HNLMS Van Meerlant (''ML 36'') was a minelayer 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 ...

built in the Gusto shipyard at

Schiedam Schiedam () is a city and municipality in the west of the Netherlands. It is located in the Rotterdam–The Hague metropolitan area, west of Rotterdam, east of Vlaardingen, and south of Delft. In the south the city is connected with the village ...

as part of the Douwe Aukes class.

Service

On the general mobilisation of the Dutch military on 28 August 1939, ''Van Meerlant'' was deployed to lay minefields, including ones at

IJmuiden IJ_(digraph).html" ;"title="n IJ (digraph)">n IJ (digraph) and that should remain the only places where they are used. > IJmuiden () is a port city in the Netherlands, Dutch province of North Holland. It is the main town in the municipality ...

and the Hook of Holland.Mark, C. Schepen van de Koninklijke Marine in W.O. II Alkmaar: De Alk bv, 1997 94-103 She sailed for the United Kingdom from

Vlissingen Vlissingen (; zea, label=Zeelandic, Vlissienge), historically known in English as Flushing, is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in the southwestern Netherlands on the former island of Walcheren. With its strategic l ...

alongside the gunboat ''

Flores Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia. Including the Komodo Islands off its west coast (but excluding the Solor Archipelago to the east of Flores), the land area is 15,530.58 km2, and th ...

'', arriving on 18 May 1940. She was first stationed at Falmouth, alongside her sister ship '' Douwe Aukes'' and the Dutch ship ''Medusa''.naval-history.net :: Royal Navy Ships, 10 June 1940
/ref> Later that year ''Van Meerlant'' was posted to

Chatham Chatham may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Canada * Chatham Islands (British Columbia) * Chatham Sound, British Columbia * Chatham, New Brunswick, a former town, now a neighbourhood of Miramichi * Chatham (electoral district), New Brunswic ...

and assigned to the Thames Local Defence Flotilla, responsible for maintaining the boom defences in the

Thames Estuary The Thames Estuary is where the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea, in the south-east of Great Britain. Limits An estuary can be defined according to different criteria (e.g. tidal, geographical, navigational or in terms of salini ...

.naval-history.net :: Royal Navy Ships, 1 January 1941
/ref> On 14 March she was transferred to the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

, retaining her name as HMS ''Van Meerlant''. She was sunk on 4 June 1941 by a mine, with 42 hands killed.naval-history.net :: Naval Events, June 1941, Sunday 1st – Saturday 14th
/ref>

Notes

Sources

*Mark, C. ''Schepen van de Koninklijke Marine'' in ''W.O. II Alkmaar: De Alk bv'', 1997 94-103 {{DEFAULTSORT:Van Meerlant Douwe Aukes-class minelayers 1920 ships World War II minelayers of the Netherlands Minelayers of the Royal Navy Ships sunk by mines World War II shipwrecks in the North Sea Maritime incidents in June 1941 Ships built by Gusto Shipyard