- Yes.
- No.
- 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.
Today I want to suggest an interesting unique ship for the Netherlands.
This is the “Pantserschip” HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerck (1906)
What is a “Pantserschip” you ask?
It’s a Dutch term that litterally translates to “Armour Ship”.
Online sources refer to these ships as Coastal Defence Ships, but I highly disagree with that since Dutch Pantserschip’s are fully ocean going and would go from the Netherlands to the East Indies (Nowadays Indonesia) all the time. So saying they are a Coastal ship is just wrong.
So what are they then? Their speed, weaponry and armour make them more closely related to Armoured Cruisers, so the best term would be to use that, or even better a Small Armoured Cruiser.
HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerck moving at speed
Source: Foto's
History
Spoiler
HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerck in 1909, one year after going into service
Source: Foto'sThe period around the 1900’s is a very interesting time in Naval history, where each nation was trying out different designs for increasingly larger vessels. The Dutch ofcourse didn’t want to be left behind and so they to starting designing larger more powerfull vessels.
Starting in 1893 the Dutch Navy started constructing of a new type of ship, a so called “Pantserschip”. This is a Dutch term for a small heavily armored cruiser. The Netherlands had a lot of colonies all around the world, so these new “Pantserschepen” had to be fully ocean going vessels and would travel the world to these various colonies.
By 1903 the Dutch Navy had six “Pantserschepen” in service, with another under construction. These were three Evertsen-class and three Koningin Regentes-class ships, with HNLMS Marten Harpertzoon Tromp being the seventh ship that was under construction.
When we look at these ships we see a natural progression where each next class/ship gets larger and more powerfull then the one before. The Evertsen-class had 21cm guns, which was increased to 24cm for the Koningin Regentes-class, and the Marten Harpertzoon Tromp was to be armed with improved 24cm guns.Then in 1905 another ship would be laid down. This was the HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerck. It too saw some improvements over the previous ships, the biggest one being an improved secondairy weapon configuration. Where the previous ships only had two of four 15cm guns as secondairies, Jacob van Heemskerck would get six.
The ship was launched on the 22nd of September 1906, and would be put into service on the 22nd of April 1908.
The rest of her carreer was sadly quite uneventfull. The Netherlands stayed neutral during the First World War so there were no Naval battles between the Netherlands and Germany. Most of her carreer was taken up with patrol missions to Dutch colonies, or for example the ship was tasked to carry Prince Henry of the Netherlands to the funeral of Edward VII of the United Kingdom.
A beautifull photo of a Royal visit of the Royal family onboard Jacob van Heemskerck. On the photo we see Queen Wilhelmina, Princes Juliana and Prince Hendrik
Source: Foto'sDuring the 1930’s only three “Pantserschepen” remained in service. These being the Koningin Regentes-class, HNLMS Hertog Hendrik. HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerck and HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën (Later renamed to HNLMS Soerabaja).
HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën operated in the Dutch East Indies and would remain there even during the start of the Second World War.
HNLMS Hertog Hendrik and HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerck would however return to the Netherlands somewhere around the mid 1930’s. Both ships were taken out of service and would have their their engines and other important equipment removed, only to then be used as floating gun batteries.In 1939 HNLMS Hertog Hendrik became the “Batterijschip” Vliereede, and HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerck would become the “Batterijschip” IJmuiden. The exact weaponry present on the ships around this time in unknown to me, I wouldn’t be suprised if only the main weapons remained.
A front view of HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerck
Source: Foto's
Fate
Spoiler
Jacob van Heemskerck now in service with the Germans as the Flakschiff Undine
Source: https://www.destinationsjourney.com/historical-military-photographs/german-flakschiff-undine/Following the start of the Second World War Germany would invade the Netherlands. Jacob van Heemskerck (Now “Batterijschip” IJmuiden) was stationed near IJmuiden around this time, but the crew of the ship would scuttle her in order to avoid capture by the Germans.
This however didn’t stop the Germans from raising the ship later in July of 1940. She would end up getting towed to Kiel in March of 1941 and would be rebuilt into a floating anti-aircraft battery. When put back into service she was renamed to “Undine”.
