HNLMS Sumatra (1890)
The Dutch cruiser HNLMS Sumatra was a small protected cruiser with a heavy main gun. The ship was named after the island of Sumatra in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). It was discarded in 1907.
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| History | |
|---|---|
 Netherlands | |
| Name: | Sumatra |
| Builder: | Koninklijke Fabriek van Stoom- en andere Werktuigen, Amsterdam |
| Launched: | 1890 |
| Fate: | Sold for scrap, 1907 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Protected cruiser |
| Displacement: | 1693 tons |
| Length: | 229 ft 7 in (69.98 m) |
| Beam: | 37 ft 1 in (11.30 m) |
| Draft: | 15 ft 4 in (4.67 m) |
| Propulsion: | 2,350 ihp (1,750 kW) |
| Speed: | 17 kn (20 mph; 31 km/h) |
| Capacity: | 207 to 276 tons of coal |
| Complement: | 181 |
| Armament: |
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| Armor: | Deck: 1.5 in (38 mm) |
Design and construction
The design resembled a smaller version of the Esmeralda concept (the 1883 protected cruiser built by Armstrong/Elswick shipyards for Chile) and is most similar in size to the Chinese protected cruiser Chi Yuan (1883) a ship built at about the same time as Esmeralda. Sumatra had the 8.2-inch gun forward and the 5.9-inch gun aft, both in shields, with sponsons on the sides for the two 4.7-inch guns. The Dutch Navy also built a larger protected cruiser with even heavier armament, Koningin Wilhelmina der Nederlanden launched in 1892, which had an 11-inch gun forward and was most comparable to the Japanese protected cruisers of the Matsushima type.[1] These ships represented a design philosophy in which navies that could not afford first-class battleships (including the Netherlands) mounted heavy weapons on coastal defense ships or moderately sized protected cruisers with the idea these ships would pose a threat to first-class opponents.
References
- Conways, p.376
Bibliography
- Gardiner, Robert, ed. (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. New York: Mayflower Books. ISBN 0-8317-0302-4.