Mr. Ms. Piet Hein (1926)
.jpg) The Piet Hein at top speed
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The Dutch Hr.Ms. Piet Hein (PH) was a destroyer of admirals class . It was the only ship that was sunk on February 19, 1942 in the naval battle in the Strait of Badung .
Construction and class
The ship was from the August 26, 1925 en Burger Houts Scheepswerf Machinefabriek in Rotterdam set to Kiel and expired on April 2, 1927 from the stack . It was named after the Dutch admiral and privateer Piet Hein .
The Admiral class was to replace the obsolete Roofdier class destroyers in the late 1920s . The model was the British design of the HMS Ambuscade . For service in the colonies, the destroyers received a seaplane , but not a catapult. The adjustments were designed by Yarrow in Glasgow . The eight ships of the class were from the shipyards Burgerhout (5), De Schelde (1) and Wilton Fijenoord built (2) and named after Dutch admirals. The Piet Hein was the second ship in the first series. During the Second World War , the destroyers were partially modernized and the aircraft was dismantled.
The Dutch navy put Piet Hein on 25 January 1929 in service. The destroyer first competed in the North Sea and since 1934 in the Dutch East Indies . In a collision on October 13, 1938, she damaged the cruiser Hr. Ms. Java on Sunda Street .
Armament
The new buildings in the Netherlands received four 120 mm cannons, the same main armament as the new British buildings. However, they were weapons from the Swedish manufacturer Bofors , which were built under license in the Netherlands. Two each were arranged overlapping at the bow and stern. Two 75 mm anti-aircraft guns , which were installed at the same height on a platform between the chimneys, were of the same origin . The anti-aircraft weaponry supplemented four heavy 12.7 mm machine guns of the type Browning on the sides of the bridge house. In addition there was the armament with six 533 mm torpedo tubes , which were installed one behind the other amidships in two sets of triple behind the funnels and in front of the rear deckhouse with the raised stern cannon.
The ships were prepared for use as mine layers. For such an operation, they were given two rails from the rear deckhouse to the drop hatches just before the stern. To repel submarines, the destroyers were equipped with twelve depth charges and four launchers.
The Fokker C.VII-W aircraft was transported on a platform above the rear torpedo tube set. On the platform of the headlights was a mast with a cargo boom to put the aircraft on the water for takeoff or to get back on board.
Second World War
Pacific War
The destroyer had accompanied Allied convoys to the Indian Ocean since May 1940. When the war in the Pacific broke out , Piet Hein was part of the Allied ABDA fleet , which tried to stop the Japanese advance towards the British and Dutch colonies in Southeast Asia .
The destroyer fought against Japanese dive bombers on February 4, 1942 at the Battle of the Makassar Strait , remaining undamaged. On February 15, 1942, he was involved in the attack on a convoy near Palembang . The sister ship Van Ghent was lost due to navigation errors and stranding.
Sinking in the street of Badung
On February 18, 1942, a battalion of the 48th Infantry Division of the Imperial Japanese Army landed on Bali . A day later, the ABDA attacked with the cruisers Mr. Ms. De Ruyter and Mr. Ms. Java and the destroyers USS John D. Ford , USS Pope and Hr. Ms. Piet Hein hired a Japanese convoy consisting of two transporters and four modern Asashio-class destroyers .
In the first battle in the Strait of Badung, the cruisers De Ruyter and Java met the Japanese at night. After exchanges of fire with two destroyers, whereby the Java received a hit, the cruisers lost touch and headed for Surabaya, believing that they had also scored hits at the enemy.
Afterwards, the destroyers, led by Piet Hein , arrived on the scene between Bali and Nusa Penida . Piet Hein met the Japanese alone and put a curtain of smoke, which obstructed the view of the approaching American destroyers. In the battle with the Asashio , Piet Hein received several hits and, stopped and burning, offered a good target during the night. Asashio and Oshio fired nine torpedoes and sank the ship at 11:16 p.m. ( (Location) ) The two Japanese then attacked the Pope and the John D. Ford and forced the two destroyers to turn away.
64 crew members were killed on board the Piet Hein , Commander Chömpff and the Chief Engineer van Moppes and the Semann Vet were awarded the Military Wilhelms Order , the two officers received the order posthumously.
See also
- Mr. Ms. Van Ghent and the sister ships of the first series
- Mr. Ms. Van Galen and the sister ships of the second series
- List of ships with the name Piet Hein
literature
- AJ Vermeulen: De schepen van de Koninklijke Marine en that of the governorate navy 1814–1962. 1962.
- Chr. Mark: Schepen van de Koninklijke Marine in WO II. 1997.
- JM Mohrmann: Marine torpedo service 1875-2000. 2000.
- MJ Whitley: Destroyers in World War II - technology, classes, types. Stuttgart 1991, ISBN 3-613-01426-2
Web links
- Admirals-class destroyers . netherlandsnavy.nl, as of February 4, 2011 (English)
- T. Womack: Bali and the Battle of Badung Strait . (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Rohwer: Sea War . February 9–17, 1942 Dutch India, Japanese landing near Palembang (Sumatra).
- ^ T. Womack: Bali and the Battle of Badung Strait