- 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 (2 x 15cm, 6 x 12cm, 4 x 7,5cm, 10 x 3,7cm, 35,5cm bow torpedo)
- 1910 refit (2 x 15cm, 6 x 12cm, 4 x 7,5cm, 6 x 3,7cm, 45cm bow torpedo)
- 1915 refit (10 x 12cm, 2 x 7,5cm, 6 x 3,7cm, 45cm bow torpedo)
- I said “No” in the first question.
Today I want to suggest a cool ship for the Netherlands.
This is the Holland-class protected cruiser HNLMS Noordbrabant (1899)
The Holland-class name is referencing the province of Holland, not the “country” name Holland. That’s because Holland is not a country, it’s called the Netherlands.
HNLMS Noordbrabant in 1916 - 1918
Source: Foto's
History
Spoiler
HNLMS Noordbrabant whilst still under construction, 1898
Source: Foto'sThe period around the 1900’s is a very interesting time in Naval history in my opinion One such class of interesting ships are the Protected Cruisers. The last Protected Cruisers the Netherlands Navy built were the Holland-class. In Dutch the term Protected Cruiser is called “Pantserdekschip”, which when translated litterally says “Armour Deck Ship”. Which is exactly what Protected Cruisers are, they usually don’t have an armoured belt, but instead they have an internal armoured deck.
HNLMS Noordbrabant just before she was fully finished, 1899
Source: Foto'sThe Holland-class were constructed in two batches of three ships. Something interesting about this is that the second batch is actually bigger then the first batch.
HNLMS Noordbrabant was launched on the 17th of January 1899, and would be put into service on the 1st of March 1900.
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.
HNLMS Noordbrabant
Source: Foto'sShe would be decommissioned in 1920 but this would not be the end of her carreer. She would be rebuild into an accommodation ship. During this rebuild it’s very likely that she was stripped of her propulsion systems and would just be towed around where ever she was needed.
All her original armaments were removed, and she was given just a single 7,5cm gun at the front. Most likely for basic artillery training uses.
When Germany invaded the Netherlands in 1940 the crew of the ship set her on fire to avoid it from getting captured by the Germans. Her wreck would evenually be scrapped afterwards.
HNLMS Noordbrabant now as an accommodation ship, 1940
Source: Foto's
Design
Spoiler
A blueprint of HNLMS Noordbrabant as an accommodation ship
Source: | Nationaal ArchiefHNLMS Noordbrabant was part of the second batch of three Holland-class protected cruisers. This is important to mention because there are some differences between the first and second batch of ships.
HNLMS Noordbrabant was 94,7 metres long, had a beam of 14,8 metres and a draft of 5,41 metres, and displaced 4.033 tons. She had a crew of 324 men and was able to reach a top speed of 20 knots.The main weaponry of the ship consisted of two different caliber guns. The ship had two 15cm No. 3 guns, and six 12cm No. 2 guns. The 15cm guns were placed with one fore and one aft. And the 12cm guns were spread around the ship with three on either side.
The secondairy weapons consisted of four 7,5cm No. 2 guns. These were placed with two on either side of the ship.
The final guns onboard the ship were ten 37mm Hotchkiss guns. Out of these ten, four of them were the five barrel revolving guns. But these were taken out of service very early on, by the time the ships went through their first refit they were removed.
The four five barrel revolving guns were located around the bridge and rear conning tower. The guns near the bridge were placed on top of a platform above the bridge. And the guns near the rear conning tower were put with one on either side.
The six single barrel 37mm guns were spread around the ship. Two were next to the bridge, and the otehr four were in between the 12cm and 7,5cm guns.
A cross section blueprint of two sections of HNLMS Noordbrabant. Note the 37mm Hotchkiss revolving guns
Source: | Nationaal ArchiefThe final bit of weaponry onboard the ship were four torpedo tubes. One was a 35,5cm underwater torpedo tube, and the other three were 45cm torpedo tubes. The 35,5cm torpedo tube is a very special one because this was the first underwater torpedo tube to ever be fitted to a ship in the Dutch Navy. The reason it’s only a 35,5cm and not a 45cm tube like the others is most likely because they feared something might go wrong with this new underwater installation, so they went for a smaller torpedo tube system.
As for the three 45cm torpedo tubes, one was placed on each broadside and the last one was in the stern. Something cool about the broadside tubes is that they were on a swivel and could be rotated towards the side to take up less space. The rear torpedo tube is also on a swivel.
The torpedoes used for the 35,5cm tube were the Whitehead Type VIIIc. The torpedoes had a 61,5 kg wet guncotton warhead, and a range of 900 meters at 28,3 knots.
The torpedoes used for the 45cm tubes were the Whitehead Type XI. The torpedoes had a 97 kg wet guncotton warhead, and a range of 900 meters at 31,3 knots.
An amazing photo of the underwater 35,5cm torpedo tube. It’s unclear on which exact 2nd Batch Holland-class protected cruiser this is taken from
Source: “Marine-torpedodienst 1875-2000” book, by J.M. Mohrmann
A top down view of on of the lower decks on HNLMS Noordbrabant. Here we see the underwater 35,5cm torpedo tube mounted in the bow of the ship
Source: | Nationaal Archief
A top down view of the torpedo tube deck on HNLMS Noordbrabant. Note how the tubes on the sides can swivel and be rotated to the side when not in use
Source: | Nationaal ArchiefSomewhere around 1910 the 35,5cm underwater torpedo tube was switched out for a 45cm one that now fired the same Whitehead Type XI torpedoes as the other 45cm tubes onboard.
