SOEMBA Hr. Ms.
Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 8:17 pm
She is wrongly given on the stamp as SOEMA.
Built as a flotilla vessel by the yard of Mij Feijenoord, Schiedam, for the Dutch Royal Navy.
24 December 1924 laid down.
25 August 1925 launched as the Hr. Ms. SOEMBA named after the island Soemba (now Sumba) in Indonesia.
Displacement 1,793 full load, dim. 75.6 x 11.9 x 3.9m.
Powered by two triple expansion steam engines, 2,000 hp, speed 15 knots.
Armament: 3 – 15cm, 1 – 7.5 cm guns, 4 – 12.7 mm MG and 2 MG No 4.
Crew 136.
12 April 1926 commissioned.
She was special built for the service of the Dutch East Indies, to repress smuggling and piracy.
15 June 1926 the SOEMBA with his sister the FLORUS sailed from Den Helder, Netherland for the Dutch East Indies, making calls at Seville, Tunis, Port Said, Aden and Colombo.
10 August 1926 both ships arrived in Sabang, and 18 August in Batavia.
1935 Re-classed as a gunboat.
When war broke out between Japan and the Netherlands on 8 December 1941 she was stationed at Surabaya for guard duties.
Then used for convoy and patrol services in the Dutch East Indies, the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean.
During the landings in Sicily in July 1943 she is assigned to the invasion force for Sector Bark East.
5 August 1943 during shelling by a German coast battery her wheelhouse was hit killing her Commander J.J.M. Sterkenburg and wounding three others.
25 March 1944 she sailed from Malta bound for the U.K. arriving Portsmouth on 14 March for an overhaul and replacing of a 15 cm gun which was worn out.
Late May back in service and used for convoy escort on the south coast of England.
06 June 1944 took part on Operation Overlord the landings in Normandy.
11 June she was back in Portsmouth.
After inspection it was found that her guns were worn out, and not any replacements were available, and the decision was made to take her out of service.
She left Portsmouth with a convoy to London; there she was laid up in the Shadwell New Basin till May 1945.
May 1945 she departs from London for Grangemouth via Chatham to be reconstructed as a radar instruction ship. The reconstruction was completed in May 1946.
15 June 1946 she sailed from the U.K. bound for Den Helder.
04 October 1949 decommissioned, where after she is rebuilt in an aircraft direction ship.
01 June 1951 recommissioned.
01 January 1956 taken out of service.
01 September 1958 she became a floating hotel instruction ship (A-891) for divers after stationed in Den Oever, Netherlands.
09 June 1985 decommissioned.
03 July 1985 sold to Heuvelman Staal B.V. at s’Gravendeel for Fl.74,484.
12 July 1985 under tow of the tug TAKTOW 1 she is towed to the breakers in Antwerp, where she was scrapped in the Bucht near Antwerp.
Her complete career you can read on http://www.netherlandsnavy.nl/Soemba_his.htm
Gambia 1994 50b sg1854, scott1552.
Source: C. Mark "Schepen van de Koninklijke Marine in WO II"
Ph.M. Bosscher "De Koninklijke Marine in de Tweede Wereldoorlog", volumes 2 and 3
Built as a flotilla vessel by the yard of Mij Feijenoord, Schiedam, for the Dutch Royal Navy.
24 December 1924 laid down.
25 August 1925 launched as the Hr. Ms. SOEMBA named after the island Soemba (now Sumba) in Indonesia.
Displacement 1,793 full load, dim. 75.6 x 11.9 x 3.9m.
Powered by two triple expansion steam engines, 2,000 hp, speed 15 knots.
Armament: 3 – 15cm, 1 – 7.5 cm guns, 4 – 12.7 mm MG and 2 MG No 4.
Crew 136.
12 April 1926 commissioned.
She was special built for the service of the Dutch East Indies, to repress smuggling and piracy.
15 June 1926 the SOEMBA with his sister the FLORUS sailed from Den Helder, Netherland for the Dutch East Indies, making calls at Seville, Tunis, Port Said, Aden and Colombo.
10 August 1926 both ships arrived in Sabang, and 18 August in Batavia.
1935 Re-classed as a gunboat.
When war broke out between Japan and the Netherlands on 8 December 1941 she was stationed at Surabaya for guard duties.
Then used for convoy and patrol services in the Dutch East Indies, the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean.
During the landings in Sicily in July 1943 she is assigned to the invasion force for Sector Bark East.
5 August 1943 during shelling by a German coast battery her wheelhouse was hit killing her Commander J.J.M. Sterkenburg and wounding three others.
25 March 1944 she sailed from Malta bound for the U.K. arriving Portsmouth on 14 March for an overhaul and replacing of a 15 cm gun which was worn out.
Late May back in service and used for convoy escort on the south coast of England.
06 June 1944 took part on Operation Overlord the landings in Normandy.
11 June she was back in Portsmouth.
After inspection it was found that her guns were worn out, and not any replacements were available, and the decision was made to take her out of service.
She left Portsmouth with a convoy to London; there she was laid up in the Shadwell New Basin till May 1945.
May 1945 she departs from London for Grangemouth via Chatham to be reconstructed as a radar instruction ship. The reconstruction was completed in May 1946.
15 June 1946 she sailed from the U.K. bound for Den Helder.
04 October 1949 decommissioned, where after she is rebuilt in an aircraft direction ship.
01 June 1951 recommissioned.
01 January 1956 taken out of service.
01 September 1958 she became a floating hotel instruction ship (A-891) for divers after stationed in Den Oever, Netherlands.
09 June 1985 decommissioned.
03 July 1985 sold to Heuvelman Staal B.V. at s’Gravendeel for Fl.74,484.
12 July 1985 under tow of the tug TAKTOW 1 she is towed to the breakers in Antwerp, where she was scrapped in the Bucht near Antwerp.
Her complete career you can read on http://www.netherlandsnavy.nl/Soemba_his.htm
Gambia 1994 50b sg1854, scott1552.
Source: C. Mark "Schepen van de Koninklijke Marine in WO II"
Ph.M. Bosscher "De Koninklijke Marine in de Tweede Wereldoorlog", volumes 2 and 3