BAP Almirante Grau (CLM-81)


BAP Almirante Grau is a cruiser that served in the Royal Netherlands and Peruvian navies. Completed for the Dutch in 1953 as HNLMS De Ruyter , she was acquired by Peru in 1973 and served as fleet flagship. Almirante Grau underwent a major modernization program between 1985 and 1988 during which she was fitted with new weapons and electronics. She was the last gun cruiser in service in any navy before being decommissioned on 26 September 2017. In 2019, it was announced that she would be preserved as a museum ship.

Construction

De Ruyter was laid down by the Royal Netherlands Navy on 5 September 1939 as the cruiser HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën at the Wilton-Fijenoord shipyard at Schiedam. She and her sister-ship, later , were intended to replace the two s in the Dutch East Indies. At the German invasion of the Netherlands in May 1940 little had been constructed. The Kriegsmarine intended to complete her as the training cruiser KH 1 but construction was slow and she was not launched until 24 December 1944, with the intent by then to use her as a blockship in the Nieuwe Waterweg, the approaches to Rotterdam.
After the liberation of the Netherlands, the Navy completed De Zeven Provinciën with modifications, and she was commissioned as HNLMS De Ruyter on 18 November 1953.

Royal Netherlands Navy service

In Dutch service both ships participated in several NATO exercises, and were frequently used as flagships for different naval task forces. Between 1962 and 1964, De Zeven Provinciën underwent a refit which included the removal of the two aft turrets and the installation of a RIM-2 Terrier SAM system, but lack of funds precluded the same modifications from being carried out in De Ruyter. After two decades in service, she was decommissioned on 16 October 1972.

Peruvian Navy service

The Peruvian Navy bought De Ruyter on 7 March 1973 as a counter to the acquisition of the Swedish cruiser by the Chilean Navy. Commissioned on 23 May 1973 as Almirante Grau, in honor of the Peruvian Admiral Miguel Grau, the ship arrived at her new homeport of Callao on 11 July 1973. She was designated fleet flagship in succession to another cruiser of the same name, which was renamed.

Modernization

From 1985 until 1988, she underwent a major modernization program by Amsterdam Naval Services at its shipyard in Amsterdam, during which she was denominated Proyecto de Modernización 01 or PM-01. Her role as flagship was assumed by her sistership as Almirante Grau. Both ships regained their former names when the former De Ruyter returned to Callao on 15 February 1988.
The upgrade program carried out in the Netherlands included the following:
Further work was carried out by SIMA dockyards in Callao as follows:
The LW-08 radar was later replaced by an AN/SPS-6, the former being installed in the frigate in 2003.

Decommissioning

Almirante Grau was decommissioned on 26 September 2017. She was the last gun cruiser in service in any navy, although its main armament was supplemented with Otomat anti-ship missiles. She was replaced by the BAP Montero, now known as BAP Almirante Grau.
On August 9 2019, the Peruvian Navy announced that she would be preserved as a museum ship in Lima.

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