- Yes
- No
- In a Dutch or BeNeLux techtree
- In the British techtree as a premium
- In the German techtree as a premium
- I said ‘No’ in the first question.
Hello everyone, today I wanted to suggest a very unique ship of the Dutch navy.
This is the protected cruiser HNLMS Koningin Wilhelmina der Nederlanden!
Source: Foto's
Design
Spoiler
I was unable to find the original blueprints of the ship the way she was laid down. Instead only blueprints of the pre-design are available. The changes between the pre-design and the actual ship are minimal. Source: | Nationaal ArchiefHNLMS Koningin Wilhelmina der Nederlanden (Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands) was a unique ship, meaning she did not belong to a class of ships. So she is the only ship of this specific design.
Koningin Wilhelmina der Nederlanden was a “Pantserdekschip”, which when translated litterally means Amourdeckship, but a better English term for it would be Protected Cruiser. She was 99.8 meters long, 12.91 meters wide and had a draught of 6.07 meters. Her being a “Pantserdekschip” (Amourdeckship) meant that the only armoured part on her that is worth mentioning is the Deck armour, which was 50mm thick. Which for the time she was laid down was pretty good.
The ship was powered by a 4600 hp steam engine, which would propell the 4530 ton ship to a max speed of 15.8 knots (29.3 km/h). The ship had a single smoke funnel right in the center of the ship. Something that is not talked about, but can be seen on photos, is that this funnel was changed at some point to a more modern design.
I was unable to find the original blueprints of the ship the way she was laid down. Instead only blueprints of the pre-design are available. The changes between the pre-design and the actual ship are minimal. Source: | Nationaal Archief
I was unable to find the original blueprints of the ship the way she was laid down. Instead only blueprints of the pre-design are available. The changes between the pre-design and the actual ship are minimal. Source: | Nationaal ArchiefArmaments wise she’s a bit weird. For her primairy gun she had a single 280mm No. 2 gun mounted in a turret at the front of the ship. The turret design is the same as the onces seen on much older Dutch Monitors of the 1870’s. Which is quite interesting since Koningin Wilhelmina der Nederlanden was laid down in 1892, so the 28cm gun was definetly on the older side for the 1890’s.
For the second primairy gun, there is a 21cm No. 2 gun on the stern. The gun has quite a big gunshield, and the same gun mount can be seen on the Dutch Evertsen-class Pansterschepen (Armoured Cruiser)
If the two primairy guns were not enough, she was also fitted with two 170mm No. 2 guns, with one being mounted on either side of the ship. The 170mm caliber is quite big for a secondairy gun, so in reality the 170mm guns would be used as a primairy gun.
For secondairy guns she’s got four 75mm guns mounted in single turrets with gunshields. And also four single barrel 37mm Hotchkiss guns can also be seen in the “crow nests” mounted on top of the two main masts, but at some point these “crow nests” were removed.
It is also mentioned by a lot of sources that the ship had five barrel 37mm Hotchkiss revolving guns onboard. Which is most likely 100% correct. But the blueprints and photos of the ships are not good enough for us to actually see where these might be located, and just how many she had. The best quess I can make is that she had 2 - 4 of the revolving guns onboard.
To round things of, the ship also had three 14 inch (355mm) torpedo tubes. Unlike most old ships of this time, the three torpedo tubes were located above the waterline. She had one torpedo tube mounted on either side of the ship, and there was one more torpedo tube mounted in the tip of the bow. The only 14 inch torpedo’s the Dutch operated were the Whitehead types, and the onces mounted on Koningin Wilhelmina der Nederlanden are most likely the Whitehead Type VIII. Which have a range of 900 meters and a speed of around 25 knots.
Source: | Nationaal Archief
Service history
Spoiler
HNLMS Koningin Wilhelmina der Nederlanden was in service from 1894 till 1910. Which means that she did not have any wars of conflicts to take part in.
When she entered service on the 17th of April 1894, she carried out sea trails in the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean. She managed to run aground during one of these trails. After the trails she set sail to the Dutch East Indies. Which is where most of the large naval force for the Dutch went too.
While in the Dutch East Indies she went of a journey to various countries to show the flag there.
In 1900 the Boxer Rebellion was happening in China, and so Koningin Wilhelmina der Nederlanden together with some other Dutch ships set sail to Shanghai to safeguard European citizens and Dutch interests in the region.
Her last journey was on the 29th of December 1909, where she set sail back to the Netherlands. She arrived in IJmuiden on the 14th of Febuary 1910, where she was decommissioned and sold for scrap.
HNLMS Koningin Wilhelmina der Nederland in Ambon - source: Foto's
Specifications
Spoiler
Displacement: 4530 tons
Length: 99.8 meters
Beam: 14.91 meters
Draught: 6.07 meters
Propulsion: 4600 hp Steam Engine
Speed: 15.8 knots (29.3 km/h)
Crew count: 296
Armour: 50mm DeckArmament:
1894 (As commissioned):Spoiler
Source: Foto'sThere are three defining features which helps tell you if the ship is in her original configuration.
- The ship is painted in a dark colour.
- The two main masts have “crow nests” in them which have two 37mm guns each.
- The smoke funnel is of a simple straight design.
1 x 1 280mm No. 2 gun
1 x 1 210mm No. 2 gun
2 x 1 170mm No. 2 guns
4 x 1 75mm No. 1 guns
4 x 1 37mm Hotchkiss gun
Unknown ammount of 37mm Hotchkiss revolving guns
3 x 1 355mm torpedo tubes (One on either side, and one in the bow)Most likely somewhere around 1900:
Spoiler
Source: Foto'sThere are three defining features which helps tell you if the ship is in her later configuration.
- The ship is painted in a white colour.
- The two main masts no longer have “crow nests” in them.
- The smoke funnel is of a more modern design, and is on a slight angle (It’s leaning a bit towards the stern)
1 x 1 280mm No. 2 gun
1 x 1 210mm No. 2 gun
2 x 1 170mm No. 2 guns
4 x 1 75mm No. 1 guns
Removal of the “crow nests”, unknown if the 37mm guns were re-located elsewhere.
Unknown ammount of 37mm Hotchkiss revolving guns
3 x 1 355mm torpedo tubes (One on either side, and one in the bow)Also, all the primairy guns being names “No. 2” is not a typo. The Dutch naval weapons naming system is a number system that is grouped per caliber size.
So like with this ship, guns of different calibers can have the same number.
In the end you need both the gun caliber and gun Number in order to know what weapon you are talking about.
In War Thunder
Spoiler
Like always when I suggest a Dutch naval vessel, I would like to see in ingame in either a Dutch or BeNeLux techtree. But should that not be possible then the best second choice is Britain or Germany in this case. Britain works because the Dutch were good allies with Britain. And Germany also works as an option because all the main guns on the ship are of a German design.
As for how this ship would work ingame…well that is a bit complicated. Protected cruisers could very easily be added ingame, that is not a big problem. But the fact that this ship is from 1894 makes thing a bit difficult. As for protected cruiser standard she’s not on par with the later cruisers of the first world war. If added this ship would be the oldest ship in the game. Atleast the primairy guns can deal a good punch against light cruisers and maybe early heavy cruisers. But aside from that she’s not exactly a ship you would consider as being very good.
The best place for this ship would be in a Rank 0 sort of techtree. Where she would be fighting against other ships of the same timeframe.
Source: Foto's
And there you have it! I hope you guys enjoyed reading about this unique ship!
See you next time!
More photos
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