Tromp-class cruiser

During the Interwar period, the Dutch Navy was split between defending the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies, particularly the island of Java. While the European fleet focused around minelaying, the flotilla in Asia relied on a combination of aircraft, destroyers, and submarines to identify and destroy an invading force near the coastline. Cruisers were vital in this doctrine, as they had the capability to sail out to sea and attack enemy convoys outside the Indonesian archipelago and serve as powerful escorts for allied vessels.{{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=73–74}}

By 1927, the Great Depression had sapped the budget and strength of the Dutch military. Recognizing the need for post-depression rebuilding, the Navy proposed the Vlootplan Deckers (Deckers Fleet Plan) in 1930 to expand the East Indies fleet to a satisfactory size.{{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=16–17|page=14}} The plan included two additional light cruisers, described as torpedo cruisers and scout cruisers, intended to operate as flotilla leaders. The two ships were envisioned as a fiscally efficient response to the Japanese Fubuki-class destroyers that outmatched comparable Dutch destroyers. doctrine called for the two ships to be fast enough to lead destroyers in combat while being armed well enough to overpower Japanese cruisers and destroyers.{{Rp|pages=|page=21}}

File:Hr.Ms. kruiser Tromp (1938-1955), presentatie van zij- en bovenaanzicht van de dekken (2158 011744).jpg

After the design was enlarged to the size of a cruiser for service in the East Indies, the ships displaced {{convert|3,787|LT|t|0|abbr=on}} and measured {{Convert|131.9|m|ft|abbr=on}} in length, with a beam of {{Convert|12.4|m|ft|abbr=on}} and a draft of {{Convert|4.6|m|ft|abbr=on}}. Four oil-fired boilers turned two turbines and two propellers, which produced {{Convert|56,000|shp|kW|abbr=on}} and a design speed of {{convert|33.5|kn|lk=in}}, although Tromp reached {{convert|34.5|kn|lk=in}} during her sea trials.{{Cite journal |last=Schedel |first=Charles W. |date=2001 |title=Ask Infoser |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44892754?read-now=1&seq=9#page_scan_tab_contents |journal=Warship International |volume=38 |issue=2 |pages=129–143 |issn=0043-0374}}{{Rp|pages=136-137}}

Their hulls were longitudinally subdivided into 17 torpedo bulkheads between {{Convert|20-30|mm|in|abbr=on}} thick that was reinforced by a double hull which extended for about 60% of the ships' length. The main deck was {{Convert|15-25|mm|in|abbr=on}} thick and was joined by a lower deck {{Convert|25|mm|in|abbr=on}} thick above the forward magazine and {{Convert|16|mm|in|abbr=on}} over the steering gear and aft magazine.{{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=194}} The turrets and barbettes were also {{Convert|16|mm|in|abbr=on}} thick, and the conning tower was protected by {{Convert|13|mm|in|abbr=on}} of armor.{{Rp|pages=137}}

Tromp was the only ship built to the initial design. She was fitted with three twin {{Convert|5.9|in|cm|abbr=on|order=flip}} turrets{{En dash}}two mounted on the bow and one stern{{En dash}}and an anti-air compliment that consisted of two{{efn|Four were planned to be fitted, but only two were actually mounted}} twin {{Convert|40|mm|cm|abbr=on|order=flip}} Bofors at the back of her forecastle deck and two twin {{Convert|.5|in|cm|abbr=on|order=flip}} machine guns. She was also equipped with two triple {{Convert|21|in|cm|abbr=on|order=flip}} torpedo tubes located midship on either side, a Fokker C.VIX floatplane, and a crane that lowered the aircraft into the water.{{Rp|page=194}} Jacob van Heemskerck was uncompleted when she fled the Netherlands during the German Invasion, and was instead fitted out by the Royal Navy who envisioned her as an anti-air cruiser. As such, she was fitted with five QF 4-inch naval gun Mk XVI turrets: three in the same location as Tromp, and a turret on each side where the torpedo tubes and aircraft were planned. She was also given an additional mast to carry a British air-search radar, two depth charge racks, six {{Convert|20|mm|in|abbr=on|order=}} guns, and a quad 2-pounder naval gun, although the exact armament of both ships changed over time.{{Rp|pages=|page=137}}

After she entered service in 1938, Tromp initially operated in the Mediterranean and off the European coast. In 1939, she was sent to reinforce the East Indies, where the Dutch government believed a war against Japan was inevitable. Following the outbreak of World War II and Dutch capitulation, the cruiser operated under Royal Navy command and escorted vital convoys throughout the region. By February 1942, the Dutch East Indies was invaded from multiple sides by Japan as allied forces were overwhelmed. In an effort to coordinate resistance, elements of the British, Dutch, and American navies formed the Combined Striking Force. Tromp sailed with the fleet and withstood several air attacks before she was badly damaged by Japanese destroyers during the Battle of Badung Strait. She was repaired in Australia and attached to the US 7th Fleet for anti-submarine patrols in the western Pacific throughout 1943. In January of the next year, she joined the British Eastern Fleet for a series of aircraft carrier raids against the occupied Indonesian islands. During Operation Cockpit, Crimson, and Transom, she shelled enemy land instillations before she supported the invasions of Rangoon and Borneo in 1945. At the end of the war, she accepted the surrender of Belitung and returned to Europe. For the rest of her career, she joined allied forces in the North Atlantic before she was demoted to a training ship.{{Cite book |last=Mulder |first=Jantinus |title=Cruiser HNLMS Tromp |date=2012 |publisher=Uitgeverij Lanasta |isbn=978-90-8616-191-1 |edition=1st |series=Lanasta - Warship Series |location=Amsterdam}}{{Rp|page=25|pages=29-47}}

File:Jacob van heemskerk light cruiser.jpgWhen the Netherlands was invaded by Germany, Jacob van Heemskerck was still working up. Her commissioning was hastened, and she fled for Great Brittain on the night of 14 May. While her main battery and {{Convert|20|mm|in|abbr=on}} guns had been installed prior to her departure, the rangefinders for her main battery were still missing. Once arrived in England, she would receive depth charge racks from the torpedo boats G13 and G15. She then escorted members of the Dutch royal family to Canada before she sailed to Portsmouth for completion. As there were no rangefinders available that paired with her armament, and no torpedo tubes had been installed, she would instead be converted into an air-defense cruiser starting in June. Work was finished in February 1941, and she patrolled parts of the North Atlantic before getting deployed to the Pacific with the British East Indies Fleet in 1942. She then participated in the Invasion of Madagascar and patrolled the Indian Ocean, escorting convoys and sinking the German blockade runner Ramses in the process. By 1944, the cruiser returned to Britain and continued to escort convoys in the Mediterranean and Atlantic for the rest of the war. Following German capitulation, she became the first ship to warship to visit Amsterdam after its liberation. After the war, she became the flagship of HNLMS Karel Doorman's task force and was reduced to an accommodations ship in 1955.{{Rp|page=196|pages=}}{{Rp|page=|pages=140-141}}

• La Galissonnière-class cruiser
• Capitani Romani-class cruiser
• Agano-class cruiser

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• [http://www.netherlandsnavy.nl/Tromp.htm netherlandsnavy] - Breakdown of equipment on both ships

{{Tromp class cruisers}}

{{Royal Netherlands Navy cruisers}}

{{WWII Dutch ships}}

Category:Cruiser classes

Category:Tromp-class cruisers