HNLMS Van Meerlant

HNLMS Van Meerlant (ML 36) was a minelayer of the Royal Netherlands Navy built in the Gusto shipyard at Schiedam as part of the Douwe Aukes class.

History
Netherlands
Name: HNLMS Van Meerlant
Builder: Gusto shipyard, Schiedam
Laid down: October 14, 1919[1]
Launched: November 23, 1920[1]
In service: July 25, 1922[1]
Out of service: March 14, 1943[1]
General characteristics
Class and type: Douwe Aukes class minelayer
Displacement: 687 tonnes[1]
Length: 54.8[1]
Beam: 9.0[1]
Draught: 3.2[1]
Propulsion: 1170 hp[1]
Speed: 12.8 knots[1]
Complement: 60 men[1]
Armament:
  • 1 × 2 12.7 mm machine gun[1]
  • 1 × 6.5 mm machine gun[1]
  • 87 mines (1921 type)[1]

Service

On the general mobilisation of the Dutch military on 28 August 1939, Van Meerlant was deployed to lay minefields, including ones at IJmuiden and the Hook of Holland.[1] She sailed for the United Kingdom from Vlissingen alongside the gunboat Flores, arriving on 18 May 1940.[1] She was first stationed at Falmouth, alongside her sister ship Douwe Aukes and the Dutch ship Medusa.[2] Later that year Van Meerlant was posted to Chatham and assigned to the Thames Local Defence Flotilla, responsible for maintaining the boom defences in the Thames Estuary.[1][3] On 14 March she was transferred to the Royal Navy, retaining her name as HMS Van Meerlant.[1] She was sunk on 4 June 1941 by a mine, with 42 hands killed.[1][4]

Notes
  1. Mark, C. Schepen van de Koninklijke Marine in W.O. II Alkmaar: De Alk bv, 1997 94-103
  2. naval-history.net :: Royal Navy Ships, 10 June 1940
  3. naval-history.net :: Royal Navy Ships, 1 January 1941
  4. naval-history.net :: Naval Events, June 1941, Sunday 1st – Saturday 14th

Sources
  • Mark, C. Schepen van de Koninklijke Marine in W.O. II Alkmaar: De Alk bv, 1997 94-103
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