HNLMS ''Sumatra'' ( nl, Hr.Ms. Sumatra) 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 ...

. She was launched during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and saw action during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. She was scuttled off the coast of

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

on 9 June 1944 at

Ouistreham Ouistreham () is a commune in the Calvados department in Normandy region in northwestern France. Ouistreham is a small port with fishing boats, leisure craft and a ferry harbour. It serves as the port of the city of Caen. The town borders the mo ...

as part of a "gooseberry" pier to protect an artificial

Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

Mulberry Harbour built as part of

Operation Overlord Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allies of World War II, Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Front (World War II), Western Europe during World War II. The operat ...

Construction

''Sumatra'' was built by the ''

Nederlandsche Scheepsbouw Maatschappij The (NSM; from Dutch: ''Dutch shipbuilding company''), was a Dutch shipbuilding company based in Amsterdam. It existed from 1894 to 1946. From c. 1908 it was the biggest Dutch shipbuilding company. Foundation of the NSM Successor of the Kon ...

'' in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. She was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

on 15 July 1916 and launched on 29 December 1920 by Queen

Wilhelmina of the Netherlands Wilhelmina (; Wilhelmina Helena Pauline Maria; 31 August 1880 – 28 November 1962) was Queen of the Netherlands from 1890 until her abdication in 1948. She reigned for nearly 58 years, longer than any other Dutch monarch. Her reign saw World War ...

. The

turbine A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced by a turbine can be used for generating e ...

s intended for the ship were destroyed by fire on 31 May 1922 at ''

Werkspoor Werkspoor N.V. was the shortened, and later the official name of the Nederlandsche Fabriek van Werktuigen en Spoorwegmaterieel. It was a Dutch machine factory, known for rolling stock, (ship) steam engines, and diesel engines. It was a successor ...

'' in Amsterdam.

Service history

On 26 May 1926 the ship was commissioned into the Dutch Navy. Later that year, on 21 September, ''Sumatra'' left the Netherlands for the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...

, sailing via

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a conduit ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

and

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...

. On 19 February 1927, ''Sumatra'' was deployed to Shanghai to protect Dutch citizens and interests because of rising tension between

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

s and

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

s. On 23 March, ''Sumatra'' and foreign warship prepared for the evacuation of civilians after fighting had broken out between Nationalists and Communists. A landing party of 140 men from the ship took up position in Shanghai's business quarter. Afterwards, ''Sumatra'' returned to

Surabaya Surabaya ( jv, ꦱꦸꦫꦧꦪ or jv, ꦯꦹꦫꦨꦪ; ; ) is the capital city of the Provinces of Indonesia, Indonesian province of East Java and the List of Indonesian cities by population, second-largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta. L ...

in the Dutch East Indies on 12 May 1927. On 18 June 1930, she was recommissioned after an extensive refit at Surabaya after a turbine was damaged. On 28 July the ship returned to Surabaya for more repairs after a fire in the boiler room during speed trials. ''Sumatra'' was towed to Surabaya by . While on exercises with the destroyers De Ruyter and and five submarines ''Sumatra'' was stranded on an uncharted reef near the island of Kebatoe on 14 May 1931. Three days later, she was pulled lose by and a tug. Afterwards, she was towed to Surabaya for repair until 21 September. From December 1933 until mid-1935, ''Sumatra'' was modernized at Surabaya. Among the improvements was the replacement of the original four 75 mm anti-aircraft guns by six 40 mm guns. On 16 November 1935, ''Sumatra'' and the destroyers and visited

Saigon , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...

. On 23 August 1936 ''Sumatra'', her sister ship ' and the destroyers ''Van Galen'', ''Witte de With'' and were present at the fleet day held at Surabaya. Later that year, on 13 November, she and her sister ship and the destroyers ''Evertsen'', ''Witte de With'' and ''Piet Hein'' visited

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. Before the visit they had exercised in the Chinese Sea. On 8 June 1938 the ship sailed from

Tanjung Priok Tanjung Priok is a district of North Jakarta, Indonesia. It hosts the western part of the city's main harbor, the Port of Tanjung Priok (located in Tanjung Priok District and Koja District). The district of Tanjung Priok is bounded by Laksamana ...

to the Netherlands. From 8 to 17 July she performed convoy duties during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

in the

Strait of Gibraltar The Strait of Gibraltar ( ar, مضيق جبل طارق, Maḍīq Jabal Ṭāriq; es, Estrecho de Gibraltar, Archaic: Pillars of Hercules), also known as the Straits of Gibraltar, is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Medi ...

. Afterwards the ship returned to the Netherlands where she arrived on 22 July 1938 in

Den Helder Den Helder () is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Den Helder occupies the northernmost point of the North Holland peninsula. It is home to the country's main naval base. From here the Royal TESO fe ...

. Later that year on 3 September she participated in a fleet review off the coast of

Scheveningen Scheveningen is one of the eight districts of The Hague, Netherlands, as well as a subdistrict (''wijk'') of that city. Scheveningen is a modern seaside resort with a long, sandy beach, an esplanade, a pier, and a lighthouse. The beach is po ...

held in honor of Queen ''Wilhelmina'' who was than 40 years head of state.

World War II

As the Netherlands were overrun by the German Army during May 1940, ''Sumatra'' left the Netherlands for England. After having a degaussing cable installed to protect her from magnetic mines, she proceeded to Milford Haven. Princess

Juliana of the Netherlands Juliana (; Juliana Louise Emma Marie Wilhelmina; 30 April 1909 – 20 March 2004) was Queen of the Netherlands from 1948 until her abdication in 1980. Juliana was the only child of Queen Wilhelmina and Prince Henry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Sh ...

and her daughters were taken aboard there and transported to

Halifax, Canada Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The ...

. Afterwards she performed convoy escort duties and took part in the search for the German commerce raider ''Widder''. During the fall of 1940, ''Sumatra'' made her way to the Dutch East Indies where she was immediately laid up for an extensive overhaul. This overhaul was not completed in January 1942 when the war with Japan began. ''Sumatra'' was quickly recommissioned and, manned largely by midshipmen and capable of only 15 knots, she made her way to

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. Later in the year she made her way to Britain where she was laid up at Portsmouth. Problems with her propulsion made her unfit for frontline duties. Transferred to the Royal Navy 29 April 1944. ''Sumatra'' was scuttled off the coast of

on 9 June 1944 at

, as part of a ''gooseberry'' pier to protect an artificial Mulberry Harbour built by the Allies as part of

. ''Sumatra‍'' 's 150 mm guns were used to replace the guns of the s, which were worn out by extensive use. On 14 February 1951 her wreck was auctioned with other wrecks to be scrapped.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sumatra Java-class cruisers 1920 ships Maritime incidents in 1931 Operation Overlord Maritime incidents in June 1944 Scuttled vessels Shipwrecks of France World War II cruisers of the Netherlands Ships sunk as breakwaters