Java class
The Java
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
|
The Java class was a class of two light cruisers built during the First World War of the Dutch Navy and named after islands in the Dutch East Indies .
construction
The Java class was designed by the Germania shipyard in Kiel on behalf of the Netherlands, but it was built at Dutch shipyards. They were supposed to act as a counterweight to the Japanese cruisers of the Chikuma class and were therefore armed with 10 15.0 cm guns. However, these were still set up individually and only provided with protective shields and not yet in closed gun turrets . By setting up the guns (two in front and two aft and three on the sides), only seven guns could be used in the broadside . After numerous delays, the ships were only finished after more than nine years of construction. As a result, they were practically out of date by the time they were put into service.
Two ships of this class were built, the Java and the Sumatra . The construction of the planned third cruiser Celebes , which was intended as a fleet flagship and would therefore have been somewhat larger, was canceled before construction began.
History and commitment
Both ships were in service until World War II . During the Spanish Civil War and World War II, both cruisers were used largely for convoy protection. After the German attack on the Netherlands in 1940, Sumatra transported members of the Dutch royal family to Canada . When the war in the Pacific broke out , the Java was in the Dutch East Indies and was part of the ABDA fleet , which tried to prevent the Japanese advance towards the British and Dutch colonies in Southeast Asia . The cruiser was sunk in the battle in the Java Sea . The Sumatra was in 1944 landing in Normandy along with other aging vessels as a breakwater for a Mulberry Harbor sunk.
List of ships
Surname | Shipyard | Keel laying | Launch | Commissioning | Whereabouts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Java |
Koninklijke Maatschappij "De Schelde" , Vlissingen |
May 31, 1916 | August 9, 1921 | May 1, 1925 | sunk on February 27, 1942 by torpedo hits during the Battle of the Java Sea |
Sumatra |
Nederlandse Scheepsbouw Maatschappij , Amsterdam |
July 15, 1916 | December 29, 1920 | May 26, 1926 | decommissioned on April 29, 1944 and sunk on June 9, 1944 as a breakwater off Ouistreham ( Mulberry Harbor ) |
Celebes |
Wilton-Fijenoord , Rotterdam |
Construction contract canceled in 1919 |
literature
- Mike J. Whitley: Cruiser in World War II . Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 978-3-613-01842-6 , p. 220-220 .
Web links
- Java class at netherlandsnavy.nl (English)