HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerck was a Tromp-class

Tromp class cruiser

The Tromp-class was a class of light cruisers of the Royal Netherlands Navy. The hull shape was also known as the Argonaut 600. Originally the ships could not be called "cruiser" for political reasons...

 light cruiser

Light cruiser

A light cruiser is a type of small- or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck...

 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...

, named after Admiral Jacob van Heemskerk

Jacob van Heemskerk

Jacob van Heemskerk was a Dutch explorer and later admiral commanding the Dutch fleet at the Battle of Gibraltar.-Arctic exploration:...

 (1567–1607).

Originally designated as a flotilla leader and a torpedo cruiser in Decker's Fleet Plan of 1931, she was hastily commissioned on 10 May 1940, when Germany invaded the Netherlands

Battle of the Netherlands

The Battle of the Netherlands was part of Case Yellow , the German invasion of the Low Countries and France during World War II. The battle lasted from 10 May 1940 until 14 May 1940 when the main Dutch forces surrendered...

. However, as she was not armed she escaped to the UK, she was refitted as an air defence cruiser, since these were the only type of gun available, and there was a growing need for this type of ship to protect the convoys. During the war the crew felt that their ship was blessed and gave her the nickname Oude Jacob (Old Jacob). She received the reputation that not a single convoy ship would be lost when she was on duty.

Service history

The ship was meant to commence trials on the day the Germans invaded and to prevent her capture was immediately pressed into service. Since she had no armament she left port for the United Kingdom with only a skeleton crew. Once she had arrived in Portsmouth attempts were made to give her weaponry of some sort. She received the depth charge equipment from the old torpedo boats G13 and G15. On 18 May 1940, Queen Wilhelmina

Wilhelmina of the Netherlands

Wilhelmina was Queen regnant of the Kingdom of the Netherlands from 1890 to 1948. She ruled the Netherlands for fifty-eight years, longer than any other Dutch monarch. Her reign saw World War I and World War II, the economic crisis of 1933, and the decline of the Netherlands as a major colonial...

 paid the ship a visit. At the end of the month, Heemskerk and the aging cruiser HNLMS Sumatra

Java class cruiser

The Java class was a class of light cruisers of the Royal Netherlands Navy, named after the island of Java in the Dutch East Indies . Originally, three ships were planned: HNLMS Java, HNLMS Sumatra, and HNLMS Celebes...

 received the assignment to transport Princess Juliana

Juliana of the Netherlands

Juliana was the Queen regnant of the Kingdom of the Netherlands between 1948 and 1980. She was the only child of Queen Wilhelmina and Prince Henry...

 and her two children (including the Crown Princess

Beatrix of the Netherlands

Beatrix is the Queen regnant of the Kingdom of the Netherlands comprising the Netherlands, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, and Aruba. She is the first daughter of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld. She studied law at Leiden University...

) to Canada. The ships put to sea on 2 June and arrived on the 11th at Halifax

City of Halifax

Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...

.

The Heemskerck returned alone to England and arrived at Portsmouth in July where her re-arming program began. The British Admiralty

Admiralty

The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...

 decided to convert her to an anti-aircraft ship. Work was completed on 17 February 1941, and after sea trials, which lasted till 29 February, the ship was assigned as convoy escort in the Atlantic Ocean as part of the Irish Sea Escort.

She was removed from escort duty in January 1942 and sent to the Dutch East Indies to reinforce the defence fleet assembled there. The ship arrived too late to take part in the battle of the Java Sea

Battle of the Java Sea

The Battle of the Java Sea was a decisive naval battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, that sealed the fate of the Netherlands East Indies....

 and was re-assigned to the Eastern Fleet in 1942. In September 1942 the ship took part in operations 'Stream' and 'Jane', both aimed at the retaking of Madagascar. On 25 October Heemskerck arrived at Fremantle, Australia, and came under the command of Allied Naval Forces Western Australia, where she performed convoy duties.

On 28 November 1942, Heemskerck in the company of the Australian cruiser , identified and damaged the German supply vessel and blockade runner Ramses, which was subsequently scuttled by her own crew in the Indian Ocean

Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...

.

On 1 December 1943, the ship returned to the Eastern Fleet and on the 27th of the same month, she set sail for the Mediterranean Sea where she, again, performed convoy duties till she was recalled to England for maintenance in June 1944.

On 26 July 1945 HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerck arrived at Amsterdam, the first Dutch warship to do so after Liberation Day

Liberation Day (The Netherlands)

In the Netherlands, Liberation Day is celebrated each year on May 5th, to mark the end of the occupation by Nazi Germany during World War II....

. In September of that year she set sail for the Dutch East Indies, where she performed patrol duties until 22 July 1946. She returned to the Netherlands in August of that year.

From 12 March 1951 she served as a barracks ship for naval trainees in Vlissingen. She served in this capacity in several other locations.

The cruiser was decommissioned on 20 November 1969, and was struck from the Naval Registry on 27 February 1970. On 23 June 1970 the ship was sold for scrap.