HNLMS Sumatra (1920)

During the early 20th century, the primary purpose of the Dutch Navy was the protection of the economically vital Dutch East Indies.{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/conwaysallworlds0000unse_j5q0/mode/2up?q=java&view=theater |title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1922-1946 |date=1980 |publisher=US Naval Institute Press (January 18, 1980) |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-87021-913-9}}{{Rp|page=385}} In 1914, the Navy planned for a large expansion of its fleets, concerned about Japanese naval expansion and the need to maintain Dutch neutrality during World War I. One major aspect of the plan was the Java-class cruiser, intended to outperform all comparable cruisers, especially those of Japan. The new Japanese Chikuma-class scout cruiser{{En dash}}with {{convert|5,000|LT|t|0|abbr=on}} displacement, eight {{Convert|15|cm|in|abbr=on}} guns and a top speed of {{convert|26|kn|lk=in}}{{En dash}}was used as a template for what the new design needed to surpass.{{Rp|pages=|page=5,6,8}}

When Sumatra and her class was designed in 1915, the Navy believed they were the most powerful and modern cruisers in the world. She had ten {{Convert|15|cm|in|abbr=on}} guns: two on the bow, two stern, and three guns on either side. The rest of her armament consisted of four {{Convert|7.5|cm|in|abbr=on}} anti-aircraft guns, four {{Convert|12.7|mm|in|abbr=on}} machine guns, and 36 mines. She had a length of {{Convert|155.3|m|ft|abbr=on}}, beam of {{Convert|16|m|ft|abbr=on}}, draft of {{Convert|5.5|m|ft|abbr=on}}, and a displacement of {{convert|8,278|LT|t|0|abbr=on}}. Her top speed of 30 knots was achieved by three turbines powered by eight boilers which provided {{convert|82,000|shp|lk=on|abbr=off}} to three propellers. Her armor consisted of {{Convert|125|mm|in|abbr=on}} around the conning tower, {{Convert|100|mm|in|abbr=on}} gun shields, {{Convert|75|mm|in|abbr=on}} armored belt, and an armored deck between {{convert|25-50|mm|in|0|abbr=on}} thick.{{Rp|pages=|page=10}}

File:Kruiser Hr.Ms. Sumatra (1926-1942) Oplegperiode tijdens WOII in Portsrmouth, UK. Oefeningen 15 cm- geschut (2158 011547).jpg

Dutch naval architects had no experience with a ship such as Sumatra and her sister ship Java, so design work and construction of various components was done by German firms such as Germaniawerft and Krupp. On 15 November 1915, she was ordered from the Nederlandsche Scheepsbouw-Maatschappij shipyard in Amsterdam and laid down on 15 June 1916.{{Cite book |last=Noppen |first=Ryan K. |title=The Royal Netherlands Navy of World War II |date=2020 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing Plc |others=Paul Wright |isbn=978-1-4728-4191-9 |edition=1st |series=New Vanguard Series |location=London}}{{Rp|pages=|page=8}} The reliance on German expertise soon backfired as World War I and the Treaty of Versailles crippled the German arms industry, which lead to supply shortages. In conjunction with a series of strikes and delays in building the ship's engines, construction stalled for years.{{Rp|pages=|page=8,9}}{{Cite book |last=van Oosten |first=F. C. |title=Warship Profile 40: Her Netherlands Majesty's Ship De Ruyter |date=1 January 1974 |publisher=Profile Publications |isbn=9780853830627 |asin=B0007C1ABY}}{{Rp|pages=73}} Progress restarted in 1920, although it was hampered when the turbines intended for the cruiser were destroyed in a fire at the shipyard.{{Rp|pages=|page=8,9}} Sumatra was launched on 29 December 1920 by Queen Wilhelmina and finally completed on 26 May 1926.{{Cite book |last=Whitley |first=M. J. (Michael J. ) |url=https://archive.org/details/cruisers-of-wwii-enciclopedia-images/page/192/mode/2up?q=%22De+Ruyter%22+ |title=Cruisers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia |date=1995 |publisher=London : Arms and Armour Press |isbn=978-1-85409-225-0}}{{Rp|page=190}}{{Rp|page=9}}

