Gunboat 1937

Gunboat 1937

Dutch gunboat Van Speijk , formerly German K 3

Class details
Ship type:	Gunboat 1937
Period of service:	1942-1960
Units:	3
Construction costs per unit:
Technical specifications
Length:	77.90 m (above sea level), 75.20 m (waterline)
Width:	10.30 m
Draft:	3.90 m
Displacement:	Standard displacement: 1200 ts Displacement: 1420 ts
Drive:	2 Burmeister & Wain diesel engines; from 1943: K 1 and K 2 each with 2 Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz 6-cylinder 4-stroke diesel engines K 1 and K 2 2770 HP , K 3 3500 HP two screws
Speed:	K 1 and K 2 14.5 kn, K 3 18 kn
Range:	6900 nautical miles at a cruising speed of 12 knots
Crew:	161-184 men
Armament upon commissioning:	4 × 12 cm cannons in twin towers 4 × 3.7 cm flak 12 × 2 cm flak 8 depth charges 80-200 sea mines

The 1937 Gunboat was a class of three ships, the construction of which was started by the Dutch Navy and completed with slight modifications by the German Navy after the occupation of the Netherlands in 1940 . The Navy captured the three units before they were even completed and later put them into service as gunboats with the designations K 1 to K 3 . The only boat K 3 to survive the war was taken over by the Dutch Navy as Van Speijk .

Development and construction

The design for the multi-purpose boats was created in 1937 on behalf of the Dutch Navy. The first three boats ("A", "B" and "C") were laid down in 1939 and were supposed to replace the three old gunboats Brinio , Friso and Gruno , which were put into service in 1914/15 . Four more boats of the class were planned in 1939, but only two more were ordered, and their construction was canceled in May 1940 after the invasion of the German Wehrmacht .

When the Wehrmacht occupied the Netherlands as part of the western campaign in 1940, the first three boats were still under construction at the P. Smit jr shipyard . ("A" and "C") or at Gusto NV in Schiedam ("B"). The Navy had the three boats finished with slight changes. In particular, mine rails were installed and the originally planned main armament of four 120 mm multi-purpose cannons (Seaziel & Fla) of the Bofors HA / LA type in twin towers was replaced by four Bofors No. 8 (LA), also in twin towers, replaced. Instead of the planned two 40 mm Bofors flak twins and four .50 machine guns , the boats received two 37 mm flak, two 20 mm quadruplets and two 20 mm twins. The hull armor was 37–60 mm in the belt and 20–35 mm on the deck, the turrets had 60 mm armor.

K 1 ran on 23 November 1940 by the stack and was put into service in 1941 in early October. K 2 was launched on June 28, 1941 and entered service in November 1942. K 3 was launched on June 28, 1941 and entered service in November 1942.

use

The three boats were used in the area of the North Sea and Kattegat in escort service and mine-laying .

It was K 1 during an air raid in Norway Flekkefjord damaged but could be repaired. Only a few days before the end of the war, on May 5, 1945, the ship was sunk off the Danish town of Aarhus by rocket fire from mosquitos of the British Royal Air Force .

K 2 was hit in the stern by a British air torpedo and badly damaged on October 9, 1944 near Egersund , Norway, while it was escorting the German convoy KS-328-T . The minesweeper M 1 then towed it to Egersund. The Navy later brought the boat to Horten . From there it was towed to Delfzijl after the end of the war , where it sank in an accident in November 1945. It was lifted and towed to Den Helder for examination , but then sold for scrapping in October 1947.

K 3 survived the war unscathed and saw the end of the war in Horten , Norway. In May 1945 it was returned to the Dutch Navy, which had it overhauled and modernized at the Rijkswerf in Amsterdam . The ship was put into service on June 18, 1946 as Van Speijk ("N 5", from 1953 "F 805"). In 1950 the Van Speijk received two 20 mm quadruple flak . In 1950 the armament was replaced by two 37/83 twins, two 20/65 twins, two 40/56 Bofors guns and six 20/70 Oerlikon flak. In 1953 the ship was equipped with the 5250 HP Sulzer diesel engines of the submarine O 23 , which enabled it to reach a top speed of 17.5 knots . It also received two additional 20/70 AA guns. The displacement was now 1381 tons. In 1958 two more 40/56 Bofors guns and two additional 20/70 Oerlikon flak were added to the armament . The ship served mostly in the Netherlands Antilles , was decommissioned on June 14, 1960 and sold for scrapping in August 1960.

Remarks

↑ Gruno-class gunboats. on: netherlandsnavy.nl
↑ HA / LA = High Angle / Low Angle, so it can be used for both sea target and aircraft combat.
↑ 12 cm / 45 No.8. on: netherlandsnavy.nl
↑ The ship was named after Jan Carolus Josephus van Speijk (also written Van Speyk; January 31, 1802 - February 5, 1831), who blew himself up and his gunboat during the Belgian Revolution to avoid falling into enemy hands allow. The former K 3 was the fourth of eight ships of the Dutch Navy named after him.

literature

Heinz Ciupa: The German warships 1939-1945 . VPM, ISBN 3-8118-1409-5 .
AJ Vermeulen: De schepen van de Koninklijke Marine en that of the governorate navy 1814–1962 . Vermeulen, Amsterdam 1962, pp. 134-135.
WHE van Amstel: De schepen van de Koninklijke Marine vanaf 1945 . De Alk, Alkmaar 1991, ISBN 90-6013-997-6 , p. 27.
Chris Mark: Schepen van de Koninklijke Marine in WO II . De Alk, Alkmaar 1997, ISBN 90-6013-522-9 , p. 54.

Web links

[1] Gruno-class gunboats. on: netherlandsnavy.nl

[2] HA / LA = High Angle / Low Angle, so it can be used for both sea target and aircraft combat.

[3] 12 cm / 45 No.8. on: netherlandsnavy.nl

[4] The ship was named after Jan Carolus Josephus van Speijk (also written Van Speyk; January 31, 1802 - February 5, 1831), who blew himself up and his gunboat during the Belgian Revolution to avoid falling into enemy hands allow. The former K 3 was the fourth of eight ships of the Dutch Navy named after him.