HNLMS ''De Zeven Provinciën'' was a of the

Royal Netherlands Navy The Royal Netherlands Navy ( nl, Koninklijke Marine, links=no) is the naval force of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. During the 17th century, the navy of the Dutch Republic (1581–1795) was one of the most powerful naval forces in the world an ...

. Laid down in 1939, construction was interrupted by World War II and the ship was only commissioned in 1953 with the identification number C802. She served until 1976 when she was purchased by Peru and renamed ''Aguirre''. With the

Peruvian Navy The Peruvian Navy ( es, link=no, Marina de Guerra del Perú, abbreviated MGP) is the branch of the Peruvian Armed Forces tasked with surveillance, patrol and defense on lakes, rivers and the Pacific Ocean up to from the Peruvian littoral. Addit ...

she served until 1999 and was scrapped in 2000.

Design

''De Zeven Provinciën'' was armed with eight guns in double turrets, 8 × 57 mm in twin turrets and 8 × 40 mm machine guns. The rear turrets were replaced in 1962 with a RIM-2 Terrier SAM system. She was long, had a beam of and a draft of . She displaced 12,250 t and could achieve a speed of . She had a crew of 957. During her service with the

she was converted to a helicopter cruiser. To do this the remaining turrets at the back of the ship were removed to make space for a hangar and a flight deck big enough to support 4 helicopters.B. Hunter, The Statesman's Year-Book 1994-95 (2016) p. 1083

History

Construction started in 1939 as ''Kijkduin'', but was interrupted by World War II. She was renamed ''Eendracht'' in 1940 and ''De Ruyter'' in 1945. Her sister ship was launched in 1944 as ''De Zeven Provinciën'', but the ships swapped to their final names in 1950. She was completed in 1953 and served the

from 1950 to 1975. She was sold to Peru in August 1976 and was renamed on 24 February 1978.

Notes

References

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:De Zeven Provincien (C802) De Zeven Provinciën-class cruisers Ships built in Rotterdam 1941 ships Cold War cruisers of the Netherlands Naval ships of the Netherlands captured by Germany during World War II Maritime incidents in 1958 Ships built by Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij