Mr. Ms. De Ruyter (1935)
 Light cruiser De Ruyter |
|
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Shipyard |
Wilton-Fijenoord, Schiedam |
| Order | August 1, 1932 |
| Keel laying | September 16, 1933 |
| Launch | March 11, 1935 |
| 1. Period of service |
|
| Commissioning | October 3, 1936 |
| Whereabouts | February 28, 1942 to torpedo hits in the Java Sea dropped |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
|
| length |
|
| width |
15.60 m |
| Draft |
4.90 m |
| crew |
437 |
| drive |
|
| speed |
32 kn (approx. 59 km / h) |
| Range |
5000 nm at 12 kn |
| Armament |
|
| Planes |
2 × Fokker C-11W |
The light cruiser Mr. Ms. De Ruyter (as part of the ABDA fleet, often with the English prefix HNLMS De Ruyter ) was a warship in the Dutch Navy before and during World War II . Commissioned in 1936, she operated as the flagship of the ABDA fleet against the Imperial Japanese Navy in the Pacific and Indian Ocean until her sinking at the end of February 1942 .
technology
The De Ruyter was 168.30 meters long at the waterline, the overall length was 170.92 meters. The maximum width was 15.70 meters, the draft 5 meters with a standard displacement of 6442 tons and a maximum displacement of 7822 tons. Six Yarrow steam boilers generated the steam for three steam turbines, which transmitted their 66,000 hp to two shafts with one propeller each. The maximum speed was 32 knots , the cruising speed was 17 knots. The 1300 tons of fuel allowed a range of 6800 nautical miles at a speed of 12 knots.
The cruiser's main armament was seven 6-inch guns, six of which were housed in three twin turrets. The guns had a range of about 17 kilometers and could fire about six rounds per minute. The secondary armament consisted of five 40 mm twin guns and eight 12.7 mm machine guns for air defense. The two Fokker C-11W seaplanes could be launched by a Heinkel K8 aircraft catapult .
history
Construction and first years of use
Planning for the De Ruyter began after the predecessor of the Java class had been completed . The Dutch High Command saw the need for a third cruiser in order to still have two ships ready for use in the event of one of the other cruisers being in a shipyard. In times of economic depression and intensified pacifism movements , the main focus was on the lowest possible cost for the new cruiser, which for this reason was comparatively weakly armed and armored compared to other cruisers of the time. The construction contract was issued on August 1, 1932. The keel laying of De Ruyter took place on 16 September 1933 on the yard of Wilton Fijenoord in Schiedam under the hull number 652 instead. The cruiser was launched on March 11, 1935. At the time of its commissioning on October 3, 1936 by Queen Wilhelmina, the ship was the largest unit of the Dutch Navy and went on its maiden voyage under Captain AC van der Sande Lacoste . On January 12, 1937, the cruiser left the Netherlands for the Dutch East Indies . Arrived in Tandjong Priok , Mr. Ms. De Ruyter the flagship of the Dutch units. After the outbreak of the Second World War, the cruiser was used together with other Dutch ships in the sea area around the Dutch colony. Captain Henri Jan Bueninck took command of the ship on May 4, 1939, and on August 18, 1941, the command changed to Lieutenant Captain Eugène Edouard Bernard Lacomblé. Until the outbreak of war in the Far East, De Ruyter escorted Dutch freighters and passenger ships in the sea area.
Second World War
After the Japanese attack on the European colonies in Southeast Asia in late 1941, the light cruiser was part of a combat group of the ABDA fleet, along with British and Australian units. During a clash with 37 Japanese dive bombers on February 4, 1942, the battle developed in the Strait of Makassar , in which the De Ruyter was slightly damaged.
On February 19, 1942, the ABDA fleet with Japanese units fought the naval battle in the Strait of Badung . The De Ruyter was only briefly involved at the beginning of the fighting and was able to escape undamaged.
Only eight days later, on February 27, the battle of the Java Sea broke out . Shortly after the sinking of Mr. Ms. Java was hit by several torpedo hits in the evening by two Japanese torpedoes on the port side of the De Ruyter , which caused the ammunition chamber to explode . Shortly afterwards the badly hit ship began to sink and the commander gave the order to leave the ship. Nevertheless, 344 men of the crew, including the Dutch Admiral Karel Doorman , were killed on February 28, 1942.
Rediscovery
The wreck of Mr. Ms. De Ruyter was discovered together with the wreck of the HMS Exeter on December 1, 2002 in the Java Sea near the small volcanic island of Bawean . The Mr. Ms. De Ruyter was a little list to starboard in about 90 m depth. The Dutch Ministry of Defense announced in November 2016 that the wreckage of the ship, as well as the wreckage of two other Dutch warships, the destroyer Mr. Ms. Kortenaer and the cruiser Mr. Ms. Java , disappeared. This was discovered by divers when they tried to put up a plaque before the 75th anniversary of the sinking. Accordingly, metal thieves disguised as fishermen would have stolen metal parts on a large scale and thus tore down the entire ship.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b The 15 cm / 50 Mk 9, 10 and 11 on Naval Weapons
- ↑ Dutch Navy: Three wrecks disappear from the Java Sea. Spiegel online, November 16, 2016 , accessed November 16, 2016