HNLMS ''Abraham Crijnssen'' is a of the Royal Netherlands Navy (RNN). Built during the 1930s, she was based in the Netherlands East Indies when Japan attacked at the end of 1941. Ordered to retreat to Australia, the ship was disguised as a tropical island to avoid detection, and was the last Dutch ship to escape from the region. On arriving in Australia in 1942, she was commissioned into the

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...

(RAN) as HMAS ''Abraham Crijnssen'' and operated as an anti-submarine escort. Although returned to RNN control in 1943, the ship remained in Australian waters for most of

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 opposing ...

. After the war, ''Abraham Crijnssen'' operated on anti-

revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

patrols in the East Indies, before returning to the Netherlands and being converted into a boom defence ship in 1956. Removed from service in 1960, the vessel was donated to the Netherlands Sea Cadet Corps for training purposes. In 1995, ''Abraham Crijnssen'' was acquired by the Dutch Navy Museum for preservation as a museum ship.

Design and construction

''Abraham Crijnssen'' was the third of eight s constructed for the RNN during the late 1930s.Bastock, ''Australia's Ships of War'', p. 221 Built by Werf Gusto at their yard in Schiedam, South Holland, the minesweeper was launched on 22 September 1936, and commissioned into the RNN on 26 May 1937. She was named after 17th century naval commander

Abraham Crijnssen Abraham Crijnssen (died 1 February 1669) was a Dutch naval commander, notable for capturing the English colony in Suriname in 1667 during the Second Anglo-Dutch War, resulting in the establishment of a long-term colony under Dutch control. The ...

. ''Abraham Crijnssen'' and her sister ships were long, with a beam of , a draught of , and a

displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and Physics * Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

of 525 tons. The minesweepers were fitted with two Yarrow 3-drum boilers and two Stork

triple expansion engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be tr ...

s, which provided to two propeller shafts, allowing the ship to reach . ''Abraham Crijnssen'' was armed with a single 3-inch gun, and two

Oerlikon 20 mm cannon The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons, based on an original German Becker Type M2 20 mm cannon design that appeared very early in World War I. It was widely produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others, with various models em ...

, plus a payload of depth charges.''HMAS Abraham Crijnssen'', Royal Australian Navy The standard ship's company was 45.

Operational history

HNLMS Abraham Crijnssen Covered In Branches

Early service

The ship was based at Surabaya in the Netherlands East Indies when Japan invaded in 1941.Bastock, ''Australia's Ships of War'', p. 211.''The Abraham Crijnssen'', Australian War Memorial Following the Allied defeats at the Battles of the Java Sea and Sunda Strait in late February 1942, all Allied ships were ordered to withdraw to Australia. ''Abraham Crijnssen'' was meant to sail with three other warships, but found herself proceeding alone.Liem, ''That time a Dutch warship pretended to be an island to evade the enemy'' To escape detection by Japanese aircraft (which the minesweeper did not have the armament to defend effectively against), the ship was heavily camouflaged with jungle foliage, giving the impression of a small island. Personnel cut down trees and branches from nearby islands, and arranged the cuttings to form a jungle canopy covering as much of the ship as possible. Any hull still exposed was painted to resemble rocks and cliffs. To further the illusion, the ship would remain close to shore, anchored and immobile during daylight, and only sail at night. She headed for

Fremantle, Western Australia Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

, where she arrived on 20 March 1942; ''Abraham Crijnssen'' was the last vessel to successfully escape Java, and the only ship of her class in the region to survive.

RAN service

After arriving in Australian waters, the minesweeper underwent a refit, which included the installation of new

ASDIC Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances ( ranging), communicate with or detect objects on ...

equipment. On 28 September, the minesweeper was commissioned into the RAN as HMAS ''Abraham Crijnssen''. She was reclassified as an anti-submarine convoy escort, and was also used as a

submarine tender A submarine tender is a type of depot ship that supplies and supports submarines. Development Submarines are small compared to most oceangoing vessels, and generally do not have the ability to carry large amounts of food, fuel, torpedoes, and ...

for the Dutch submarines that relocated to Australia following the Japanese conquest. The ship's Dutch sailors were supplemented with survivors from the British destroyer and Australian personnel, all under the command of an Australian lieutenant. The

wardroom The wardroom is the mess cabin or compartment on a warship or other military ship for commissioned naval officers above the rank of midshipman. Although the term typically applies to officers in a navy, it is also applicable to marine officer ...

tradition of hanging a portrait of the commissioned ship's reigning monarch led to some tension before it was decided to leave 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 Wa ...

on the bulkhead instead of replacing her with King George VI of the United Kingdom, which was installed in the lieutenant's cabin. While escorting a convoy to Sydney through Bass Strait on 26 January 1943, ''Abraham Crijnssen'' detected a submarine on

. The convoy was ordered to scatter, while ''Abraham Crijnssen'' and depth charged the submarine contact. No wreckage of the suspected submarine was found. A pair of hastily released depth charges at the start of the engagement damaged the minesweeper; several fittings and pipes were damaged, and all of her centreline rivets had to be replaced during a week-long dry-docking. HRMS Abraham Crijnssen disguised as a tropical island

HRMS Abraham Crijnssen disguised as a tropical island

Return to RNN

''Abraham Crijnssen'' was returned to RNN service on 5 May 1943, but remained in Australian waters for most of World War II. On 7 June 1945, the minesweeper left Sydney for Darwin, with the oil lighter (and former submarine) ''K9'' in tow. On 8 June, the tow cable snapped, and ''K9'' washed ashore at Seal Rocks, New South Wales.Carruthers, ''Japanese Submarine Raiders 1942'', p. 151 ''Abraham Crijnssen'' was used for mine-clearing sweeps of

Kupang Kupang ( id, Kota Kupang, ), formerly known as Koepang, is the capital of the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara. At the 2020 C ensus, it had a population of 442,758; the official estimate as at mid 2021 was 455,850. It is the largest ci ...

Harbour prior to the arrival of a RAN force to accept the Japanese surrender of Timor.

Post-war

After World War II, the minesweeper was used on anti-

patrols of the Netherlands East Indies. She left for the Netherlands in August 1951, and was converted into a boom defence vessel in March 1956.

Decommissioning and preservation

The ship was removed from the Navy List in 1960. After leaving service, ''Abraham Crijnssen'' was donated to the Sea Cadet Corps (''Zeekadetkorps Nederland'') for training purposes. She was docked at The Hague from 1962 to 1972, after which she was moved to Rotterdam. The ship was also used as a storage hulk during this time. In 1995, ''Abraham Crijnssen'' was marked for preservation by the Dutch Navy Museum at Den Helder. She was retrofitted to her wartime configuration.

Citations

References

Books

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Websites

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External links

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''Abraham Crijnssen'' at the Dutch Naval Museum
(Dutch) {{DEFAULTSORT:Abraham Crijnssen Jan van Amstel-class minesweepers Ships built in the Netherlands 1936 ships World War II minesweepers of the Netherlands World War II minesweepers of Australia Museum ships in the Netherlands Minesweepers of the Royal Australian Navy Ships built by Gusto Shipyard