HNLMS Van Kinsbergen (1939)
.jpg) Van Kinsbergen, at sea in October 1944 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Netherlands | |
| Name: | Van Kinsbergen |
| Builder: | Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij |
| Laid down: | 11 September 1937 |
| Launched: | 5 January 1939 |
| Commissioned: | 24 August 1939 |
| Decommissioned: | 29 May 1959 |
| Fate: | sold for scrap 1974 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Unique sloop |
| Displacement: |
|
| Length: | 100.2 m (328 ft 9 in) |
| Beam: | 11.6 m (38 ft 1 in) |
| Draft: | 3.4 m (11 ft 2 in) |
| Installed power: | 17,000 ihp (13,000 kW) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 25.5 kn (47.2 km/h; 29.3 mph) |
| Complement: | 183 (later 220) |
| Armament: |
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Added in 1945:
After 1951 refit:
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| Armour: |
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HNLMS Van Kinsbergen (Dutch: Hr.Ms. Van Kinsbergen) was a unique sloop of the Royal Netherlands Navy build by Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij. She served in the Dutch West Indies in 1940. Later, she served as escort vessel and survived World War II. She was decommissioned on 29 May 1959 and was sold for scrap on 19 May 1974.
Construction
Van Kinsbergen was laid down on 11 September 1937. She was launched on 5 January 1939 and commissioned on 24 August 1939.
Service history
On 26 August 1939, Van Kinsbergen left Den Helder port to meet with the Dutch submarine O 13 in the English Channel. After meeting with O 13, which returned from the West Indies, both ships returned to the Netherlands. On 2 October, Van Kinsbergen left Den Helder port with the submarines O 20 and O 14 accompanying her to the West Indies, where she was to relieve the sloop Johan Maurits van Nassau and to train new gunners. She arrived in Curacao on 31 October.
On the evening of 1 November, Van Kinsbergen left port to intercept a British destroyer that had entered territorial waters; this was forbidden because of the Netherlands′ declaration of neutrality in September 1939. A similar incident occurred when a British cruiser entered the territorial waters. Both incidents where resolved without using force.
On 10 May 1940, war with Germany broke out, and boarding parties from Van Kinsbergen captured seven German merchant ships which were present at Curacao. As the war continued, she took part in several other missions to capture merchant ships and rescue survivors of torpedoed ships. She continued naval operations for the Allies in the Caribbean sea under British supervision.
On 26 May 1941, Van Kinsbergen captured the Vichy French liner SS Winnipeg, which was sent to Port of Spain, Trinidad, and handed over to the British Ministry of War Transport.[1]
On the 20th of August 1940 Van Kinsbergen encountered with the heavy cruiser USS Tuscaloosa somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. Van Kinsbergen gave a demonstration of the 40mm guns that had been stabilized on a Hazemeyer patented mount. Together with excellent fire control, the gunners on the Van Kinsbergen achieved amazing results. The Americans were so impressed that they decided to use this system. To protect their patents, the Swedes were not eager to hand over the Bofors blueprints to the United States. The Americans could not wait for what they considered to be trivialities and obtained the blueprints through the Royal Netherlands Navy. The Dutch had them in safekeeping in the still unoccupied Netherlands East Indies. Only after the war were the Swedes compensated for this.
On 1 November 1955, her conversion to accommodation ship was completed. She was decommissioned on 29 May 1959 and was sold for scrap to the Belgian company Van Heyghen for 515,000 guilders on 19 May 1974.
Notes
- ↑ "Winnipeg II". Uboat.net. Retrieved 9 September 2015.