The significant delays of her construction saw the ship outdated by the time she entered service. By 1922, the Washington Naval Treaty created a new standard of cruiser equipped with {{Convert|203|mm|in|abbr=on}} guns, which Japan heavily invested in. Other elements of her design were dated at launch, such as her guns. The single-barrel open turret design used on Java had been replaced by enclosed, multi-gun turrets fed by independent magazines in other navies.{{Rp|page=10}}{{Cite book |last=Cox |first=Jeffrey |title=Rising Sun, Falling Skies: The Disastrous Java Sea Campaign of World War II |date=2014 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing Plc |isbn=978-1-4728-1060-1 |series=General Military |location=London}}{{Rp|page=138}}

Once she was completed, Sumatra took up her station in the East Indies.{{Rp|page=191}} She was soon fitted with derricks to support two planes. The first aircraft she was fitted with was the Fairey IIID, although they were fragile and replaced by the Fokker C.VII-W floatplane in 1926.{{Rp|page=190}} In February 1927, the cruiser was sent to protect Dutch citizens and assets in Shanghai at the start of the Chinese Civil War. She deposited a 140-man landing party that occupied Shanghai's business quarter before she withdrew and returned to the East Indies in May.{{cite web |title=scheepvaartmuseum.nl :: Maritieme kalender 1927 |url=http://www.hetscheepvaartmuseum.nl/knowledgebase/calendar%7C1927 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004233930/http://www.hetscheepvaartmuseum.nl/knowledgebase/calendar%7C1927 |archive-date=4 October 2013 |access-date=2013-08-04 |website=National Maritime Museum}}

In June 1938, Sumatra was relieved by Java in the East Indies and the cruiser sailed to the Netherlands for a refit. However, the plan was postponed when she was ordered to escort merchant ships through the Strait of Gibraltar during the Spanish Civil War. Once she arrived in the Netherlands, she was used to train sailors in the North Sea and Mediterranean before work on the refit began.{{Rp|page=191}}

File:HMS Durban blockship.jpg is behind her.]]Sumatra was awaiting her refit in Vlissingen when the Netherlands was invaded in May 1940.{{Rp|page=191}} Alongside most of the Dutch ships in the Netherlands, she fled to Great Britain and was placed under the command of the Royal Navy.{{Rp|page=|pages=14-15}} In June, she carried Crown Princess Juliana and her two children to Canada.{{Rp|page=191}}{{Rp|page=15}} While in the Americas, she then sailed to Curaçao and patrolled the Caribbean and central Atlantic for enemy commerce raiders until August. That month, she sailed for the East Indies for another refit. Two years later, work on the ship was again interrupted, this time by the Japanese invasion of the East Indies.{{Rp|page=191}}{{Rp|page=182–183}}

She was reactivated on 27 January 1942 with a skeleton crew and only half of her boilers online. She fled for Sri Lanka and India, and was further refitted at each port. Work was done in August and she was able to sail to Portsmouth by October.{{Rp|page=191}} The British did not see much value in an old cruiser such as Sumatra, and she was decommissioned so that her crew could be reassigned to other vessels.{{Rp|page=24|pages=15-16}} Several of her guns were later removed and installed on the gunboats Soemba and Flores, which replaced those vessels’ worn-out gun barrels.{{Rp|page=24, 77|pages=}} Now useless as a warship, she was scuttled off the coast of Normandy in June 1944 to form a breakwater as part of a temporary port that provided logistic support during the invasion of France.{{Rp|page=16}}

• {{Cite book |last=Anten |first=J. |title=Hr. Ms. Kruisers 'Java' En 'Sumatra' |last2=Klom |first2=H. |publisher=Asia Maior |year=2001 |isbn=9789074861182 |publication-date=2001 |language=nl |trans-title=Hr. Ms. Cruisers Java and Sumatra}}

{{Commons category|Hr.Ms. Sumatra (ship, 1926)}}

• [https://www.netherlandsnavy.nl/Sumatra_his.htm netherlandsnavy.nl] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20250119190937/https://www.netherlandsnavy.nl/Sumatra_his.htm Archived]) - Record of movement from her launching to sinking

{{Java class light cruiser}}

{{1931 shipwrecks}}

{{June 1944 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sumatra}}

Category:Java-class cruisers

Category:1920 ships

Category:Maritime incidents in 1931

Category:Operation Overlord

Category:Maritime incidents in June 1944

Category:Scuttled vessels

Category:Shipwrecks of France

Category:World War II cruisers of the Netherlands

Category:Ships sunk as breakwaters