HNLMS Buffel
Encyclopedia
HNLMS Buffel is a 19th century iron-clad ram ship, now one of the main attractions of the Maritime Museum Rotterdam
Maritime Museum Rotterdam
The Maritime Museum Rotterdam is a maritime museum in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Dedicated to naval history, it was founded in 1873 by Prince Henry of the Netherlands. One of the major attractions is the 19th-century ironclad ram ship HNLMS Buffel, which is moored outside of the museum.-External...
, also known as the Prince Hendrik Museum, named after its founder, Prince Henry (Hendrik) "the Navigator", who had a naval career and established the basis of the museum back in 1874.
Build and design
Built in 1868 in GlasgowGlasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, Scotland, HNLMS Buffel was the first ship of the Royal Netherlands Navy
Royal Netherlands Navy
The Koninklijke Marine is the navy of the Netherlands. In the mid-17th century the Dutch Navy was the most powerful navy in the world and it played an active role in the wars of the Dutch Republic and later those of the Batavian Republic and the Kingdom of the Netherlands...
without sails but with a steam engine
Steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...
and two propeller
Propeller
A propeller is a type of fan that transmits power by converting rotational motion into thrust. A pressure difference is produced between the forward and rear surfaces of the airfoil-shaped blade, and a fluid is accelerated behind the blade. Propeller dynamics can be modeled by both Bernoulli's...
s, that gave her a maximum speed of almost 13 knots (24 km/h). Her radius of action at 6 knots was about 2,150 nautical miles (4,000 km). Her main task as an armor-clad ram ship was to play a role in the Dutch coastal defense together with two sister ships and two so-called monitor ships.
Her armament was first of all the ram on her bow, mainly against wooden ships, and originally two 300 pound (136 kg), 23 cm Armstrong guns
Rifled breech loader
A rifled breech loader is an artillery piece which, unlike the smooth-bore cannon and rifled muzzle loader which preceded it, has rifling in the barrel and is loaded from the breech at the rear of the gun....
, with a total weight of 25 metric tons, in one turret
Turret
In architecture, a turret is a small tower that projects vertically from the wall of a building such as a medieval castle. Turrets were used to provide a projecting defensive position allowing covering fire to the adjacent wall in the days of military fortification...
. These were later replaced by a single 28 cm gun, and the armament was enhanced by a couple of smaller guns; 2 of 7.5 cm, 4 of 3.7 cm, and two Hotchkiss Revolving Cannons.
The crew consisted of 150 men, officers, petty-officers, and sailors.
Service record
Her record is not very impressive; the only ocean voyage was on her maiden trip in 1868 from GlasgowGlasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
to Den Helder
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...
. That was not a great success; she rolled very much and also made a lot of water. From that day on she always stayed in the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
(in accordance with her role) and her only foreign port of call was Antwerp, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
in 1871.
She participated in many national exercises with the Royal Netherlands Army
Royal Netherlands Army
The Royal Netherlands Army is the land forces element of the military of the Netherlands.-Short history:The Royal Netherlands Army was raised on 9 January 1814, but its origins date back to 1572, when the so-called Staatse Leger was raised...
and in 1894 she retired from active duty. This was followed by a short, two year period as a training ship for young sailors and from 1896 she acted as a lodging or accommodation ship. She was berthed in several naval establishments in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, the last 25 years mainly in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
. She had the (NATO) pennant number
Pennant number
In the modern Royal Navy, and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth, ships are identified by pennant numbers...
A 884 on her bow, A for Auxiliary and 8 as the first cipher for all Royal Netherlands naval ships.
In 1973 the Buffel was decommissioned and in 1974 sold to the city of Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
to become a museum ship.
See also
- HNSA Web Page: HNLMS Buffel
- HNLMS BonaireHNLMS BonaireHNLMS Bonaire was a 4th class screw steamship of the Royal Netherlands Navy, now under restoration as a museum ship.Bonaire was built for the Royal Netherlands Navy as a steam frigate with barquentine rig and a retractable screw, and was launched at Rotterdam on 12 May 1877.From 1924 she served at...
- HNLMS SchorpioenHNLMS SchorpioenHNLMS Schorpioen is a sister ship of HNLMS Buffel. Built in the same year, 1868 in France, they were the core of the then renewed Royal Netherlands Navy, replacing the outdated wooden ships that combined sailing and steam propulsion and carried so called smooth-bore guns. These new ships were...
- BattleshipBattleshipA battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
- List of museum ships