Eendracht-class light cruiser, The future of the Dutch navy!

Suggestions Naval
1
Would you like to see the Eendracht-class ingame?
  • Yes.
  • No.
0 voters
In what techtree would you like to see this cruiser be added in?
  • In a future Dutch/BeNeLux techtree.
  • In the French BeNeLux sub-tree
  • Other (Please explain in the comments).
  • I said “No” in the first question.
0 voters

Hello ladies and gentlemen, today I want to suggest one of my favorite light cruiser class.

This is the Dutch Eendracht-class light cruiser!

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A blueprint of the Eendracht class
Source: | Nationaal Archief

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HNLMS Eendracht under construction at the “Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij”, 30th of April 1940
Source: Foto's

Be sure to check out my own video on the ships! The Eendracht-class later became the De Zeven Provinciën-class, and in the begining of the video I talk about the Eendracht-class.

History

Spoiler

Because of the ever increasing threat of the Japanese, the Koninklijke Marine (Dutch Navy) embarked on a major naval expansion program in 1932. As early as 1936, discussions started at the Ministry of Defense and the Naval Staff about the design of two new cruisers to replace the cruisers HNLMS Java and Sumatra, which both dated from 1925 and 1926. The Sumatra, which was qualitatively inferior of the two sister ships, was to be taken out of service in 1943, while Java would be taken out in 1946.

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HNLMS Java in her final refit. The old design together with the simple 150mm gun turrets made her pretty much outdated by the time she was laid down.
Source: Foto's

The design for these new cruisers started in 1937. In connection with the year for which the cruisers entered the state budget, the design was further referred to as Cruiser 1938. The 1938 state budget included the first installment for one cruiser, while later funds for the second ship were allocated. Including security, the ships would each cost approximately 15 million guilders (The currency used in the Netherlands at the time). In June 1939, the Secretary of Defense, Dr. J.J.C. van Dijk, gave contracts to N.V. Dok- en Werf Maatschappij Wilton Fijenoord and N.V. Rotter-damse Droogdok Maatschappij for one cruiser each.

  • The ship at Wilton Fijenoord was named “De Zeven Provinciën” with the date of readiness on September 1, 1941.
  • The ship at the Rotterdam Dry Dock Company was named “Kijkduin” with the completion date of December 30, 1941.

On May 19, 1939, the first keel plate for the “Kijkduin” was laid with some ceremony at the shipyard of the Rotterdam Dry Dock Company. On September 5, 1939 this happened at Wilton Fijenoord for the “De Zeven Provinciën”. Wilton Fijenoord was a little late because of the construction of a new building slope the ship was to be made on.

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Another photo of the HNLMS Eendracht under construction, 26th of March 1940.
Source: HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën C-802, history and plans – Battleships & Knights

The dates of the contracts and keel laying show that a great deal of work had already been done in advance. All the detailed design work meant that materials for the ships had already been ordered. All of this material had been ordered in the United States and was delivered at a rapid pace. The weaponry had also been pre-ordered from Bofors in Sweden. Orders had also been placed for various auxiliary tools and other materials.

Construction on the slopes progressed quickly. At the beginning of May 1940, Wilton Fijenoord had more than made up the backlog, the yard was even ahead of the shipyard in Rotterdam. On May 10, 1940, “De Zeven Provinciën” near Wilton Fijenoord was almost a quarter ahead of the ship at the Rotterdam Dry Dock Company.
Meanwhile the ship at Rotterdam Dry Dock Company, “Kijkduin”, had been re-named to “Eendracht” for unclear reasons.

When Germany invaded the Netherlands the “De Zeven Provinciën” was 25% finished, and the “Eendracht” was 12% finished.

Design

Spoiler

Both ships were designed by Ir. G. 't Hooft, the brilliant chief of the Shipbuilding Office. With this he continued the development of his design of two years earlier, when through his actions the cruiser “De Ruyter” was put into service, which went down in the Java Sea in 1942. De Ruyter had also been chosen as a design basis for the Eendracht-class cruiser.

The new cruisers were designed with a length of 185.70 meters, a beam of 17.25 meters and a depthof 11.65 meters. The water displacement fully equipped, so with the storage tanks filled to 98%, would amount to 10,795 tons. The standard displacement was 8,350 tons.
Propulsion was provided by Parsons turbines with an installed power of 78,000 hp at 300 revolutions per minute, so that the required speed became 32 knots. The crusading turbines delivered 12,000 hp at a service speed of 20 knots per hour at a displacement of 8,900 tons. The operating distance for this vessel is stated in the specifications at 4,500 nautical miles.

The ship’s lower belt (The waterline belt) was 75mm thick, while the upper belt was 50mm. Further inside the ship the citadel was 30mm thick on the sides and top, and 20mm on the bottom. Lastly the deck was 20mm thick.
The barbettes for the main turrerts were 75mm thick, while the ammunition elevators below the deck were protected by 60mm thick armour. The armoured shafts and conning towers at the main bridge of the ship were 30mm thick, while the rear secondairy conning tower was 15mm thick.

