The Gerard Callenburgh class were a group of four destroyers ordered for the Royal Netherlands Navy just before World War II. The Koninklijke Marine ( Royal Netherlands Navy) is the Navy of the Netherlands. Two ships were completed - the Gerard Callenburgh by the Germans after being captured and the Isaac Sweers in Britain after being evacuated as Holland fell to the Nazis.
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Design
These ships were larger than the preceding Admiralen class destroyers. Design These ships were built in the Netherlands with assistance from the British company Yarrow (at that time the leading builder of destroyers in the world As those ships were outclassed by contemporary Japanese destroyers. The armament was increased to 5 guns with twin mounts in A and Y positions and a single gun in X position. The torpedo outfit was also increased to two quadrouple tubes.
General characteristics (as designed)
- Displacement: 1604 tons standard, 2228 full load
- Length: 107 m
- Beam: 10. 6 m
- Draught: 2. 8 m
- Machinery: 2 shaft, 3 boilers, parsons geared turbines, 45,000 hp
- Speed: 37. 5 knots
- Armament:
- 5 120 mm guns (2x2,1x1)
- 4 - 40 mm guns
- 4 - 0. 5 in machine guns
- 8 - 533 mm torpedo tubes
- Crew: 158
Ships
- Hr. Ms. Tjerk Hiddes - built by RDM Rotterdam - launched 12 October 1939, scuttled 15 May 1940. Not being salavagable, the wreck was scrapped by the Germans
- Hr. Ms. Philips Van Almonde - built by KM de Schelde, demolished on the slipway 17 May as the Germans invaded the Netherlands.
- Hr. Ms. Gerard Callenburgh - built by RDM Rotterdam - launched 12 October 1939 - The Dutch attempted to scuttle this ship during the German invasion but the destroyer was salvaged and completed under German control with technical guidance from Blohm & Voss. Blohm + Voss is a German shipbuilding and engineering works It was founded on April 5, 1877, by Hermann Blohm and Ernst Voss as a Commissioned as the ZH1 on 11 October 1942. The Germans retained most of the Dutch armament and equipment. The ZH1 spent most of its life on trials in the Baltic but transferred to Western France via the English Channel in November 1943. When the western allies invaded Normandy (see Operation Neptune) the German destroyers based in western France attempted to interdict the invasion armada. The Normandy Landings were the first operations of the Allied Invasion of Normandy, also known as Operation Neptune and Operation Overlord, during The German squadron was intercepted by Allied destroyers (HMS Tartar, HMS Ashanti, HMS Eskimo, HMS Javelin, HMCS Haida, HMCS Huron and ORP Błyskawica). Eight vessels of the British Royal Navy have been named HMS Tartar, after the Tartars: ''Tartar'' (1702, 32-gun Fifth-rate Pennant Numbers She carried three Pennant numbers L51 August 1938 - December 1938 F51 January 1939 - Autumn 1940 HMS Eskimo (L-75/F-75/G-75 was a Tribal-class Destroyer, laid down by the High Walker Yard of Vickers Armstrong at Newcastle -on-Tyne on HMS Javelin (F61 was a J-class Destroyer of the Royal Navy laid down by John Brown and Company, Limited at Clydebank Construction Haida was among the first batch of Tribal class destroyers ordered by the RCN in 1940-1941 See also List of ships of the Canadian Navy Operational history Two days before the war on 30 August 1939, the Błyskawica withdrew along with Grom and Burza The ZH1 was torpedoed and sunk by the Ashanti on 9 June 1944, 33 men were lost.
- Hr. Ms. Isaac Sweers - built by KM de Schelde, launched 16 March 1940. Events 597 BC - Babylonians capture Jerusalem, replace Jehoiachin with Zedekiah as king Year 1940 ( MCMXL) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full 1940 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Towed to England by the tug Zwarte Zee and completed in England by J Thornycroft with British armament and fire control equipment. John I Thornycroft & Company Limited, usually known simply as Thornycroft was a British Shipbuilding firm started by John Isaac Thornycroft
- Armament as completed was:
- 6 - 4 inch guns (3x2)
- 4 - 40mm Bofors
- 8 - 0. 5 in machine guns
- 8 - torpedo tubes
Hr. Ms. Isaac Sweers served in the Mediterranean Sea with Force H. Force H was a British naval task force (though that term was not used during World War II. In December 1941, together with HMS Sikh, HMS Maori and HMS Legion she sank the Italian Cruisers Alberico di Barbiano and Alberto di Giussano in the Battle of Cape Bon. HMS Sikh was a Tribal class Destroyer of the Fourth destroyer Flotilla of the Royal Navy. Construction and commissioning HMS Legion was ordered on 31 March 1938 from the yards of Hawthorn Leslie and Company, Newcastle upon Tyne under the The naval Battle of Cape Bon took place on December 13 1941 during the Second World War, between two Italian Light cruisers and She then briefly served in the Indian Ocean. She was sunk by the German submarine U-431 on 13 November 1942 in the Western Mediterranean, 108 men were lost. Events 1002 - English king Ethelred orders the killing of all Danes in England, known today as the St Year 1942 ( MCMXLII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (the link will display the full 1942 calendar of the Gregorian calendar.
Notes
References
- M. J Whitley, Destroyers of World War 2, 1988 Cassell Publishing ISBN 1 85409 521 8
- - page on Callenburgh from Uboat.net
- - Page on Issac Sweers from Uboat.net
- - page on Issac Sweers from the Dutch Navy
- - page from Dutch Destroyers
- - technical page from the Dutch navy