The ''De Zeven Provinciën'' class (also called ''Eendracht'' class) was a

class Class, Classes, or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used d ...

of light cruisers. They were built by

Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij The Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij NV (RDM) was a major shipbuilding and repair company in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, existing from 1902 to 1996. It built 355 ships, 18 of which were submarines.:nl:Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij, RDM ...

(RDM) and Wilton-Fijenoord for the

Royal Netherlands Navy The Royal Netherlands Navy (, ) is the Navy, maritime service branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. It traces its history to 8 January 1488, making it the List of navies, third-oldest navy in the world. During the 17th and early 18th centurie ...

. The name ''De Zeven Provinciën'' refers to the seven provinces which formed the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, commonly referred to in historiography as the Dutch Republic, was a confederation that existed from 1579 until the Batavian Revolution in 1795. It was a predecessor state of the present-day Netherlands ...

in 1581.

Design

In the 1930s there was an increased awareness in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

about the threat which the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, Potsdam Declaration, when it was dissolved followin ...

posed to the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...

. To face this, the ''Koninklijke Marine'' embarked on a major naval expansion program in 1932, which included building two new light cruisers as replacements for the aging s. The design was an improvement of the earlier and both ships were laid down in 1939. The first was named ''Kijkduin'', later changed to ''Eendracht'', and the second one received the name ''De Zeven Provinciën'', hence the name of the class. The main armament was designed as two triple and two twin Bofors 152 mm/53 caliber guns. However, construction was interrupted by the German invasion of the Netherlands on 10 May 1940. ''De Zeven Provinciën'' was 25% completed and ''Kijkduin'' 12%. The

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redesigned the ships main armament. ''De Zeven Provinciën'' was planned with four dual turrets 15 cm SK C/28 guns. ''Eendracht'' was planned with smaller guns taken from a broken down battleship, but the exact gun types are unknown. The

continued work on ''De Zeven Provinciën'' which was more advanced than its twin; it was renamed ''KH1'' ("KH" means "Kreuzer Holland") and modified by fitting an ''Atlantik Bow''. ''Eendracht'' was renamed ''KH2''. Work progressed very slowly as the dockyards' capacity was used for other purposes and sabotage by the Dutch resistance affected progress. On 24 December 1944, ''KH1'' was launched for use as a blockship in the Nieuwe Waterweg of

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

but this action was never carried out. After the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, construction resumed on both ships to a modified design which incorporated the lessons of the war. Armament was modified from two triple and two twin Bofors 152 mm/53 guns, six twin 40 mm AA and two triple 533 mm torpedo tubes to four twin Bofors 152 mm/53 guns, four twin Bofors 57 mm/60 guns and eight single Bofors 40 mm/70 guns. An improved propulsion plant was fitted as well as a second funnel and advanced electronics. Names were also changed with ''Eendracht'' becoming ''De Zeven Provinciën'' and the former ''De Zeven Provinciën'' being renamed ''De Ruyter''. Both ships were finally commissioned by the

in 1953.

Ships in class

There were two ships in the class: (renamed ''De Ruyter'' in 1947) and ''Kijkduin'' (renamed ''Eendracht'' c. 1940, ''De Ruyter'' in 1944 and ''De Zeven Provinciën'' in 1947). Both ships enjoyed long service lives, first in the ''Koninklijke Marine'' (until the early 1970s) and then in the ''Marina de Guerra del Perú''.

Royal Netherlands Navy

SH-3As USS Essex De Zeven Provincien 1967

In Dutch service both ships participated in several

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exercises, and were frequently used as

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...

s for different naval

task force A task force (TF) is a unit or formation established to work on a single defined task or activity. Originally introduced by the United States Navy, the term has now caught on for general usage and is a standard part of NATO terminology. Many ...

s. Between 1962 and 1964, ''De Zeven Provinciën'' underwent a refit by RDM which included the removal of the two aft turrets and the installation of a RIM-2 Terrier SAM system. Lack of funds precluded the same modifications from being carried out in ''De Ruyter'', which was decommissioned in 1972. Her sister ship followed suit in 1975; the cruisers were replaced in Dutch service by the two s.

Peruvian Navy

''De Ruyter'' was acquired by the Peruvian Navy and recommissioned in 1973 as fleet flagship . ''De Zeven Provinciën'' was also purchased in 1976, its RIM-2 Terrier SAM removed and replaced by a hangar and a flight deck for ASH-3D Sea King

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

s. On 16 November 1977 she left the shipyard of RDM as . From 1985 until 1988 ''Almirante Grau'' underwent a major modernization by Amsterdam Naval Services (ANS), which allowed the ship to remain in service, whereas ''Aguirre'' was decommissioned in 1999. ''Almirante Grau'' was decommissioned in 2017, and will be preserved as a museum ship. In February 2022 the Peruvian Government decided to open tender for the sale of the ship. By July 2022 the ship was moved out of its harbor in Peru to be scrapped.

Notes

Citations

Sources

* * Moore, John (ed.), ''Jane's Fighting Ships 1974–75''. Franklin Watts Inc., 1975. * Rodríguez Asti, John, ''Cruceros. Buques de la Marina de Guerra del Perú desde 1884''. Dirección de Intereses Marítimos, 2000.
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