- 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 (Two main guns and torpedoes)
- Aircraft crane refit (Only one main gun and two floatplanes)
- Anti-Air refit (Only one main gun and four 40mm autocannons)
- I said “No” in the first question.
Today I want to suggest an a unique ship for the Netherlands.
This is the “Pantserschip” HNLMS Hertog Hendrik (1902)
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 Hertog Hendrik in 1904
Source: Foto's
History
Spoiler
HNLMS Hertog Hendrik in Venice 1934
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.
The first “Pantserschepen” the Dutch made were of the Evertsen-class, and from 1893 till 1896 they would built three of these. Starting in 1898 a new class of ships was constructed, this was the Koningin Regentes-class.
Three Koningin Regentes-class ships would be constructed, HNLMS Koningin Regentes, HNLMS De Ruyter and HNLMS Hertog Hendrik.Compared to the previous Evertsen-class the Koningin Regentes-class was larger, and around 1.500 tons heavier. The 21cm guns of the Evertsen-class were not carried over, instead a new 24cm gun was used, the 15cm secondairy gun battery was doubled to four guns and the 7,5cm guns were increased from six to eight guns.
HNLMS Hertog Hendrik was launched on the 7th of June 1902, and would be put into service on the 5th of January 1904.
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.In 1926 HNLMS Hertog Hendrik went through a refit that saw her rear 24cm No. 1 turret get removed and it it’s place an aircraft crane was added and room for two Van Berkel W-A floatplanes. Some of her secondairy armaments were also reduced, but the 15cm guns remained.
Later most likely around 1935 the aircraft crane was removed, and the deck space where the floatplanes would normally be would be cleared up.
Not to much later around 1938 four 40mm No. 2 (Vickers Mark II pom-pom’s) were added to the rear where the floatplanes used to be.
HNLMS Hertog Hendrik now equiped with the aircraft crane on the rear mast
Source: Foto'sDuring the later stages of the 1930’s only three “Pantserschepen” remained in service. These being the 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 late 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 Jacob van Heemskerck became the “Batterijschip” IJmuiden, and HNLMS Hertog Hendrik would become the “Batterijschip” Vliereede. 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.
Fate
Spoiler
Hertog Hendrik now in service with the Germans as the Flakschiff Ariadne
Source: German Flakschiff Ariadne by destinationajourney on DeviantArtFollowing the start of the Second World War Germany would invade the Netherlands. Hertog Hendrik (Now “Batterijschip” Vliereede) was stationed near Vlieland around this time, would be captured by the Germans.
She was sunk by British aircraft soon after, but this didn’t stop the Germans from raising the ship again. The Germans took the ship and rebuilt her into a floating anti-aircraft battery. When put back into service she was renamed to “Ariadne”.
By some miracle the “Flakschiff Ariadne” 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 21st of October 1947, now renamed back to HNLMS Hertog Hendrik.
She would remain in service as a accomodation ship untill the 27th of September 1968, after which she was sadly scrapped.
The logging vessel HNLMS Hertog Hendrik
Source: Foto's
Design
Spoiler
HNLMS Hertog Hendrik in 1937, with the aircraft crane removed at this point
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 Hertog Hendrik was 96.622 metres long, had a beam of 15.189 metres and a draft of 5.817 metres, and displaced 5,002 tons. She had a crew of 340 men and was able to reach a top speed of 16,5 knots.
The main weaponry of the ship was two 24cm No. 1 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 a higher muzzle velocity of 814 meters per second.
Ammunition for the 24cm guns consisted of AP, two kinds of SAP, two kinds of HE and a Common shot.The secondairy weapons seen on HNLMS Hertog Hendrik was, for Dutch standards, very heavy at the time. That being four 15cm and eight 7,5cm guns.
The 15cm guns were mounted in No. 4 turrets. These turrets were open at the rear and had a thick armored gunshield at the front, sides and roof of the gun.As for the 7,5cm guns these were spread around the ship, making it so that at any angle at least one gun could fire. Two were placed on each side of the ship, two more were next to the bridge and the final two at the rear just behind the rear 24cm turret.
The final guns onboard the ship were four 37mm Hotchkiss guns. There was one on each side of the ship placed on the same deck as the 15cm and 7,5cm guns. And the last two were located near the bow of the ship, below the forward 24cm turret deck. The guns were placed behind two small doors which could be opened to fire the guns.
The final bit of weaponry onboard the ship was three 45cm torpedo tubes. One torpedo tube was mounted above the waterline in the bow of the ship. This tube would fire the torpedo straight forwards.
The last two torpedo tubes were mounted under water near the bow of the ship. The tubes were placed in the bottom deck of the ship and were put at an angle of roughly 45 degrees. So the torpedoes would not fire straight forwards, but would instead go at an angle.The torpedoes used were Whitehead Type XIIa and Type XIIb. The XIIa was used for the above water torpedo tube, and the XIIb was used for the underwater torpedo tubes. Both torpedoes had a 60 kg warhead, and a range of 1.000 meters at 31 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 HNLMS De Ruyter (1901) (A sister ship of the Koningin Regentes-class), showing the internal armour layout
Source: | Nationaal ArchiefIn 1926 the ship went through a refit and had her rear 24cm No. 1 turret removed, and was fitted with an Aircraft Crane. The crane was mounted on the rear mast, and the place where the 24cm No. 1 turret used to be was now used to store two Van Berkel W-A floatplanes. 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.
During this refit the 7,5cm No. 3 guns were reduced from eight to four guns. With only the turrets at the front and rear of the ship remaining. The 3,7cm Hotchkiss guns were also removed at this time, together with the torpedo tubes.
Another small addition was a 6,5mm Schwarzlose machine gun on top of the front main 24cm No. 1 turret. Looking at photos this was done around 1933.
HNLMS Hertog Hendrik lifting an aircraft out of the water with it’s crane
Source: Foto's
The 6,5mm Schwarzlose machine gun mounted on top of the main turret of HNLMS Hertog Hendrik
Source: Foto'sSomewhere around 1935 the aircraft crane was removed and the space where the floatplanes used to be simply became an open deck space.
However in 1938 four 40mm No. 2 (Vickers Mark II pom-pom’s) were added to this space, making it a small anti-aircraft deck now.
A 40mm No. 2 onboard the HNLMS Hertog Hendrik
Source: Foto's
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.
HNLMS Hertog Hendrik specifically does give us a rare refit options for the game. The ship in it’s 1938 refit only has one main gun turret, and it has 40mm anti-aicraft autocannons. Making it a sort of very large monitor due to it’s single gun that has access to anti-aircraft weaponry.
When looking at it from an ingame point of view I would only want to see HNLMS Hertog Hendrik in this refit due to it’s uniqueness that no other Dutch “Pantserschip” has.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 Hertog Hendrik 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 HNLMS Hertog Hendrik in her aircraft crane refit
Source: | Nationaal ArchiefDisplacement: 5,002 tons
Length: 96,622 m
Beam: 15,189 m
Draft: 5,817 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: 340 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: (As laid down)
2 x 1 24cm No. 1 guns
4 x 1 15cm No. 4 guns
8 x 1 7,5cm No. 3 guns
4 x 1 3,7cm Hotchkiss guns
1 x above water 45cm bow torpedo tube firing Whitehead Type XIIa torpedoes
2 x underwater 45cm bow torpedo tubes firing Whitehead Type XIIb torpedoesAircraft crane refit: (1926)
1 x 1 24cm No. 1 guns
4 x 1 15cm No. 4 guns
4 x 1 7,5cm No. 3 guns
1 x 1 6,5mm No. 1 or No. 2 (Schwarzlose) machine gun (Was added around 1933)
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)Anti-Air refit: (1938)
1 x 1 24cm No. 1 guns
4 x 1 15cm No. 4 guns
4 x 1 7,5cm No. 3 guns
4 x 1 40mm No. 2 autocannons
1 x 1 6,5mm No. 1 or No. 2 (Schwarzlose) machine gun
A blueprint of Hertog Hendrik after she was turned into a logging vessel
Source: | Nationaal Archief
HNLMS Hertog Hendrik in 1938, note the 40mm pom-poms on the rear anti-aircraft deck. Also have a look at the forward turret, I’m pretty sure that’s a Dutch flag the crew painted on the turret roof
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:
- Koningin Regentes class Coast Defence Ships (1900)
- Nederlandse pantser- en pantserdekschepen - TracesOfWar.nl
- Koningin Regentes-class coastal defense ship - Wikipedia
- HNLMS Hertog Hendrik - Wikipedia
Extra sources:
- “Marine-torpedodienst 1875-2000” book, by J.M. Mohrmann
Photos:
Blueprints: