This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Danny Yee (talk | contribs) at 07:24, 16 June 2006 (copyedit). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 07:24, 16 June 2006 by Danny Yee (talk | contribs) (copyedit)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)| File:Flores gun boat.jpg | |
| Careers |  |
|---|---|
| Built By: | Mij Feijenoord, Schiedam |
| 'Flores': | |
| Laid down: | 13 January 1925 |
| Launched: | 15 August 1925 |
| Commissioned: | 25 March 1926 |
| Fate: | Scrapped 12 November 1968 |
| Penants: | F-66, N-1, F-803, A-877 |
| 'Soemba': | |
| Laid down: | 24 December 1924 |
| Launched: | 24 August 1925 |
| Commissioned: | 12 April 1926 |
| Fate: | Scrapped 12 July 1985 |
| Penants: | T-199, HX-1, A-891 |
| 'Johan Maurits van Nassau': | |
| Laid down: | |
| Launched: | |
| Commissioned: | |
| Fate: | Sunk 14 May 1940 |
| General Characteristics | |
| Type: | sloops |
| Displacement: | 1457 tons (standard) / 1793 tons (loaded) |
| Length: | 75.6 metres |
| Beam: | 11.5 metres |
| Draught: | 3.6 metres |
| Propulsion: | 4 Yarrow boilers, 2 Triple-expansion engines, 2 shafts, 2000 shp |
| Speed: | 15 knots |
| Complement: | 145 |
| Armament: Original configuration: |
3 x 5.9 inch No. 7 1 x 75 mm 4 x .50 Browning machine guns |
| Added to Flores: | 1 single 40 mm "pom-pom" 4 x 20 mm Hotchkiss 8 x .303 machine guns |
| Added to Soemba: | 6 x Oerlikon 20 mm cannon |
| Armour: | Bridge:50 mm deck: 25-50 mm,
|
The Flores class sloops, HNLMS Flores, Soemba and Johan Maurits van Nassau, were gunboats in the Royal Netherlands Navy during the second World War. They were in several ways the most successful surface ships of the Dutch navy during the war.
They were squat ships, both commissioned in 1926, with a relatively heavy armament for their size (3 x 5.9 inch Krupp guns, the same type and calibre as for the cruisers Java and Sumatra). Their main asset was an advanced fire control system that made them very accurate in bombarding shore targets, as HNLMS Johan Maurits van Nassau, demonstrated during the German attack on the Low Countries when she silenced a German battery from a distance of well over 10 miles. The ship, which was built originally to defend the Netherlands Antilles was subsequently attacked by German dive bombers and sunk on her way to Great Britain.
The other two sloops were intended to provide protection for the vast Dutch East Indies. Flores was brought back to the Netherlands at the start of World War II where she patrolled home waters until the Germans invaded in 1940. Slightly damaged, she escaped to Britain and was employed as a coastal escort. Soemba was withdrawn to Colombo in March 1942, before she could be captured or destroyed by the Japanese invasion of the East Indies.
Flores and Soemba were united in the Mediterranean Sea and played an active and successful role in the landings in Sicily, Salerno, Anzio, Garigliano, Gaeta and finally, at the beaches of Normandy in June 1944. The ships came under fire from shore based artillery and bombers many times but survived all attacks, although they incurred damage several times. British war correspondents referred to them as "the terrible twins".
With their guns worn out due to intensive use, the two ships were retired from active duty shortly after the war and used for artillery instruction and as floating barracks. On November 10 1948, Flores and Soemba were awarded the Koninklijke Vermelding bij Dagorder
Flores was decommissioned in 1968 and Soemba in 1986.
External references
 | This article about a specific naval ship or boat is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it. |