HNLMS De Ruyter (1935)

HNLMS De Ruyter
Class overview
Builders	Wilton-Fijenoord, Schiedam
Operators	Royal Netherlands Navy
Preceded by	Java class
Succeeded by	De Zeven Provinciën class
Planned	1
Completed	1
Lost	1
History
Netherlands
Name	De Ruyter
Laid down	16 September 1933
Launched	11 March 1935
Commissioned	3 October 1936
Fate	Sunk by heavy cruiser Haguro at battle of the Java Sea, February 27-28 1942. Later illegally salvaged.
General characteristics
Type	Light cruiser
Displacement	6,442 long tons (6,545 t) (standard) 7,548 long tons (7,669 t) (full)
Length	170.9 m (560 ft 8 in)
Beam	15.7 m (51 ft 6 in)
Draft	5.1 m (16 ft 9 in)
Installed power	66,000 shp (49,000 kW)
Propulsion	3 × Parsons geared steam turbines 6 × Yarrow boilers 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)
Complement	435 max
Armament	7 × 150 mm (5.9 in) guns (3x2; 1x1) 10 × 40 mm (1.57 in) Bofors anti-aircraft guns (5x2) 8 × 12.7 mm (0.5 in) Browning machine guns
Armor	Belt: 5 cm (2.0 in) Deck: 3 cm (1.2 in) Turrets: 3 cm (1.2 in)
Aircraft carried	2 × Fokker C-11W floatplanes
Aviation facilities	1 × catapult
Notes	All of the above are from this references:[1][2]

HNLMS De Ruyter (Dutch: Hr.Ms. De Ruyter) was a light cruiser of the Royal Netherlands Navy. She was originally designed as a 5,000 long tons (5,080 t) ship with a lighter armament due to financial problems and the pacifist movement. Later in the design stage, an extra gun turret was added and the armor was improved. She was the seventh ship of the Dutch Navy to be named after Admiral Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter.

De Ruyter was laid down on 16 September 1933 at the Wilton-Fijenoord dockyard in Schiedam and commissioned on 3 October 1936, commanded by Captain A. C. van der Sande Lacoste. De Ruyter spent her early war career taking part in peacetime patrol and escorting duties, mostly surrounding the Dutch East Indies. When the Netherlands was invaded by Nazi Germany in May of 1940, she retreated to the Dutch East Indies, where she eventually served as flagship for ABDA Force.

De Ruyter survived the air attacks at the battle of Makassar Strait undamaged, before attempting to intercept a Japanese troop convoy at the battle of Badung Strait, but missing her shots and retreated from the battle after her escorting destroyers were either sunk or incapacitated. She saw her last action attempting to intercept another Japanese troop convoy at the battle of the Java Sea, but failed to make a single hit while being damaged herself and retreating. Later that night, Japanese cruisers caught the force in an ambush and De Ruyter was hit by a torpedo fired from the heavy cruiser Haguro which caused her to capsize and sink over three hours with the loss of the majority of her crew.

Her wreck was discovered in 2002, but later completely destroyed by illegal salvagers