By some miracle the “Flakschiff Undine” would remain intact during the Second World War. When Germany was defeated the floating battery was returned to the Dutch Navy. During this time she was stripped of all weapons and turned into a accommodation ship.
She returned to service on the 23rd of Febuary 1948, now renamed to HNLMS Neptunus.
She would remain in service as a accomodation ship untill the 13th of September 1974, after which she was sadly scrapped.
The logging vessel HNLMS Neptunus
Source: Foto's
Design
Spoiler
A side view of HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerck, with the side panels next to the secondairy guns all raised up
Source: Foto'sThe Dutch “Pantserschip” classification is pretty much the same as an Armoured Cruiser, only maybe a little bit smaller then most Armoured Cruisers other nations were making.
HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerck was 98 metres long, had a beam of 15,19 metres and a draft of 5,69 metres, and displaced 4.920 tons. She had a crew of 351 men and was able to reach 16 knots.
The main weaponry of the ship was two 24cm No. 2 guns. These were guns made by Krupp, and the ship had the two guns mounted in two single turrets. One fore and one aft.
The guns had a firerate of around 2 rounds per minute. And compared to the older No. 1 guns, the No. 2’s had a slightly higher muzzle velocity of 850 meters per second.
Ammunition for the 24cm guns consisted of AP, SAP, HE and two types of Common shots.The secondairy weapons is where HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerck was improved on compared to older “Pantserschepen”. Instead of the previously seen layout of four 15cm and eight 7,5cm guns, Jacob van Heemskerck was armed with six 15cm guns and six 7,5cm guns.
The 15cm guns were placed in six single mount turrets with three on either side of the ship. Something interesting I saw is that four of these guns are mounted in fully enclosed No. 5 turrets. But the extra two guns Jacob van Heemskerck had compared to the other ships were mounted in different turrets. The turrets looks very similar to the 15cm No. 4 mounts used on the older Koningin Regentes-class “Pantserschepen”.I have no proof or source material to confirm this, but either way two of the six guns on Jacob van Heemskerck are in different gun mounts that are open at the rear, but still have an armored gun shield at the front.
A good view on one of the two 15cm guns that are in the different gun mount
Source: Foto'sAs for the 7,5cm guns there is again one small interesting detail. On all previous ships the 7,5cm guns were placed on the main deck, or superstructure of the ship. Either way they were outside of the ship. On Jacob van Heemskerck four of the 7,5cm guns are placed just like this, with two on either side on the main superstructure. But the last two guns are actually mounted inside the hull of the ship, at the front of the bow. They were placed behind doors that could close up when not needed. It’s something you rarely see on Dutch ships, especially for a ship around the 1910’s.
Sources also like to mention that the ship was armed with 37mm Hotchkiss guns. But while these were indeed used on the previous Dutch “Pantserschepen”, they are not mounted on the HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerck. I have scanned through every blueprint I could find of the ship, and looked closely at all photos, but never spotted a single one. When I did the same for the older “Pantserschepen” I was able to find them, so I know there is not something wrong with my eyes.
HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerck with the aircraft crane on the rear
Source: Foto'sThe final bit of weaponry onboard the ship was a pair of 45cm torpedo tubes. These were mounted under water at the bow of the ship. Both tubes were side by side and would fire directly forwards. The torpedoes used were Whitehead Type I 150 (Or Type I 45, different name, same torpedo) torpedoes. These had a 85 kg warhead, and a range of 1.000 meters at 30 knots, or a range of 2.000 meters at 24 knots.
The armour of the ship was 150 mm armored belt, which would lower to 100mm at the ship ends. The upper deck was 12,5 mm thick, with the main armored lower deck being 50 mm thick.
The citadel of the ship was protected by a 105 mm armored plate that was at an 45 degree angle. This plate connected up to the 50 mm armored deck, which was also part of the citadel.
Finally the turrets and barbettes were protected by 250 mm of armour.
