Holland-class cruiser


The Holland class was a class of six protected cruisers of the Royal Netherlands Navy. The class was built in two groups, each consisting of three ships.

Design

The design was based on the British.
The first three ships of the class were long while the last three were long, had a beam of, a draught of, and had a displacement of 3,900 tons. The last three ships were slightly larger and displaced 133 tons more than the first three ships.
The ships were equipped with two shaft reciprocating engines, which were rated at and produced a top speed of.
The ships had deck armour. The main armament of the ships were two 15 cm SK L/40 naval gun| single guns. Secondary armament included six single guns and four single guns.

Construction

The class was built in two groups each consisting of three ships. The ships were laid down at Rijkswerf in Amsterdam, Koninklijke Maatschappij de Schelde in Flushing and Nederlandsche Stoomboot Maatschappij in Rotterdam.

Service history

On 19 October 1900 Gelderland transported Paul Kruger to Europe during the Second Boer War. together with and the were sent to Shanghai to defend Dutch interests during the Boxer Rebellion. Holland and Zeeland together with the coastal defence ships , and assisted the KNIL during the Aceh War. In 1908 Friesland, Gelderland and the coastal defence ship were sent to patrol the Venezuelan coast during the second Castro crisis. Friesland and Utrecht were decommissioned in 1913 with the remaining four being modernized. During World War I all remaining ships were stationed in Dutch home waters. Holland and Zeeland were decommissioned in 1920 and 1924 while Noordbrabant became an accommodation ship in 1920. A role she fulfilled until she was damaged during the German invasion in World War II. Gelderland became a training ship in 1920. She was captured by Germany in 1940, renamed Niobe and sunk during the war in Kotka harbour in Finland on 16 July 1944.