From 1914 till 1915 the ship went through a modernization/refit where the 15cm No. 3 guns were replaced with two 12cm No. 2 guns. This removed the odd caliber changes between the main guns. On top of that two of the 7,5cm guns were replaced with more 12cm guns, bringing the total up to ten 12cm guns.
Another thing I’ve noticed with HNLMS Noordbrabant is that next to the bridge there are now these larger half shielded platforms, with what seems to be a gun barrel sticking out. You can see what I’m talking about on the first photo used in this suggeston. The two 3,7cm Hotchkiss guns that used to be at the front of the ship seem to be gone, and I think they were moved up to these new platforms, and mounted in an High-Angle anti-aicraft mount. I’ve not spotted this on any other Holland-class ships so far, so I don’t know if this is unique to HNLMS Noordbrabant or if it was done to the other ships too.
A photo taken of a 3,7cm Hotchkiss gun placed on an anti-aircraft mount. It’s not stated onboard which ship this photo was taken, but if you look at the very first photo used in this suggestion, you’ll see that the two platforms next to the bridge are an perfect match with what we see on this photo. So I’m very certain this is taken onboard the HNLMS Noordbrabant
Source: | Nationaal Archief
HNLMS Noordbrabant being a protected cruiser means that she does not have any kind of armoured belt. Instead the ship has an armoured deck inside of the ship that tapers down to the lower sides of the ship, kind of crearing an internal turtleback belt.
This armoured deck was 50 mm thick. The ship also has a sort of armourec citadel in the center of the ship, this is connected to the armoured deck. This citadel is 125mm thick and it at a slight angle of around 20 degrees.
Finally the main gun turrets were protected by 150 mm of armour.
A cross section blueprint of the inside of the HNLMS Noordbrabant, showing the internal armour layout
Source: | Nationaal Archief
Ingame
Spoiler
Protected Cruisers would be quite fun to have ingame if you ask me. They have lots of guns and a little bit of armour, but nothing that would make them super powerfull. This HNLMS Noordbrabant is a good example of a very normal protected cruiser. It’s main guns are more then enough to fight allong side other large destroyers of early light cruisers, and it’s speed and armour are also enough for those battles.
When we look at the future of Naval in War Thunder, not all nations have a large number of light cruisers that can be added. But this is a very important area in the naval tree to fill up. So that’s why I think ships like these can work nicely to fill that gap. They might not be as good as most light cruisers, but it’s better then nothing.
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 Protected Cruiser type ships around the 1900’s, so gameplay wise HNLMS Noordbrabant would fit right in!
Specifications
Spoiler
A side view cross section of the HNLMS Noordbrabant
Source: | Nationaal ArchiefDisplacement: 4.033 tons
Length: 94,7 m
Beam: 14,8 m
Draft: 5,41 m
Installed powerplant: 2 x tripple expansion steamturbines, 12 x Yarrow boilers (7.500 hp)
Propulsion: 2 x shafts
Maximum speed: 20 knots
Crew: 324 menArmor:
Armoured Deck: 50 mm
Citadel sides: 125 mm at 20°
Conning tower: 100 mm
Main turrets: 150 mmArmament: (As laid down)
2 x 1 15cm No. 3 guns
6 x 1 12cm No. 2 guns
4 x 1 7,5cm No. 2 guns
4 x 5 3,7cm Hotchkiss revolving guns
6 x 1 3,7cm Hotchkiss guns
1 x underwater 35,5cm bow torpedo tube firing Whitehead Type VIIIc torpedoes
2 x 45cm broadside torpedo tubes firing Whitehead Type XI torpedoes
1 x 45cm stern torpedo tube firing Whitehead Type XI torpedoesArmament: (1910)
2 x 1 15cm No. 3 guns
6 x 1 12cm No. 2 guns
4 x 1 7,5cm No. 2 guns
6 x 1 3,7cm Hotchkiss guns
1 x underwater 45cm bow torpedo tube firing Whitehead Type XI torpedoes
2 x 45cm broadside torpedo tubes firing Whitehead Type XI torpedoes
1 x 45cm stern torpedo tube firing Whitehead Type XI torpedoesArmament: (1915)
10 x 1 12cm No. 2 guns
2 x 1 7,5cm No. 2 guns
6 x 1 3,7cm Hotchkiss guns (Two of which are in High-Angle anti-aircraft mounts)
1 x underwater 45cm bow torpedo tube firing Whitehead Type XI torpedoes
2 x 45cm broadside torpedo tubes firing Whitehead Type XI torpedoes
1 x 45cm stern torpedo tube firing Whitehead Type XI torpedoes
A top down view of HNLMS Noordbrabant, showing all the main and secondairy gun placements
Source: | Nationaal Archief
HNLMS Noordbrabant
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:
- Holland class cruisers (1895)
- https://www.tracesofwar.nl/articles/2625/Nederlandse-pantser--en-pantserdekschepen.htm
- Holland-class cruiser - Wikipedia
- HNLMS Holland (1896) - Wikipedia
Extra sources:
- “Marine-torpedodienst 1875-2000” book, by J.M. Mohrmann
Photos:
Blueprints:
