HNLMS De Ruyter (1935)

5°58′55″S 112°3′57″E / 5.98194°S 112.06583°E / -5.98194; 112.06583

HNLMS De Ruyter
Class overview
Builders	Wilton-Fijenoord
Preceded by	Java class
Succeeded by	De Zeven Provinciën class
Planned	1
Completed	1
Lost	1
History
Netherlands
Name	De Ruyter
Namesake	Michiel de Ruyter
Ordered	1 August 1932
Laid down	16 September 1933
Launched	11 May 1936
Completed	3 October 1936
Commissioned	3 October 1936
Fate	Torpedoed, Battle of Java Sea
General characteristics
Type	Light cruiser
Displacement	7,822 long tons (7,948 t)
Length	170.8 m (560 ft)
Beam	15.6 m (51 ft)
Draft	4.9 m (16 ft)
Installed power	68,000 shaft horsepower (51,000 kilowatts)
Propulsion	6 × boilers 3 × steam turbines 2 × shafts
Speed	32 kn (59 km/h; 37 mph)
Range	6,800 nmi (12,600 km; 7,800 mi) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph)[1]
Complement	435[1]
Armament	7 × 150 mm (5.9 in) guns 10 × 40 mm (1.57 in) Bofors anti-aircraft guns 8 × 12.7 mm (0.5 in) machine guns[1]
Armor	Belt: 30–50 mm (1–2 in) Turrets: 30–50 mm (1–2 in) Deck: 33 mm (1 in) Conning tower: 30 mm (1 in)
Aircraft carried	2 × Fokker C-11W floatplanes
Aviation facilities	1 × catapult

HNLMS De Ruyter was a unique light cruiser of the Royal Netherlands Navy. Intended to reinforce the older Java-class cruisers in the Dutch East Indies, her design and construction was limited by the Great Depression. Laid down in 1933 and commissioned in 1936, she spent the first part of her career patrolling nearby waters prior to the Dutch decleration of war on Japan. During the Dutch East Indies campaign, she became the flagship of the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command Combined Strike Fleet. For the first several months of war, she led allied warships in unsuccessful attempts to intercept Japanese invasions and withstood multiple air attacks. During the Battle of the Java Sea, the cruiser was ambushed by a night-time torpedo attack by Haguro and sunk with most of her crew. Her wreck was later illegally salvaged for metal in the 2010s, which destroyed most of the ship.