HNLMS ''Schorpioen'' is a

monitor Monitor or monitor may refer to: Places * Monitor, Alberta * Monitor, Indiana, town in the United States * Monitor, Kentucky * Monitor, Oregon, unincorporated community in the United States * Monitor, Washington * Monitor, Logan County, Wes ...

built in France 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 ...

in the 1860s. These new ships were equipped with heavy

rifled Rifling is the term for helical grooves machined into the internal surface of a firearms's barrel for imparting a spin to a projectile to improve its aerodynamic stability and accuracy. It is also the term (as a verb) for creating such groove ...

guns, and a heavy armor. The hull had an armor plated belt of and the

gun turret A gun turret (or simply turret) is a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility and ability to turn and aim. A modern gun turret is generally a rotatable weapon mount that houses the crew or mechanis ...

, housing the two guns, had almost of armor. She came from the building yard with two tripod masts and able to employ about of sails, but she proved to be a difficult sailing ship and some years later the yards, masts and the sails were removed. As with her huge

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs Work (physics), mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a Cylinder (locomotive), cyl ...

s gave her a maximum speed of . Her striking weapon was the pointed ram

bow BOW as an acronym may refer to: * Bag of waters, amniotic sac * Bartow Municipal Airport (IATA:BOW), a public use airport near Bartow, Florida, United States * Basic operating weight of an aircraft * BOW counties, made of Brown, Outagamie, and Winn ...

, slightly different from ''Buffel''s, but she never ever used this overestimated weapon.

Service record

As with ''Buffel'', her record is not very impressive. In 1886 ''Schorpioen'' was hit in the stern quarter by a paddle steam tugboat in the harbor of

Den Helder Den Helder () is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Den Helder occupies the northernmost point of the North Holland peninsula. It is home to the country's main naval base. From here the Royal TESO fe ...

and sank in two hours. It was possible to raise and repair her. In 1906 she completed her role as an operational warship and was transformed into an

accommodation ship A barracks ship or barracks barge or berthing barge, or in civilian use accommodation vessel or accommodation ship, is a ship or a non-self-propelled barge containing a superstructure of a type suitable for use as a temporary barracks for sai ...

. At the beginning 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 ...

, she fell into German hands, was towed to Germany, and served there as a lodging - and storage ship. After the war, in 1947 she was found in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, Germany and towed back to Den Helder; again to become a lodging ship, first in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

and later in Den Helder where she became the barracks for the Dutch WRNS. In 1982, after decommissioning, she was bought by a private foundation that was established to transform her into a floating museum in

Middelburg Middelburg may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Europe * Middelburg, Zeeland, the capital city of the province of Zeeland, southwestern Netherlands ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Middelburg, a former Catholic diocese with its see in the Zeeland ...

, in the southern part of the country. Seven years later, after a complete renovation, she opened her doors to visitors, as a

museum ship A museum ship, also called a memorial ship, is a ship that has been preserved and converted into a museum open to the public for educational or memorial purposes. Some are also used for training and recruitment purposes, mostly for the small numb ...

. In 1995, the

re-acquired the ship and put her under the supervision of the

Dutch Navy Museum The Dutch Navy Museum is a naval museum in Den Helder, Netherlands. The museum is dedicated to the history of the ''Koninklijke Marine'' (Royal Netherlands Navy). The most important ships the museum owns are: * (minesweeper) * ( ironclad ram) * ...

in Den Helder where she is now the third, and largest, vessel on display. In May 2000, after a renovation period of eighteen months to restore her to her former glory, the ship was opened to visitors.

Notes

References

* * * *

External links

Photo-collection on Dutch ironclads

HMLMS Schorpioen at Dutch Naval Museum

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schorpioen 19th-century naval ships of the Netherlands Naval ships of the Netherlands captured by Germany during World War II Museum ships in the Netherlands 1868 ships Schorpioen-class monitors Ships built in France

Service record

See also

Notes

References

External links