HNLMS Flores
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{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=Hr. Ms. Flores |Ship caption=Flores }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country= Netherlands |Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Netherlands}} |Ship name= Flores |Ship namesake=Flores Island |Ship ordered= |Ship builder=Mij Feijenoord, Schiedam |Ship laid down=13 January 1925 |Ship launched=15 August 1925 |Ship commissioned=25 March 1926 |Ship decommissioned= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship struck= 26 August 1968 |Ship reinstated= |Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours= |Ship fate=Sold for scrapping 12 November 1968 |Ship identification=Pennant numbers: F66, N1, F803, A877 |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship type={{sclass|Flores|gunboat|1}} |Ship displacement=*{{convert|1457|LT|t}} standard
|Ship length= {{convert|75.6|m|ftin|abbr=on}} |Ship beam= {{convert|11.5|m|ftin|abbr=on}} |Ship draught= {{convert|3.6|m|ftin|abbr=on}} |Ship propulsion=2 shafts, 2 Triple-expansion steam engines |Ship speed= {{convert|15|kn|lk=in}} |Ship range= |Ship complement=145 |Ship power=*{{convert|2000|shp|lk=in|abbr=on}} |Ship armament=*As built:
|Ship armour=*Bridge: {{convert|50|mm|in|abbr=on}}
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| 50|mm|in|abbr=on}}
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| 80|mm|in|abbr=on}}
|Ship notes= }} |
HNLMS Flores ({{langx|nl|Hr.Ms. Flores}}) was a {{sclass|Flores|gunboat|1}} built in the mid-1920s for the Royal Netherlands Navy to patrol the Dutch East Indies.
Construction
Career
= Dutch East Indies =
Flores and her sister ship {{HNLMS|Soemba|1925|2}} left the port of Den Helder on 15 June 1926 for the Dutch East Indies. They took a route that led by Seville, Tunis, Port Said, Aden, Colombo and Sabang. She arrived there on 10 August that year. On 5 March 1927 both ships made a trip to Singapore and Saigon.
After a Japanese fishing boat Tokei Maru No.7 refused to stop for investigation on 2 October 1937 the ship was seized by the Flores and fired upon, killing two men of the Japanese ship. In 1938 she made a visit to Australia.
= World War II =
Flores was brought back to the Netherlands at the start of World War II where she patrolled home waters until the Germans invaded in 1940. Slightly damaged, she escaped to Britain and was employed as an escort.
During the war Flores operated in the Mediterranean Sea and played an active role in the landings in Sicily, Salerno, Anzio, Garigliano, Gaeta and finally, at the beaches of Normandy in June 1944.
= After the war =
In 1951 Flores was reclassified as frigate. In 1955 Flores was stricken and rebuilt into an accommodation ship. Somewhere in July 1960, she was renamed Van Speijk. After the new frigate HNLMS Van Speijk was launched on 5 March 1965 she was given her old name back.
She was finally stricken on 26 August 1968 and sold for scrapping on 12 November 1968. She was scrapped in Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht.
External links
{{commons category-inline|Hr.Ms. Flores (ship, 1926)}}
- [http://www.netherlandsnavy.nl/Flores_his.htm Detailed history of Flores]
{{Flores class gunboat}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flores, HNLMS}}
Category:World War II sloops of the Netherlands