Flores-class gunboat

The Flores-class gunboats were a class of two gunboats built in the mid-1920s for the Royal Netherlands Navy. Flores and Soemba were intended to patrol the Dutch East Indies. During World War II, they served in the Royal Netherlands Navy. They were in several ways the most successful surface ships of the Dutch navy during the war.

Flores-class gunboat HNLMS Soemba
Class overview
Operators Royal Netherlands Navy
Preceded byBrinio class
Succeeded byJohan Maurits van Nassau
Built1925–1926
In commission1926–1956
Completed2
Scrapped2
General characteristics
TypeGunboat
Displacement
  • 1,480 t (1,457 long tons) standard
  • 1,822 t (1,793 long tons) full load
Length75.6 m (248 ft 0 in)
Beam11.5 m (37 ft 9 in)
Draught3.6 m (11 ft 10 in)
Installed power
  • 1,500 kW (2,000 shp)
  • 4 Yarrow boilers
Propulsion2 shafts, 2 Triple-expansion steam engines
Speed15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement145
Armament
  • As built:
  • 3 × 150 mm (5.9 in) No. 7 guns
  • 1 × 75 mm gun
  • 4 × .50 Browning machine guns
  • Added to Flores:
  • 1 × single 40 mm "pom-pom"
  • 4 × 20 mm Hotchkiss
  • 8 × .303 machine guns
  • Added to Soemba:
  • 6 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannon
Armour
  • Bridge: 50 mm (2.0 in)
  • Deck: 25–50 mm (0.98–1.97 in)
  • Ammunition hoists: 25 mm (0.98 in)
  • Gun shields: 14–80 mm (0.55–3.15 in)

They were squat ships, both commissioned in 1926, with a relatively heavy armament for their size (three 150 mm (5.9 in) Krupp guns, the same type and calibre as for the cruisers Java and Sumatra). Their main asset was an advanced fire control system that made them very accurate in bombarding shore targets, as a similar gunboat, Johan Maurits van Nassau, demonstrated in 1940 when she silenced a German battery from a distance of some 19 km (10 nmi).

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