The ''Evertsen'' class or ''Kortenaer'' class was a class of

coastal defense ship Coastal defence ships (sometimes called coastal battleships or coast defence ships) were warships built for the purpose of Littoral (military), coastal defence, mostly during the period from 1860 to 1920. They were small, often cruiser-sized ...

s 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 ...

. The class comprised ''Evertsen'', ''Piet Hein'' and ''Kortenaer''.Jane (1900), p. 158.

History

The protection of 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 ...

came into the spotlight at the end of the nineteenth century. Many countries began expanding their battle fleets. In 1887, two medium-sized Chinese

battleships A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...

became operational and were considered superior to the Dutch defence. This led to a reassessment of the defence of the Dutch East Indies. In April 1892, the foundations for modernisation were formulated by a committee consisting of three officers J.H. Kromhout, F.J. Haver Droeze and G. Kruys.Navalism Nekt Submarine; The influence of foreign naval strategies on the Dutch naval strategy for the defense of the Dutch East Indies, 1912-1942.
J. Anten. University of Leiden. Amsterdam University Press, 2011. Naval expert,

rear admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

and Chief of the Naval Staff Gerhardus Kruys advocated for a

squadron Squadron may refer to: * Squadron (army), a military unit of cavalry, tanks, or equivalent subdivided into troops or tank companies * Squadron (aviation), a military unit that consists of three or four flights with a total of 12 to 24 aircraft, ...

of artillery ships. The recommendations were adopted by the government, which led to the construction of HNLMS ''Evertsen'', HNLMS ''Kortenaer'', and HNLMS ''Piet Hein''. Ultimately, only the ''Piet Hein'' was sent to the Indies from 1899 to 1901, because the financing of the ships was dependant on their suitability for coastal defence of the Netherlands and the

Dutch Caribbean The Dutch Caribbean (historically known as the Dutch West Indies) are the territories, colonies, and countries, former and current, of the Dutch Empire and the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean Sea. They are in the north and south-wes ...

Design

The ships of the class were long, had a beam of , a draught of , and had a displacement of 3,464 ton. The ships were equipped with 2 shaft

reciprocating engine A reciprocating engine, also often known as a piston engine, is typically a heat engine that uses one or more reciprocating pistons to convert high temperature and high pressure into a rotating motion. This article describes the common featu ...

s, which were rated at and produced a top speed of . In addition, the machinery had two sets of triple expansions.Jane (1970), p. 314. When it came to

naval armour Naval armour refers to the various protections schemes employed by warships, and is distinguished from other kinds of armour. Naval sailing ships have had protection from weaponry since at least ancient times, when Greek and Roman warships used s ...

all three ships were equipped with

Harvey armour Harvey armor was a type of steel naval armor developed in the early 1890s in which the front surfaces of the plates were case hardened. The method for doing this was known as the Harvey process, and was invented by the American engineer Haywa ...

. The ships had belt armour of , barbette armour and turret armour. Deck armour of the ''Evertsen'' class was .

Armament

The main armament of the ships consisted of three 21 cm A No. 1 guns. Two of these were placed in a

Barbette Barbettes are several types of gun emplacement in terrestrial fortifications or on naval ships. In recent naval usage, a barbette is a protective circular armour support for a heavy gun turret. This evolved from earlier forms of gun protection ...

on the bow. The third was behind a shield on the stern. These were second hand guns re-used to economize, while the newer 21 cm A No. 2 gun used on HNLMS Koningin Wilhelmina der Nederlanden was already available. This led to sharp criticism. The 21 cm A No. 1 gun was a

21 cm L/35 The 21 cm L/35 were a family of German naval artillery developed in the years before World War I and used in limited numbers. This gun armed warships of the Argentine Navy, Imperial Chinese Navy, Royal Danish Navy, Imperial Japanese Navy and ...

Krupp gun first built in 1882. The 9 guns required were taken from 9 gunboats instead of buying 9 new 21 cm A No. 2 guns. The 21 cm A No. 2 was a newer model of the Krupp gun, had the same length (L/35) and was only 700 kg heavier, but had about 10% more penetrative power at 2,000 m. Secondary armament included two single guns and six single guns. Furthermore, it had three torpedo tubes.

Ships

Notes

Citations

References

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External links

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Description of class
{{1890-1920DutchShips Evertsen-class coastal defence ships 19th-century naval ships of the Netherlands