For the main weapons it was originally planned to arm the cruiser with the usual 150mm/50 Bofors guns, but later the new 150mm/53 Bofors guns had been chosen. The order to manufacture the weapons was given out to the Swedish Bofors company. The ship was supossed to be armed with ten of these guns. They would have been located in four turrets, that being two triple and two twin turrets. These turrets were build and ready to be shipped to the Netherlands. But due to the German invasion Sweden kept the turrets and re-used them on their own Tre Kronor-class cruisers.
The maximum elevation angle of these turrets reached 60°, that could possibility ensure the abilty of shooting at air targets. Thanks to last circumstance, the designers chose to limit the large calibre secondairy weaponry, and instead focus on more powerfull medium range weaponry. That being twelve 40mm/56 Bofors guns, mounted in six twin Hazemeyer gun mounts.

Futher planned weapons were eight 12.7mm machineguns mounted in four double turrets, six 533mm torpedo tubes mounted in two triple mounts and two extra Fokker C.14w floatplane aircraft.

Fate

Spoiler

Due to the German invasion, the construction of both ships came to a complete standstill. All further orders were canceled and the ships were considered lost.

The German command confiscated everything and ordered the activities to be resumed. On the Dutch side this was seen as a kind of job creation. Nevertheless, the activities were deliberately delayed and continued with much difficulty, and eventually ceased completely in 1943.
The only thing that the Germans had managed to do with the hulls at this time was that they changed the forward part of the above-water ship of “De Zeven Provinciën”, which got an Atlantik bow to shovel less water in the rough Atlantic Ocean. This ship was destined as a training cruiser and was now renamed to KH 1 (Kreuzer Holland 1), while the sister ship got the name KH 2. On December 24, 1944, KH 1 was launched at Wilton Fijenoord with the intention of sinking the hull as a block ship in the Nieuwe Waterweg. Fortunately, it never came to that.

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Here we see the Eendracht after the Netherlands was liberated
Source: HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën C-802, history and plans – Battleships & Knights

During the liberation of the Netherlands in May 1945, both hulls were found undamaged. The first concern was to conserve the hulls. The name of the Eendracht, which is under construction at the Rotterdam Dry Dock Company, was now changed to De Ruyter and was still under construction. Most of the material ready for processing in 1940 had disappeared. However, the heavy armor and main turbines were still there. There was now an opportunity to revise the plans on the ships to give them new improvements from the experiences gained during the war. The British Royal Navy offered their help with this.

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This is a photo of the Eendracht, which is now renamed to De Ruyter. Here we see that the deck is now finished and the hull is ready to be finished according to the new design.
Source: HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën C-802, history and plans – Battleships & Knights

At this point the Eendracht-class was no more. After the re-design the Eendracht-class was renamed to De Zeven Provinciën-class. The two hulls that were originally laid down in 1939 would end up getting completed and would continue to serve with the Royal Dutch navy untill the 1970’s.

Specifications

Spoiler

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Armour plan of the Eendracht-class cruiser
Source: | Nationaal Archief

Length: 185.7 m
Width: 17.25 m
Depth: 11.65 m
Standard Displacement: 8,350 Tons
Full Displacement: 10,795 Tons
Engine: De Schelde-Parsons geared steam turbines
Engine power: 78.000 hp
Max speed: 32 knots
Crew: 149

Armour:

Upper Belt: 50 mm
Lower Belt: 75 mm
Citadel: 30 mm
Deck: 20 mm
Barbettes: 75 mm
Ammunition elevators: 60 mm

Forward Conning Tower: 30 mm
Aft Conning Tower: 15 mm

150 mm turrets (Front - Sides - Rear - Roof): 125 - 30 - 75 - 50 mm

Armaments:

  • 2 x 3 150 mm/53 Bofors M42 cannons
  • 2 x 2 150 mm/53 Bofors M42 cannons
  • 6 x 2 40 mm Bofors L/56 (Hazemeijer gun mount) autocannons
  • 4 x 2 12.7 mm Colt-Browning machine guns
  • 2 x 3 533mm Torpedo tubes (Whitehead torpedoes)
  • 2 x Fokker C.14w floatplanes (Max speed 230 km/h, 2 x 7.9 mm FN-Browning machine guns (One forward firing, one gunner))

Ingame

Spoiler

The Eendracht-class was the final Light Cruiser the Dutch designed before the second world war, and for it’s time it would have been a very advanced and powerfull machine. Ingame I would love to see this class make an appearance.

My first choice would be to have this ship be added into a independent BeNeLux techtree. But ofcourse the BeNeLux has been added to France, so this is now the only option where Dutch vehicles will go to. But it must be said that the Netherlands and France have nothing in common, and do not make sense to combine together ingame.

But anyhow, the Eendracht-class would actually fit very nicely in the French Bluewater fleet techtree. The French navy is a little lacking in the 5.7 BR light cruisers, so the Eendracht can fit in there nicely.

But for an independent BeNeLux tree I would love to see this class as the top of the line light cruiser. The fact that the two ships planned for the class are of an indentical design means you can add one in the researchable techtree, and add another one very easily as a premium. Hell if you really wanted to you could even take the short lived name “Kijkduin” and add it as a third ship and make it an event vehicle.

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A side profile of the Eendracht-class
Source: De Zeven Provinciën class Cruisers (1944)

And there we go, that was the Eendracht-class cruiser!

Make sure to vote in the poll above, and put a comment down below! See you next time!

Sources

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Dutch sources:

Secondairy sources:

Van Berkel W-A floatplane:

Photos:

Blueprints:

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