- 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.
- As laid down (1 x 210mm, 1 x 170mm, 4 x 50mm, 3 x 37mm, 2 x torpedo tubes)
- 1908 refit (1 x 210mm, 1 x 170mm, 4 x 50mm, 3 x 37mm)
- 1913 refit (1 x 210mm, 1 x 150mm, 2 x 50mm)
- I said “No” in the first question.
Today I’m going to suggest a true example of an “Unique ship” of the Dutch Navy.
This is the “Ramschip” HNLMS Reinier Claeszen (1891)!
HNLMS Reinier Claeszen in her natural habitat. Perfectly calm waters!
Source: Foto's
So what is a HNLMS Reinier Claeszen exactly?
Well at first she was, on official documents and blueprints, classed as a “Ramschip”. As the name suggests, this is a ship fitted with a ram. These old Netherlands Navy ship classifications don’t have a direct English translation, as is the case with many other Navies back in the day. Everyone used their own classifications for their ships.
But on the 12th of May 1893 HNLMS Reinier Claeszen was reclassed to Monitor. This suits her much better considering that her very minimal freeboard made her unfit for open seas, so she was mostly kept in rivers and coastlines.
To come to a conclusions, if we want to be super specific about it we can call her a Ram Monitor. But just Monitor will do just as good.
History
Spoiler
HNLMS Reinier Claeszen docked in the Hellevoetsluis, Zuid-Holland
Source: Foto'sHNLMS Reinier Claeszen was a true oddity for the Netherlands Navy. She was laid down on the 24th of September 1890. She was launched on the 21st of November 1891, and would be accepted into service on the 1st of March 1894. She was originally classed as a “Ramschip”, as the name suggests this was a ship fitted with a ram. But this was later changed to Monitor.
The carreer of HNLMS Reinier Claeszen was very uneventfull sadly. The ship had many flaws, and the most important one was her minimal freeboard. Due to this the ship couldn’t operate in open seas and rough waters. This meant that she would be limited to rivers and ports.
HNLMS Reinier Claeszen docked in Vlissingen, Zeeland
Source: Foto'sHNLMS Reinier Claeszen would be assigned to the South of the Netherlands, specifically in the Hellevoetsluis. There her only goal was to protect it.
HNLMS Reinier Claeszen docked in the Hellevoetsluis, Zuid-Holland. Another oddity is docked right beside her, this is the “Rammonitor 1ste klasse”, HNLMS Matador
Source: Foto'sThe only “exciting” thing that happend in her early days is that on the 1st of August 1894 a hatch could not be closed due to a broken frame, and to the starboard engine room flooded. On top of that some watertight doors were not closed properly inside the ship and so the Port side engine room also flooded. The ship quickly sailed to a nearby port and beached itself to avoid it sinking all the way under water.
On the 21st of August 1907 HNLMS Reinier Claeszen was taken out of service for a large maintenence session. This would take untill the 4th of November 1908, and during this time the engines would be changed on top of some other small things like for example the torpedo tubes that would be removed.
In 1913 another small change would be made to the ship. The rear 17 cm gun would be swapped for a 15 cm one that came from the Protected Cruiser HNLMS Utrecht.
On the 21st of April 1914 HNLMS Reinier Claeszen would be taken out of service for good, and scrapped soon after.
A nice painting of HNLMS Reinier Claeszen, together with the “Vischtorpedoboot” HNLMS Etna and “Spartorpedoboot” HNLMS VII
Source: Foto's
Design
Spoiler
A blueprint of the HNLMS Reinier Claeszen
Source: | Nationaal ArchiefHNLMS Reinier Claeszen was 70 metres long, had a beam of 13,52 metres and a draft of 4,55 metres, and had a displacement of 2.479 tons. She had a crew of 159 men and were able to reach a top speed of 12,5 knots.
HNLMS Reinier Claeszen was armed with a single 21 cm A No. 2 gun at the front, and a single 17 cm A No. 2 gun at the rear. The “A” in the gun names means “Achterlader” (Breechloader), this was done because back in the day most guns were Muzzle loaders, and so any Breechloader would be given this “A” to set it apart from the others.
Both these guns had acces to Common, AP and Canister rounds.The ship was also armed with four smaller guns behind gunshields. But here we have a small problem, the exact type of guns used I cannot confirm, the only thing I know is that they are referred to as 5 cm guns.
The only thing I can give you is my best guess. And that would be the German 5 cm SK L/40 gun.
The four guns were placed on each corner of the superstructure.On top of the 5cm secondairy guns, the ship also had three 37mm Hotchkiss guns. One was placed near the rear, on the back of the superstructure and firing over the rear 17 cm A No. 2 gun. And the last two guns were plcaed in a “Crows nest” above the bridge.
Lastly HNLMS Reinier Claeszen had two 35,5 cm torpedo tubes onboard. These were above the waterline, and inside of the superstructure. She had one torpedo tube per side, and these fired Whitehead Type IX torpedoes that had a warhead of 53,3 kg Wet guncotton. These torpedoes had a range of 900 m, and a speed of 21 knots. The ship carried a total of 6 torpedoes onboard.
HNLMS Reinier Claeszen was protected by a 100 to 120 mm thick belt. On top of this thick belt the ship also had a very thick deck, that being 50 to 75 mm.
Lastly the conning tower and 21cm turret were 280 mm thick.
A nice side view of the HNLMS Reinier Claeszen. Here we can spot all the different weapons onboard. The front and rear turrets, the secondairy guns behind gunshields on each corner of the superstructure, the 37mm Hotchkiss “crows nest” above the bridge, and lastly the hatch for one of the torpedo tubes onboard. You can see towards the front of the superstructure.
