HNLMS Pieter Florisz (1937)

HNLMS Pieter Florisz was a Jan van Amstel-class minesweeper of the Royal Netherlands Navy and Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II.

Pieter Florisz at IJmuiden on June 24, 1938
History
Netherlands
Name	Pieter Florisz
Namesake	Pieter Floriszoon
Builder	P. Smit, Rotterdam
Laid down	22 November 1936
Launched	11 May 1937
Commissioned	13 September 1937
Fate	Scuttled, 14 May 1940
Nazi Germany
Name	M 551
Commissioned	1940
Decommissioned	1945
Fate	Returned to the Netherlands post-war
Netherlands
Recommissioned	mid-1946
Decommissioned	1961
Fate	Sold for scrap, 1976
General characteristics
Class and type	Jan van Amstel-class minesweeper
Displacement	460 long tons (467 t)
Length	56.8 m (186 ft 4 in)
Beam	7.8 m (25 ft 7 in)
Draft	2.2 m (7 ft 3 in)
Installed power	2 × Yarrow boilers 1,600 ihp (1,193 kW)
Propulsion	2 shafts, 2 × triple expansion engines
Speed	15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement	45
Armament	1 × single 3 in (76 mm) gun 2 × twin .50-calibre machine guns

Description

The Jan van Amstel-class ships were 55.8 metres (183 ft 1 in) long, with a beam of 7.8 metres (25 ft 7 in) and a draught of 2.2 metres (7 ft 3 in) at deep load. They displaced was 450 long tons (460 t) at normal load, which increased to 585 long tons (594 t) at deep load. A pair of Yarrow boilers fed steam to two triple-expansion steam engines that each drove a single propeller shaft. The engines were rated at 1,690 indicated horsepower (1,260 kW) which gave the ships a speed of 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph). They carried up to 110 long tons (110 t) of fuel oil and had a complement of 45 officers and ratings.

Service history

Scuttled at Enkhuizen on 14 May 1940 after the Dutch surrender, the ship was salvaged by the Germans and commissioned into the Kriegsmarine.

In December 1940 she was converted to a torpedo recovery vessel and renamed M 551. In August 1944 the ship was assigned to the 27th U-boat Flotilla, responsible for the tactical training of U-boats.

In 1945 she was returned to the Royal Netherlands Navy, and repaired at the Willemsoord, Den Helder. Recommissioned under her original name in mid-1946, the ship served as fishery inspection vessel. On 16 September 1947 she sailed for the Dutch East Indies where she served as a patrol vessel, and later as a minesweeper with the 1st Flotilla at Surabaya. After her return to the Netherlands in 1950 the ship was converted to boom defence vessel.

Struck in 1961 and transferred to the Zeekadetkorps Nederland (Dutch Sea Cadets) at IJmuiden in 1962, the ship was finally decommissioned in September 1976 and sold for scrap.

Bibliography

• Roberts, John (1980). "The Netherlands". In Chesneau, Roger (ed.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 385–396. ISBN 0-85177-146-7.
• van Willigeburg, Henk (2010). Dutch Warships of World War II. Emmen: Lanasta. ISBN 978-90-8616-318-2.