A blueprint of the inside of the ship, showing the internal armour layout
Source: | Nationaal ArchiefFrom 1928 till 1933 the ship was also fitted with an Aircraft Crane. The crane was mounted on the rear mast, and on top of the rear turret two small platforms were added on which the Van Berkel W-A floatplane would be placed on. I believe there is room for another Floatplane inbetween the rear 7,5cm No. 1 guns. The ship did not have any kind of catapult system however, the aircraft would have to be lowered into the water with the crane and then take of on it’s own.
HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerck with the aircraft crane, note the two platorms on top of the rear turret which would be used to place the floatplane on
Source: Foto's
A Van Berkel W-A floatplane getting lifted onto the HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerck
Source: Foto's
A blueprint of HNLMS Neptunus, this was HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerck after the war when she was turned into a accomodation ship
Source: | Nationaal Archief
Ingame
Spoiler
We currently don’t have any armoured cruisers, or similar older style vessels ingame. But I do strongly believe that ships like these can work really well ingame.
When we look at the future of Naval in War Thunder, not all nations have a large number of battleships/battlecruisers that can be added. And going from a cruiser to a battleship is a huge step. That’s why I think ships like these can work nicely to fill that gap. They might not have the most amount weapons, or the best AA weapons, but their armour alone will allow them to take a lot of punches!
BR wise I this ship would work best at around 5.0. Maybe if Naval get’s more un-compressed these BR’s can change.
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.
In the French Naval tree this ship would feel right at home. France certainly liked to make some weird Armored Cruiser type ships around the 1900’s, so gameplay wise HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerck would fit right in! Also if the BeNeLux ships were to get a dedicated line in the French tree then this ship would serve nicely as one of the top ships you can get for the Dutch (Since neither the Netherlands nor Belgium had any battleships, so after these Armored Cruisers there wouldn’t be anything bigger)
Specifications
Spoiler
A side view cutaway of the ship
Source: | Nationaal ArchiefDisplacement: 4.920 tons
Length: 98 m
Beam: 15,19 m
Draft: 5,69 m
Installed powerplant: 2 x vertical tripple expansion steamturbines, 6 x Yarrow boilers (6,400 hp)
Propulsion: 2 x shafts
Maximum speed: 16,5 knots
Crew: 351 menArmor:
Belt: 100 - 150 mm
Upper Deck: 12,5 mm
Lower Deck: 50 mm
Citadel sides: 105 mm at 45°
Barbettes: 250 mm
Turrets: 250 mmArmament:
2 x 1 24cm No. 2 guns
6 x 1 15cm No. 5 guns**
6 x 1 7,5cm No.1 guns
1 x 1 6,5mm No. 1 or No. 2 (Schwarzlose) machine gun***
2 x 45cm torpedo tubes firing Whitehead Whitehead Type I 150 torpedoes (Both facing forwards, located underwater in the tip of the bow)** The No. 5 guns are fitted in an enclosed gun turret, but two of the six guns on Jacob van Heemskerck are fitted in different gun mounts that have a gun shield that is open at the back. It’s likely that these guns could be of the earlier No. 4 gun mount type, but I lack evidence to proof this.
*** These machine guns sometimes show up on top of the main gun turrets. On photos I’ve seen them pop up as early as 1917, however they seem to dissapear again when the ship had the aircraft crane fitted.
1 x Aircraft crane, with two Van Berkel W-A floatplanes carried. (Max speed 135 km/h, 1 x 7.92 mm Lewis machine gun in a gunner position)
The floatplane crane was only on the ship from 1928 till 1933
A top-down view of the ship
Source: | Nationaal Archief
A nice side view of HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerck
Source: Foto's
And there you have it! I hope you enjoyed reading about this amazing machine.
See you on the battlefield!
Sources
Spoiler
Main sources:
- Nederlandse pantser- en pantserdekschepen - TracesOfWar.nl
- HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerck (1906) - Wikipedia
- Archieven.nl - 57885 'Hr. Ms."Heemskerk".' De Hr. Ms. Jacob van Heemskerck is gebo... (Zeeuws Archief)
- Jacob van Heemskerck-class coastal defence ship
Extra sources:
- “Marine-torpedodienst 1875-2000” book, by J.M. Mohrmann
Van Berkel W-A floatplane:
Photos:
Blueprints: