- 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’m going to suggest a patrol vessel class of the Dutch Navy.
This is the P17-class patrol vessel
The blueprint of the P17-class patrol vessel
Source: | Nationaal Archief
Sadly there are no historical photos of the boats in service, so the blueprint is all I got to show you what the ships looked like.
History
Spoiler
In the late 1930’s the Dutch Navy didn’t have any dedicated patrol vessels. Instead older minelayer or similar larger vessels were used for this purpose, and they got the job done but something smaller and specific for the patrol role was desired.
That’s when the Navy decided to built four different classes of patrol boats. These were the P1, P5, P9 and P17-class boats. Each class was a little bigger and better armed then the previous. The P1-class turned out to be too small and too weak for the Navy. **The P17-class was the final version of the Dutch P-type patrol boats, and it was also the biggest and most powerfull one. Something the P17-class has that all the others don’t is depth charges, making the ship able to also attack submarines.
Six ships of the P17-class would be made. These being HNLMS P17, P18, P19, P20, P21 and P22. The first three were ready in 1941, early 1942. And the last three were still under construction by the time Japan invaded the Dutch East Indies.
The three ships that were completed sadly didn’t see any actio during the war. All three ships would be sunk by their own crews to avoid them getting captured by the Japanese. And the other three ships still under construction were most likely destroyed in their docks.
None of the ships would be raised afterwards by the Japanese or the Dutch.
Design
Spoiler
The P17-class patrol vessel was 24,45 metres long, had a beam of 4,2 metres and a draft of 1,4 metres, and displaced 40 tons. She had a crew of 12 men and was able to reach a top speed of 18 knots.
**The main weaponry of the ship consisted of a single 20mm No. 1 or No. 2 autocannon. This is a 20mm Hispano 404. The differences between the No. 1 and No. 2 I do not know which is why I can’t say for sure which one it was. The autocannon was mounted in an enclosed turret at the front of the ship.
The secondairy weapons onboard the ship is a single 12,7mm Colt-Browning machine gun on the rear. There exists a small chance that this might be a twin mounting, but the blueprint is not clear enough for me to read the exact details. But all the previous classes of patrol vessels use a single 12,7mm mount so it’s more likely that this one did too.
Finally the ship also had two depth charge rails at the back, which carried six depth charges each. So a total of twelve depth charges.
There was also a large searchlight on top of the bridge.
Ingame
Spoiler
The P5-class could be a nice BR 1.0 gunboat ingame. It’s not very special or powerfull in any way, but it’s just a cool little boat. I quite like the way it looks.
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.
Specifications
Spoiler
Displacement: 40 tons
Length: 24,45 m
Beam: 4,2 m
Draft: 1,4 m
Powerplant: Unknown engines, but total power was 950 hp
Maximum speed: 18 knots (33,33 km/h)
Crew: 12 menArmament:
1 x 1 20mm No. 1 or No. 2 autocannon [1] (This is a Hispano 404 autocannon)
1 x 1 12,7mm Colt-Browning machine gun
12 x Depth charges[1]: The gun used is either a No. 1 or No. 2 type. The exact differences between the two mounts I do not know.
And there you have it! I hope you enjoyed reading about this cool and unique boat.
See you on the battlefield!
Sources