930

20.05.1941

Torpedoed by U 516, Indian Ocean off Simonstown 27.02.1943

Displacement/Gross Tonnage

14,600 tons/10,782 GRT

Dimensions

139,3 x 18,8 x 11,0 m

Machinery

2 8-cyl. Werkspoor diesel engines, 2 shafts: 8,000 BHP = 16 kn

Armament

4 - 7.6 cm (4 x 1), 8 mg - 20 mm AA (8 x 1), 6 mg - 12,7 mm AA, 4 mg – 7.7 mm AA

Complement

273

116

Before the war the KNSM flagship COLOMBIA ran a mail and passenger service between Western Europe and the Carribean, but was also used for cruises around Norway and Iceland. At the time she was a fairly modern liner, sporting a swimming pool and an elevator, and could accomodate 278 passengers. COLOMBIA was taken up from trade on 8 November 1940 by the RNethN and given in hand with a Dundee shipyard to have her converted into a submarine depot ship for service in the Dutch East Indies. On 12 January 1942 the vessel left Britain for East Asia but would not complete this voyage, due to the surrender of Java. In company of other Dutch warships COLOMBIA was attached to the Eastern Fleet and was part of this formation until U 516 sent her to the bottom of the Indian Ocean.

MBIA ERDAM

COLOMBIA - HOLLAND L

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

R

80

90

100

110

120

130

139,3 m

Top M/V Colombia is illustrated here with neutrality markings, that were carried by all Dutch vessels from September 1939 on until the German invasion of the Netherlands. By night these faces were lighted. Nevertheless several Dutch merchant vessels fell victim to U-boat attacks in those months.

Left A prewar photograph of Colombia . KCZ

117

Submarine Depot Ship: JANSSENS Many ships were taken up from trade by the Royal Netherlands Navy in the Dutch East Indies when WW II broke out, and pressed into service as auxiliaries. Awaiting the arrival of COLOMBIA m/v JANSSENS, owned by the KPM company, was temporarily converted into a submarine depot ship. On 3 March 1942 JANSSENS was one of the last vessels to make good her escape from Chilachap at the South coast of Java to Fremantle in Australia. She spent the rest of the war in charter of the Ministry of War Transport.

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

JANSSENS

PS

27.04.1935

24.08.1935

Returned to owners 26.09.1945

Gross Tonnage

2,071 GRT

Dimensions

80.8 x 13.1 x … m

Machinery

1 6-cyl. Sulzer diesel engine, 1 shaft: 1,000 BHP = 11 kn

Range

…. nm at .. kn

Armament

2 - 5 cm (2 x 1), 4 mg – 12.7 mm AA

Complement

110

118

Before the war m/v Janssens maintained a passenger and freight service between islands in the Dutch Indies. GDB

Supply Ship: ZUIDERKRUIS When ZUIDERKRUIS was taken over by the RNethN in 1939 she had been in service since 1924 with the Gouvernementsmarine as a surveying and cable laying vessel. After a refit by the Surabaya Navy Yard she was commissioned as a supply and transport vessel in 1939, but was actually used as submarine depot ship. At the end of February 1942 ZUIDERKRUIS managed to escape to Ceylon, in company of many other Allied ships. For the rest of the war she served there as a stationary supply vessel.

Bottom Although officially classified as supply ship HNethMS Zuiderkruis was also used as a submarine depot ship. Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

ZUIDERKRUIS

NSM

17.11.1923

.. .. 1924

RNethN 19.05.1939 Indonesian BIMASAKTI, 1951

Displacement

2,661 (full load … ) tons

Dimensions

78.3 x 11.2 x … m

Machinery

2 … boilers, 2 triple expansion engines, 2 shafts: 1,720 SHP = 13 kn

Range

.. nm at .. kn

Armament

2 – 7.6 cm (2 x 1), 2 mg - 20 mm AA (2 x 1), 4 mg – 7.7 mm

Complement

97

JAD

119

Gasoline Transport: BEN 1 In 1939 the RNethN acquired four small freighters from the KPM company and pressed them into service for shipping gasoline cans, the m/v MINJAK being one of them. Designated as BEN I through BEN.4 they were used to that effect until the surrender of Java in 1942. BEN.1 was salvaged by the Japanese in 1944 and probably lost later on during the war.

During their service with the RNethN the gasoline transports were nicknamed ‘tin can boats’, which did not refer to their building material but to the packaging of their cargoes. GDB

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

BEN 1 (exMINJAK)

SMM

09.01.1937

09.04.1939

RNethN 09.1939, scuttled Surabaya 04.03.1942

Gross Tonnage

966 GRT

Dimensions

62.1 x 10.4 x 4.6 m

Machinery

1 6-cyl. Werkspoor diesel engine, 1 shaft: 550 BHP = 9 kn

Range

…. nm at .. kn

Complement

30

120

MAC Ships: GADILA and MACOMA

120 115 110 105 100 95 90 85 80 75 70 65

L

120 115 110 105 100 95 90 85 80 75 70 65

R

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

Deadweight/Gross Tonnage

12,280 Macoma 12,057 tons /7,999 Macoma 8,011 GRT

GADILA

Howaldtswerke, Kiel

01.12.1934

01.02.1944

Flight deck removed 1946, scrapped Hong Kong 30.11.1957

Dimensions

141.2 x 18.1 x 10.3 m

Machinery

NSM

31.12.1935

Flight deck removed 1946, scrapped Hong Kong 14.12.1959

1 8-cyl. MAN/Werkspoor diesel engine, 1 shaft: 3,500 pk = 12 kn

Range

.. nm at .. kn

Armament

1 – 10.2 cm, 8 mg - 20 mm AA (8 x 1)

Complement

100

MACOMA

01.04.1944

121

The initial success that German U-boats enjoyed when attacking North Atlantic convoys during WW II was partly caused by the limited range of available land based aircraft that could be used against submarines. As an emergency measure a number of tankers and grain carriers were fitted out with flight decks of 150 x 20 m, while keeping their cargo capacity intact. Although these Merchant Aircraft Carriers lacked hangar facilities three or four Swordfishes could still be accommodated. Armed with eight air-to-ground rockets these aircraft could detect and attack U-boats at long distances from a convoy. The airplanes on board GADILA and MACOMA, both owned by La Corona (Shell), were flown by Dutch personnel of 860 Fleet Air Arm Squadron.

Top right The Fairey Swordfish had initially been designed as a carrierborne torpedo bomber. The aircraft was already obsolete by 1939, but could still be successful when no enemy opposition would be encountered in the air. The biplane served with the RN’s Fleet Air Arm during the war in a number of variants, establishing a solid track record and even surviving the advent of newer types. Technical specification (Mk II): Span, 13.87 m; length, 11.7 m; height, 3.91 m; wing area, 56.39 m2; weight, 4,190 kg. Fitted with a 750 H.P. Bristol Pegasus 30 engine its maximum speed was 224 km/h. A Swordfish could carry a bomb load of 681 kg.

Bottom right MAC-ships like m/v Macoma combined the roles of tanker and auxiliary aircaft carrier. As a result convoys to which these vessel were attached could be protected more effectively against preying U-boats. GDB

122

Left In October 1945 Macoma has berthed in Rotterdam, awaiting repairs that will restore the MAC ship to her original function. GDB

Bottom Shell tanker m/v Gadila in her civic livery, photographed postwar off Cape Town. GDB

123

Assault Ships: PRINCESS BEATRIX and QUEEN EMMA

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

Gross Tonnage

4,353 GRT

QUEEN EMMA (ex- KONINGIN EMMA)

KMS

14.01.1939

Royal Navy 14.01.1941

RN 14.01.1941, rebuilt SMZ 02.1948, scrapped 1969

Dimensions

115.9 x 14.4 x 7.6 m

Machinery

PRINCESS BEATRIX (ex-PRINSES BEATRIX)

KMS

Royal Navy 22.01.1941

RN 22.01.1941, rebuilt SMZ 05.1948, scrapped 1969

2 10-cyl. Sulzer/KMS diesel engines, 2 shafts: 12,500 BHP = 23 kn

Range

.. nm at .. kn

Armament

2 - 7.6 cm AA (2 x 1), 2 mg - 40mm AA (2 x 1), 6 mg 20 mm AA (6 x 1)

Complement

227

124

25.03.1939

Top These profiles show Koningin Emma’s appearance at the time of her builder’s trails in 1939.

Left page After their radical conversion into LSIs the former Channel ferries could carry eight landing craft into combat.

In September 1939 these two Channel ferries were the newest assets of the Zeeland Steamship Company (SMZ). They had been in service between Flushing and Harwich for only a few weeks when the outbreak of WW II forced their owners to keep the vessels in port. At the time of the German invasion both ships left Flushing and crossed the North Sea as soon as 11 May 1940, and were chartered by the British Government almost immediately. In the

weeks thereafter the ferries evacuated troops and civilians from French ports, and were involved in the occupation of Iceland later in the year. In September 1940 the Royal Navy took them up from trade and sent the ferries to Harland & Wolff at Belfast. There the two ships were converted into Assault Ships (later on reclassified as LSI: Landing Ship, Infantry), and commissioned as HMS QUEEN.EMMA and PRINCESS BEATRIX in January 1941. In their new 125

capacity they could each accomodate 372 troops, which were sent into battle in eight landing craft. During the war the former ferry boats took part in many amphibious operations in North African and European waters. After the Normandy landings the ships were directed to the Far East. There they assisted in the surrender of Japanese armed forces in the Dutch East Indies and elsewhere in the region. The ships finally arrived back in the Netherlands in 1946 and were returned to their original owners. It would take two more years to rebuild the ships, but after that they would serve the SMZ company for almost twenty years.

Top right M/V Koningin Emma (photo) and Prinses Beatrix were conceived for the Flushing-Harwich ferry service. Almost immediately after their completion WW II broke out and the ships had to be kept at their Flushing moorings.

GDB

Middle right HMS Queen Emma in action during Operation Torch, the Allied landings in Northern Africa, 6 November 1942. JAD

Bottom right The war is over, the ships have returned to the Netherlands without their landing craft and will be rebuilt to resume their ferry services across the North Sea. In this photo Prinses Beatrix is shown. JAD

Left LSI’s were equipped with two types of landing craft. On top the LCM (Landing Craft Mechanised) is shown, designed to carry a light tank, army trucks or 100 troops, with a deadweight capacity of 16 tons. At the bottom the LCA (Landing Craft Assault) is pictured, which could put 35 troops with their equipment on the beach.

126

Rescue Ship: ZWARTE ZEE Before the war L. Smit & Co.’s ZWARTE ZEE was the largest and most powerful tug in the world. Stationed at Flushing on 10 May 1940 she was taken up from trade by the RNethN the same day and tasked with the job of towing the incomplete destroyer ISAAC SWEERS to Britain. In the UK the tug was based at Falmouth, where she was hit by German bombs and capsized. She was salvaged and repaired and was attached to the Royal Navy’s Rescue Tug Section with pennant W 163. The tug made many voyages as last ship of a convoy, picking up survivors and taking damaged ships in tow. Other salvaging jobs were dealt with as well. After the war ZWARTE ZEE was returned to her owners.

Seagoing tug Zwarte Zee photographed while on builder’s trials. NSM

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed Fate

ZWARTE ZEE

LS

02.06.1933

Royal Navy 16.05.1940

RNethN 10.05.1940, Chartered RN 16.05.1940, returned to owners 1945

Gross Tonnage

793 GRT

Dimensions

63.4 x 9.8 x 5.9 m

Machinery

2 6-cyl. Werkspoor diesel engines, 1 shaft, 4,200 BHP = 17 kn

Range

.. nm at .. kn

Armament

1 – 7.6 cm, 2 mg - 20 mm AA (2 x 1)

Complement

36

127

Harbour Defence Ship: BV 39 LAUWERZEE At the outbreak of WW II in 1939 the RNethN had too few vessels in commission to organise a permanent surveillance in all estuaries and inshore waters, which was a first priority in maintaining Dutch neutrality. As a stop-gap measure a number of pilot vessels and tugs were taken up from trade and pressed into service as BEWAKINGSVAARTUIG 1 through 45. Seagoing tug LAUWERZEE was stationed in Zeeland as BV 39. When the Germans invaded the Netherlands BV39 escaped to England and was attached to the Royal Navy’s Rescue Tug Section, based at Falmouth, in company of other Dutch tugs. Sadly, on 3 October 1940 LAUWERZEE struck a mine and sank in the Channel during a towing job, taking all but one of the crew with her.

A historic picture of seagoing steam tug Lauwerzee. NSM

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

BV 39 (exLAUWERZEE)

JKS

.. 05.1930

.. ..1930

RNethN 24.08.1939, mined off Falmouth 03.10.1940

Gross Tonnage

262 GRT

Dimensions

35.8 x 7 x 3.9 m

Machinery

1 Scottish boiler, 1 triple expansion engine, 1 shaft: 550 SHP = 10 kn

Range

…. nm at .. kn

Armament

1 - 5 cm

Complement

13

128

Surveying Vessel: HYDROGRAAF HYDROGRAAF survived two world wars and has stood in the service of the Royal Netherlands Navy for more than half a century. In May 1940 the ship escaped from Flushing Roads to England, were she served as minesweeper headquarters and depot ship. After the war, HYDROGRAAF resumed her duties as surveying vessel and when taken out of service in 1962 she was the last coal firing ship of the RNethN. She has been restored to her original looks in 1983, although her machinery was replaced by a diesel engine. Since then HYDROGRAAF is being commercially exploited as a party boat.

HNethMS Hydrograaf is still afloat nowadays, although no longer in service with the RNethN, and has reached an impressing age of over one hundred years. GDB

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

HYDROGRAAF

WF

26.01.1910

04.05.1910

Discarded 16.10.1962

Displacement

297 (full load … ) tons

Dimensions

40.5 x 6.7 x 1.8 m

Machinery

1… boiler, 1 triple expansion engine, 1 shaft: 400 SHP = 11 kn

Range

.. nm at .. kn

Complement

23

129

Depot Ship: PLANCIUS and Hospital Ship: OP TEN NOORT

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

Gross Tonnage

5,955 Op ten Noort 6,076 GRT

PLANCIUS

NSM

15.03.1923

04.03.1924

RNethN 09.04.1942 Scrapped 23.11.1958

Dimensions

128.1 Op ten Noort 129.4 x 16.8 x 6.8 m

Machinery

OP TEN NOORT

NSM

1927

14.02.1942

Sunk off Katsushima, Japan, 23.08.1945

6 Babcock & Wilcox boilers, 2 quadruple expansion engines, 2 shafts: 5,800 SHP = 15 kn

Range

…. nm at .. kn

Complement

162

130

During the war in the Far East Japanese armed forces were not overly bothered to implement the Geneva Convention. In an endless list of violations of international law there is also an entry concerning the seizure of the Dutch hospital vessel OP TEN NOORT, that was directed to the combat area after the Battle of the Java Sea in order to search for survivors. The ship never arrived off Bawean because she was stopped at sea by the Japanese destroyer AMATSUKAZE and escorted to Makassar. On 16 October the Japanese national colours were hoisted on the OP TEN NOORT. Renamed into HIKAWA MARU NO. 2 the ship spent the rest of the war as Japanese hospital ship. Shortly after

the end of hostilities the ship was scuttled by the Japanese. OP TEN NOORT was owned by the KPM company or Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij. Together with her sister ship PLANCIUS the ship was used prewar to maintain a passenger and mail service between ports at the coasts of Java and Sumatra. After the evacuaton of Java PLANCIUS was taken up from trade by the RNethN in Trincomalee and was put in use as submarine depot ship and as Vice Admiral Helfrich’s floating headquarters, then Fleet Commander of the RNethN.

131

S/S Op ten Noort and her sister ship Plancius maintained shipping services between the Dutch East Indies and the rest of East Asia. GDB

This picture shows the Japanese hospital ship Hikawa Maru. The capture of the Dutch hospital ship Op ten Noort by the Japanese has gone down in history as a war crime. GDB

132

In Colombo, KPM’s Plancius was pressed into service as Vice Admiral Helfrich’s headquarters, the highest ranking Dutch officer in the region from 1942 till 1945. GDB

Training Vessel: SOERABAJA

Name

Builder

Launched

Completed

Fate

SOERABAJA (ex-DE ZEVEN PROVINCIËN)

RWA

15.03.1909

06.10.1910

Sunk as blockship by the Japanese, Surabaya 09.1944

Displacement

6,530 (full load …) tons

Dimensions

101.5 x 17.1 x 6.2 m

Machinery

3 Yarrow boilers, triple expansion engines, 2 shafts: 8,500 SHP = 17 kn

Range

… nm at .. kn

Protection

WL 150 mm, D 50 mm, GT 250 mm, CT 200 mm

Armament

2 - 28 cm (2 x 1), 2 – 7.5 cm (2 x 1), 6 – 40 mm AA (6 x 1), 12 mg – 12.7 mm AA (1 x 2)

Complement

480

From her commissioning in 1910 until the completion of the cruisers JAVA and SUMATRA, DE ZEVEN PROVINCIËN was the pride of the Royal Netherlands Navy. The underlying strategical concept of ‘coastal battleships’ however had gone out of fashion at the beginning of the 1920s. When a mutiny broke out in February 1933 which was ended by aerial bombing the RNethN decided to reconsider the already obsolete vessel’s future. DE ZEVEN.PROVINCIEN was renamed SOERABAJA and relegated to training duties. The specifications above refer to the 1937 state of the ship, when she had completed a four years’ refit. This entailed the replacement of all eight coal fired boilers by three modern, oil burning Yarrow boilers. One funnel was deleted but total machinery power output did not change. At the same time, her secondary armament of four 15 cm guns were landed, together with eight guns of 7.5 cm. In that guise SOERABAJA took part in the occupation of Portuguese Timor but sank on 18 February 1942 at her moorings in the RNethN base at Surabaya, after bomb hits by Japanese aircraft. She was lifted by the enemy later on during the war and in 1944 was scuttled to block the Surabaya Roads fairway. The wreck has been lying there well into the 1950s. One of her impressive 28 cm turrets has been salvaged and is on display in the Indonesian Navy Museum of Morokrembangan near Surabaya.

133

Left Side elevation of HNethMS De Zeven Provinciën as designed and built in 1909. Bottom right In this photograph the protected cruiser can be seen in the same livery in Den Helder. GDB

Bottom The former De Zeven Provinciën after her conversion into gunnery training vessel as HNethMS Soerabaja . JAD

134

Anti Aircraft Vessel: NIOBE

0

Name GELDERLAND

10

Builder WF

20

30

Launched 28.09.1898

40

Completed 15.07.1900

50

60

70

Fate Kriegsmarine NIOBE 01.03.1944, sunk by Soviet air attack, Gulf of Finland off Kotka 16.07.1944

Displacement

4,000 (full load …) tons

Dimensions

94.7 x 14.8 x 5.4 m

Machinery

12 Yarrow boilers, triple expansion engines, 2 shafts: 9,800 SHP = 20 kn

Range

… nm at .. kn

Protection

D 50 mm

Armament

Niobe 8 - 10.5 cm (8 x 1), 4 - 40 mm AA (4 x 1), 16 mg - 20 mm AA (4 x 4)

Complement

..

80

90

94,7 m

Top Jacob van Heemskerck was retained by the RNethN as Batterijschip Ymuiden. Beneath Converted Dutch protected cruisers after the German surrender in Wilhelmshaven, Germany.

GDB

JAD

Before WW I protected cruisers built the backbone of the Royal Netherlands Navy, which was envisaged as a purely defensive instrument in preserving Dutch neutrality. But by 1918 these slow and weakly protected warships were no longer a match for British or German light cruisers. In 1940 the ships had all but vanished from the Dutch naval scene, with the exception of two hulked vessels, GELDERLAND and HERTOG HENDRIK and the former protected cruiser JACOB.VAN.HEEMKERCK. That vessel had been renamed BATTERIJSCHIP YMUIDEN and was incorporated into the static defences of the Ymuiden locks. At first, the Kriegsmarine showed very little interest in these veterans, but under the increasing weight of Allied air power the old warships were converted into floating anti-aircraft batteries. Except GELDERLAND the ships were returned to the RNethN after the war and served as depot ships for many years thereafter. 135

Abbreviations

Symbol Explanation

SHP

Shaft Horsepower, developped at engine shaft(s), in HP (1 HP = 0,75 kW)

AA

Anti-aircraft

SMM

N.V. Internationale Scheepsbouwmij. ’De Maas’, Slikkerveer

BGH

Burgerhout’s Machinefabriek en Scheepswerf NV, Rotterdam

TT

Torpedo tubes

GRT

Bruto Registre Ton ( 1 GRT = 2,8316 m3)

VDG

N.V. C. van der Giessen & Zoon’s Scheepswerven, Krimpen aan den Yssel

BPH

British Powerboat Co., Hythe (U.K.)

VLP

Vosper Ltd., Portsmouth (U.K.)

CT

Conning Tower (main armament gunnery direction)

WG

N.V. Werf ‘Gusto’ v/h Firma A.F. Smulders, Schiedam

D

Deck (horizontal armour)

WL

Water line (armour protection)

DDM

N.V. Droogdok Maatschappij ‘Tandjong Priok’, Tanjung Priok

WF

GRT

Gross Register Tons

GT

Gun turrets (armour protection)

N.V. Dok- en Werf Mij. Wilton-Fijenoord, Schiedam (formerly: Mij. voor Scheeps- en Werktuigbouw Fijenoord N.V., Rotterdam and N.V. Wilton’s Machinefabriek en Scheepswerf, Rotterdam)

JKS

N.V. J. & K. Smit’s Scheepswerven, Kinderdijk

JSW

J. S. White’s Yard, Cowes, Island of White (U.K.)

KMS

NV Koninklijke Mij. ‘De Schelde’, Vlissingen

KPM

Koninklijke Paketvaart-Maatschappij N.V., Amsterdam

kn

knots = speed in nautical miles per hour

LSZ

L. Smit & Zoon’s Scheeps- en Werktuigbouw N.V., Kinderdijk

m

meter

MG

Machine gun

MLD

RNethN Air Arm (Marine Luchtvaartdienst)

NDM

Nederlandsche Dok Mij. NV, Amsterdam

nm

nautical mile (1 nm = 1.852 m)

NSM

Nederlandsche Scheepsbouw Mij. N.V., Amsterdam

PS

N.V. Machinefabriek en Scheepswerf van P. Smit Jr., Rotterdam

RDM

NV Rotterdamsche Droogdok Mij., Rotterdam

RN

Royal Navy

RNethN

Royal Netherlands Navy (Koninklijke Marine)

RWA

Amsterdam Navy Yard (Rijkswerf Amsterdam)

RWW

Willemsoord Navy Yard (Rijkswerf Willemsoord, Den Helder)

136

Notes on vessel data

In this section we will explain how technical and other data have been presented for warships that are portrayed in this book. At first, a ship’s name or all units within a given class are mentioned, to be followed by a table with columns for builder’s names, dates of launch, completion dates and fates. Significant technical specifications are given next. Standard displacement figures follow the 1922 Washington Treaty definition, which has been generally accepted (combat displacement with fuel weight excluded). Then the loaded displacement is given. Both are specified in tons. For submarines the full displacement when submerged has been added. Dimensions are in meters and refer to length over all, maximum width and draught at standard displacement. Propulsion plants for steamships are described by numbers and types of boilers, and by their machinery type, e.g. steam turbines or reciprocating engines. When diesel engines have been used, the manufacterer’s name and the number of cylinders will be given. In the first case power output is expressed in shaft horsepower (SHP), otherwise brake horse power (BHP) is indicated (1 HP = 0.75 kW appr.) and will be accompanied by a maximum speed in knots (nautical miles per hour, 1 nautical mile = 1,852 m). Again, for submarines additional parameters are specified, i.e. the electrical power for underwater propulsion and the maximum speed when submerged. This part will be completed by endurance data, related to an economical speed. The next entry concerns armour protection, which was not applied to smaller or minor units and is omitted there. Armour data is specified for relevant parts of a warship, i.e. belt armour (WL), horizontal or deck armour (D), main armament (GT) and the conning tower (CT). Armour thickness is given in mms. Then a vessel’s offensive characteristics will be specified, to begin with the main armament. As is common practice within the RNethN all gun calibres are measured in centimeters, with the exception of lighter weapons like A.A. guns, for which millimeters are used. For each calibre the mounting arrangements will be given in an expression, e.g. 10 -15 cm (2 x 3 and 2 x 2) means: ten 15 cm guns

arranged into two triple and two twin turrets. Complement figures must be read cautiously, because numbers may vary between different sources. This is also true for numbers and types of A.A. guns that during the war were mounted in ever increasing quantities.

137

Bibliography Royal Netherlands Navy History (1940-1945)

Reference Works

A.C. van Beers, Periscoop op! (The Netherlands Publishing Company 1945).

Jane’s Fighting Ships Editions 1919 and 1949-50.

K.W.L. Bezemer, Zij vochten op de Zeven Zeeën (De Haan 1960) and Verdreven doch niet verslagen (De Haan 1967).

Weyers Taschenbuch der Kriegsflotten Editions 1941/42 and 1986/87.

Dr. Ph.M. Bosscher, De Koninklijke Marine in de Tweede Wereldoorlog (Wever/ Van Wijnen1984). H. Hazelhoff Roelfzema, De Tweede Wereldoorlog ter zee (De Boer 1979).

W.H.E. van Amstel, De schepen van de Koninklijke Marine na 1945 (De Alk 1991). J. Anten e.a., Hr.Ms. Kruisers Java en Sumatra (Asia Maior 2001). J. J. Baart, Schnellboote (Lanasta 2006) and Rotterdam Oorlogshaven (Walburg Pers 2010). K.W.L. Bezemer, Geschiedenis van de Nederlands Koopvaardij in de Tweede Wereldoorlog (Elsevier 1986). D. Cobb, HM MTB/Vosper 70ft (Profile Publications 1971). U. Elfrath e.a., Die deutsche Kriegsmarine 1935 - 1945, Band 1 – 4 (Podzun Pallas 1994). G.B.M. van Erkel e.a., Veertig jaren Onderzeedienst 1906 - 1946 (Scheltens & Giltay 1947). N. Geldhof, 70 Jaar Marineluchtvaartdienst (Eisma 1987). E. Gröner e.a., Die deutschen Kriegsschiffe 1815 - 1945, Band 8 (Bernard & Graefe 1982). R. Harmse e.a., Hr.Ms. Willem van der Zaan (Van Soeren & Co. 1999). M. Heere e.a., Zeeroep (Van Gorcum 1989).

138

P.C. Jalhay & J.J.A.Wijn, Ik nader ongezien (De Bataafsche Leeuw1997). P. de Jong & M.A. Cageling, Onze strijdmacht ter zee (Wyt & Zn. 1938). D. Jung e.a., Anstriche und Tarnanstriche der Deutschen Kriegsmarine (Bernard & Graefe 1997). A. Konstam, British Motor Torpedo Boat 1939-45 (Osprey 2003). F.J. Kubatz, De onderzeeboten van de Koninklijke Marine (Ten Brink Maritiem 1987). H.J. Leegemaate e.a., Hr.Ms. Kruiser De Ruyter 1933 - 1942 (Asia Maior 1999). H.T. Lenton, Royal Netherlands Navy (MacDonald 1967) and British and Empire Warships of the Second World War (Greenhill Books 1998). C. Mark, Schepen van de Koninklijke Marine in W.O. II (De Alk 1997). J. Mulder, De Zeven Provinciën, Scheepshistorie no. 2 (Lanasta 2007).

A. Raven, British Destroyer Appearance in World War II, Warship Nr. 1 (Conway Maritime Press 1977). jhr. mr. A.F. de Savornin Lohman (red.), Schepen (Amstleven 1939). H. van der Sloot, De Nederlandse Sleepvaart (Elmar 1983). ir. R.F. Scheltema de Heere, Slagkruisers voor Nederlands-Indië 1939, Marineblad no. 2 (1966). H. Ummels, Van Pantserboot tot Kanonneerboot (Aprilis 2005). A.J.C. Veenstra, De kruisers De Ruyter en De Zeven Provinciën (Ten Brink Maritiem 1986). A.J. Vermeulen, De schepen van de Koninklijke Marine en die der Gouvernementsmarine 1814 - 1962 (eigen beheer 1962). C.J.W. van Waning e.a., De Nederlandse Onderzeedienst 1906 - 1966 (Stok Z.H. Uitgeversmij. 1966).

L.L. von Münching, Schepen van de Koninklijke Marine in de Tweede Wereldoorlog (De Alk 1978) and De levensloop van twee Nederlandse Kanaalboten, Marineblad no. 3 (1969). J. S. Noot, Design studies for the Royal Netherlands Navy, Warship International Nr. 4 (1980). F.C. van Oosten, HNMS De Ruyter (Profile Publications 1974). A. van der Peet & A. de Wit, Schepen van gewelt (Van Wijnen 2002).

139

Index on vessel names A

D

A 103, 104 Abraham Crijnssen 105, 106 Abraham van der Hulst (1) 106 Abram van der Hulst 105 ‘Admirals’ class 13, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45 Aguirre 36 Almirante Grau 36 Amatsukaze 131 Ambuscade 42 Ameland 107 Ashanti 45

D 104 ‘DE’ and ‘FG’ class 112 De Ruyter 6, 14, 15, 16, 21, 26, 28, 29, 31, 36, 37, 39, 42, 44 De Zeven Provinciën 36, 37, 38, 39, 133, 134 Djampea 112 Djember 112 Djombang 112 Dolfijn 74 Dolfijn (I) 73 Dolfijn (II) 73 Douwe Aukes 61, 95, 96, 97 Duiveland 109

B

E

B 104 Banckert 41, 42 Barrie 85 Batterijschip Ymuiden 135 battle cruiser class 17 BEN 1 120 BEN 4 120 Beveland 107 Bewakingsvaartuig 1 - 45 128 Bimasakti 119 Brinio 75, 76 Buchanan 49, 50 BV 39 128

Eendracht 36 ‘Eendracht’ class 45 Eland Dubois 105, 106 Endeh 112 Enggano 112 Evertsen 41, 43 Exeter 15

C C 104 Campbeltown 49, 50 Carnation 85 Caroline 111 Celebes 22, 23 Claesje (ex-RO 46 ) 111 Cod 67 Cole 50 Colombia 116, 117

140

F Fak-Fak 112 Flores 15, 24, 76, 77, 78, 79, 112 ‘Flower’ class 85 Friso 75, 76, 86 Friso (2) 85

G Gadila 121, 122, 123 Gadjah Mada 51 Garut 112 Gelderland 135 Gerard Callenburgh 15, 45, 46, 47, 48, 70 ‘Gerard Callenburgh’ class 18 Gerard van Callenburgh 12 Gneisenau 17 Göta Lejon 38, 40

Gouden Leeuw 97, 98 Graf Spee 28 Grissee 112 Gruno 75

H H.6 53 Haguro 22, 26, 28, 41 ‘H’ class 53 Hertog Hendrik 135 Hikawa Maru 132 Hikawa Maru No. 2 131 Houston 15 ‘Hunt’ class 45 Hydra 95 Hydrograaf 129

I I-66 62 IJM 71 111 IJsselmonde 109 Isaac Sweers 15, 45, 46, 47, 48, 51, 82, 127 Itsukishima 72

J Jacob van Heemskerck 15, 30, 31, 33, 34, 35, 45, 48, 135 Janssens 118 Jan van Amstel 105 ‘Jan van Amstel’ class 105 Jan van Brakel 98, 99 Jan van Gelder 105, 106 Java 13, 15, 22, 24, 25, 26, 28, 37, 133 Johan Maurits van Nassau 14, 79, 80 Johan Maurits van Nassau (II) 86, 87

K K 1 81 K 2 81 K 3 80, 81 Kanonneerboot nr. 1 81

Kanonneerboot nr. 2 81 Kanonneerboot nr. 3 81 Kärnten 115 KH 1 37 KH 2 37 Kijkduin 36, 37 K IX 55 Koningin Emma 124, 125, 126 Kortenaer 41, 42 Krakatau 97 K VII 54, 55 K VIII 55 ‘K VIII’ class 55 K X 55 K XI 57 ‘K XI’ class 57, 58 K XII 57 K XIII 56, 57 K XIV 61, 62, 63 ‘K XIV’ class 62, 63, 64 K XIX 64, 65 K XV 62 K XVI 62 K XVII 62, 63, 64 K XVIII 62 K XX 64, 65

L Langley 50 Lauwerzee 128 LAZ 46 102 LCA 126 LCM 126 Legion 15 LSI 126

M M 4 103 M 551 106 M 552 106 M 553 106 Macoma 121, 122, 123 Malachite 74 Maori 15 Marblehead 15 Marken 108

Marken (1) 107 Marken (2) 107 Medusa 95 Merchant Aircraft Carriers 122 MGB 46 91 MGB 114 94 MGB 418 94 MGB 432 94 MGB 436 94 MGB 437 94 Middleburg 49 Minjak 120 MMS 54 107 MMS 73 107 ‘MMS 105 ft.’ class 107 ‘MMS 126 ft.’ class 109 MMS 138 107 MMS 174 107 MMS 226 107 MMS 227 107 MMS 231 107 MMS 234 107 MMS 292 107 MMS 337 107 MMS 1014 109 MMS 1022 109 MMS 1025 109 MMS 1026 109 MMS 1043 109 MMS 1046 109 MMS 1074 109 MMS 1082 109 MTB 35 93 MTB 201 - 212 92 MTB 202 92 MTB 203 92 MTB 204 92 MTB 222 93 MTB 229 93 MTB 231 93 MTB 235 93 MTB 236 93 MTB 240 93 MTB 418 94 MTB 432 94 MTB 433 94 MTB 436 94 MTB 437 94 MTB 453 94

Mv II 110 Mv I - IV 110 Mv V - X 110 Mv XI - XII 110

N Nachi 22, 25 Napier 52 Nautilus 97 ‘N’ class 51, 52 Niobe 135 Noble 51 Nonpareil 51

O O 8 53, 55 O 9 58 ‘O 9’ class 58 O 10 58 O 11 57, 58 O 12 59, 60, 61 ‘O 12’ class 59 O 13 15, 59 O 14 59, 60 O 15 59, 60 O 16 62, 64 O 19 65, 66, 67 ‘O 19’ class 65 O 20 65 O 21 15, 68, 69 ‘O 21’ class 63, 64, 68 O 22 15, 68 O 23 12, 15, 68, 70, 80, 81 O 24 15, 68, 69 O 25 68, 70 O 26 68 O 27 68, 70 Ogoya 88 Onderzeebootjager I-VI 89 Op ten Noort 130, 131, 132 Overflakkee 109

P P 47 74 PC 468 88

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Perth 15 Philips van Almonde 15, 45, 47 Pieter de Bitter 105 Pieter Florisz 105, 106 Piet Hein 42 Plancius 130, 131, 132 Polyarnik 115 Princess Beatrix 124, 125 Prinses Beatrix 124, 126 Prins van Oranje 96, 97, 98 Project 323 19, 20 Project 1047 19, 20 Pro Patria 97 Putten 107

Q Queen Emma 124, 125, 126 Queen Wilhelmina 88

R R 205 110 R 206 110 RA 52 110 RH 1 110 RH 2 110 RH 3 110 RH 4 110 Ribble 87 ‘River’ class 87 Rozenburg 107

S S1 91 S2 91 S 151-158 91 S 201 91 S 202 91 Scharnhorst 17 ‘Scharnhorst’ class 18 Scheer 28 Schokland 109 ‘S’ class 71 Seahorse 71 Sikh 15 Soemba 15, 24, 77, 78, 79

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Soerabaja 133, 134 Sturgeon 71 Sumatra 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 37, 77, 133

T Talent 72 Tankboot 1 115 Tarn 72 Tartar 45 ‘T’ class 72 Terschelling 108 Terschelling (1) 107 Terschelling (2) 107 Texel 107 Tholen 108, 109 Thor 102 Tijgerhaai 72, 73 Tjerk Hiddes 12, 45, 47, 51, 52, 70 Tjerk Hiddes (2) 51 TM 51 14, 90, 91 TM 52 90, 91 TM 53 90, 91 TM 54 - 61 91 Tre Kronor 38, 40 Tre Kronor-class 40 Tromp 15, 16, 21, 30, 31, 32, 33, 35, 51

U U 95 15, 68 U 168 72 U 431 45, 46 U 516 116 ‘U’ class 74 UD 1 53 UD 2 59, 60 UD 3 68, 70 UD 4 68 UD 5 68, 70 United 74

V Van Galen 14, 42, 44, 51, 52 Van Galen (2) 49, 51 Van Ghent 42, 44 Van Kinsbergen 27, 83, 84

Van Meerlant 61, 95, 96 Van Nes 42 Van Speijk 80, 81, 82 VB 415 115 Vlieland 107, 108 Voorne 109 Vulkaan 78

W Walcheren 109 ‘Wickes’ class 49 Wieringen 109 Willem van der Zaan 100, 101 Willem van Ewijck (1) 105 Willem van Ewijck (II) 106 Willem van Ewijk 14 Witte de With 42, 43

Y Yamakaze 97

Z Z 5 14, 113, 114 ‘Z5’ class 113 Z 6 113 Z 7 113 Z 8 113, 114 Zeehond 71 Zerstörer Holland 1 46 ZH 1 46, 47 ZH I 45 Zuiderkruis 119 Zwaardvisch 72, 73, 78 Zwarte Zee 45, 127

The Japanese advance through Malaya and the Dutch East Indies from December 7, 1941 until the surrender of Java on March, 8 1942 has been indicated by arrows and dates. At the top of the map IJN Haguro is shown, the Japanese heavy cruiser that destroyed HNethM light cruiser De Ruyter (bottom, drawn on the same scale) on February 27, 1942.

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From a 21st century perspective the Second World War seems to be nothing more than a chapter in history, and that explains why facts and feats from this episode are steadily fading from our collective memory. This is certainly true for the subject of this book, Dutch warships from the years between 1940 and 1945, when the Royal Netherlands Navy got involved into the most dramatic series of events since the Napoleontic age. After the war, many authentic photographs have been published to keep memories alive, although of varying quality. This can be easily understood since taking pictures was not a sailor’s first priority when warships went into action. Therefore the author has attempted to publish a set of unique and consistent graphical profiles of Dutch naval units from this episode. Each vessel has been included with precisely drawn side and deck elevations, its livery and when available, one or more camouflage patterns. Apart from the warships designed for specific combat roles the book contains a representative selection from a large number of auxiliary vessels. Many Dutch ships were commissioned into the Royal Navy or were taken up from trade by the British but kept their Dutch crews, and those have been included as well. All units or classes are portrayed with extensive technical specifications and many so far unpublished photos.

ISBN 978-90-8616-318-2

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