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. They were designed as "flotilla leaders" and their intended role was to be the backbone of a squadron of modern destroyers that was planned at the same time (Only one of those was completed before the war broke out). The ships were ordered in 1935; HNLMS "Tromp" was launched in 1937, and her sister ship HNLMS "Jacob van Heemskerk" in 1939.

At the outbreak of World War II, "Tromp" was sent to the Dutch East Indies. "Jacob van Heemskerk" was still being completed in the naval shipyard in Den Helder when the German attack started on May 10 1940, but she succeeded in escaping to the United Kingdom, where she was completed with a completely different armament set, as an anti-aircraft cruiser. Both ships served in the Far East and survived the war, "Tromp" to be decommissioned in 1955 and sold for scrap in 1969 and "Jacob van Heemskerk" to become an artillery instruction ship in 1947, decommissioned in 1969 and sold for scrap in 1970.

External links

* [http://www.netherlandsnavy.nl/Tromp.htm Tromp-class cruiser]