Source: Foto's
In 1908 the torpedo tubes were removed. Most likely due to them being outdated, and the fact that HNLMS Reinier Claeszen was a slow monitor that only served in calm waters made torpedoes kind of useless onboard her.
In 1913 the rear 17 cm A No. 2 gun was replaced with a 15 cm No. 3 gun. This gun was taken of the Protected Cruiser HNLMS Utrecht. This gun could fire Common and Shrapnel rounds.
During this refit two of the four 5 cm secondairy guns were removed, and it is likely that the 37mm Hotchkiss guns were not in use anymore either.
A blueprint of the ‘Canet’ torpedo tube system onboard HNLMS Reinier Claezen
Source: “Marine-torpedodienst 1875-2000” book, by J.M. Mohrmann
Ingame
Spoiler
The HNLMS Reinier Claezen would be weird and yet funny addition to the game. The ship is a monitor, something we don’t have ingame yet. Monitors are hard to balance ingame I think, but looking at their gameplay style I think they would be best added to the Coastal Fleet. The coastal tree might not be very suitable for the larger Battleship gun armed Monitors like those of the British Navy, but smaller river onces like this one will work just fine in my opinion.
The armour of the HNLMS Reinier Claezen means that she would be very hard to kill with guns. But her massive size and slow speed means she is an easy target for a torpedo.
Now where should these boats go to? As usualy with my Dutch vehicle suggestions, I ofcourse want to see this ingame in a Dutch or BeNeLux techtree. Ofcourse the BeNeLux has been added to France, so this is now the only option where Dutch vessels 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 tree the HNLMS Reinier Claezen would be just a fun oddity for people to play. It might be best for HNLMS Reinier Claezen to be an Event or Premium ship due to her odd nature. The ship also doesn’t have a rich history in the Dutch Navy, so it might be best to have her be a rare ship to come across.
Specifications
Spoiler
Displacement: 2479 tons
Length: 70 m
Beam: 13,52 m
Draft: 4,55 m
Powerplant: 2 x steam turbines, 3 x scottish boilers
Power output: 2.315 hp
Maximum speed: 12,5 knots (23.15 km/h)
Crew: 159 menArmor:
Belt: 100-120 mm
Deck: 50-75 mm
Conning tower: 280 mm
21 cm turret: 280 mmArmament: (As laid down)
1 x 1 21 cm A No. 2 gun
1 x 1 17 cm A No. 2 gun
4 x 1 5 cm SK L/40 gun
3 x 1 37 mm/1 Hotchkiss Gun
2 x 1 35,5 cm torpedo tubes firing Whitehead Type IX torpedoes1908 refit: (Torpedoes removed)
1 x 1 21 cm A No. 2 gun
1 x 1 17 cm A No. 2 gun
4 x 1 5 cm SK L/40 gun
3 x 1 37 mm/1 Hotchkiss Gun1913 refit: (Secondairy guns changed)
1 x 1 21 cm A No. 2 gun
1 x 1 15 cm No. 3 gun
2 x 1 5 cm SK L/40 gun
37 mm Hotchkiss Guns most likely removed tooAmmunition:
21 cm A No. 2
- [Common] Gewoongranaat v/ 21cm A L4,1
–Projectile: 134,2 kg round with a 5,8 kg filling, for a total weight of 140 kg.
–Charge: 54 kg prismatic gunpowder No. 2.
–Velocity: 580 mps- [AP] Stalen puntgranaat v/ 21cm A L3,4
–Projectile: 138,3 kg round with a 1,7 kg filling, for a total weight of 140 kg.
–Charge: 54 kg prismatic gunpowder No. 2.
–Velocity: 580 mps
–Penetration: 565 mm of iron at 0 meters.- [Canister] Kartets v/ 21cm A
–Projectile: 53 kg round filled with 101 zinc balls of 0,368 kg each.
–Charge: Unknown.
–Velocity: Unknown.17 cm A No. 2
- [Common] Gewoongranaat v/ 17cm A L4,2
–Projectile: 74,75 kg round with a 3,25 kg filling, for a total weight of 78 kg.
–Charge: 33 kg prismatic gunpowder No. 2.
–Velocity: 585 mps- [AP] Stalen granaat v/ 17cm A L3,4
–Projectile: 77,21 kg round with a 0,79 kg filling, for a total weight of 78 kg.
–Charge: Unknown.
–Velocity: Unknown.- [Canister] Kartets v/ 17cm A
–Projectile: 28,6 kg round filled with 56 zinc balls of 0,368 kg each.
–Charge: Unknown.
–Velocity: Unknown.15 cm No. 3
- [Common] Gewoongranaat L3,7
–Projectile: 43,4 kg round with a 2,1 kg filling, for a total weight of 45,5 kg.
–Casing: 17,38 kg, total weight with projectile of 62,88 kg.
–Velocity: 680 mps- [Shrapnel] Granaatkartets L3,2
–Projectile: 45,5 kg.
–Charge: 13,17 kg, total weight with projectile of 58,67 kg.
–Velocity: 465 mps.- [Practice] Unknown name
–Projectile: 45,5 kg.
–Casing: 17,38 kg, total weight with projectile of 62,88 kg.
–Velocity: Unknown.
HNLMS Reinier Claeszen in Den Helder, 1895
Source: Foto's
And there you have it! I hope you enjoyed reading about weird ship of the Dutch Navy.
See you on the battlefield!
Sources
Spoiler
History and information:
Extra sources:
- https://vriendenkring-mmi.nl/hr-ms-reinier-claeszen-nl/
- Hr. Ms. Reinier Claeszen - Adverteren Hellevoetsluis | Groot Hellevoet | Krant en Online
- Hr.Ms. Reinier Claeszen (1894) - Wikipedia
Photos:
Blueprints: