Flores class sloops

The Flores class sloops, HNLMS "Flores" and "Soemba" were gunboats in the Royal Netherlands Navy during the World War II. They were in several ways the most successful surface ships of the Dutch navy during the war.

They were squat ships, both commissioned in 1926, with a relatively heavy armament for their size (3 x 5.9 inch 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 sloop, "Johan Maurits van Nassau", demonstrated in 1940 when she silenced a German battery from a distance of well over 10 miles.

The sloops "Flores" and "Soemba" were intended to provide protection for the vast Dutch East Indies. "Flores" was brought back to the Netherlands at the start of World War II where she patrolled home waters until the Germans invaded in 1940. Slightly damaged, she escaped to Britain and was employed as a coastal escort. "Soemba" was withdrawn to Colombo in March 1942, before she could be captured or destroyed by the Japanese invasion of the East Indies.

"Flores" and "Soemba" were united in the Mediterranean Sea and played an active and successful role in the landings in Sicily, Salerno, Anzio, Garigliano, Gaeta and finally, at the beaches of Normandy in June 1944. The ships came under fire from shore based artillery and bombers many times but survived all attacks, although they incurred damage several times. British war correspondents referred to them as "the terrible twins".

With their guns worn out due to intensive use, the two ships were retired from active duty shortly after the war and used for artillery instruction and as floating barracks. On November 10 1948, "Flores" and "Soemba" were awarded the "Koninklijke Vermelding bij Dagorder"

"Flores" was decommissioned in 1968 and "Soemba" in 1986.

External references

* [http://www.netherlandsnavy.nl/Flores.htm Detailed descriptions and histories]