HNLMS ''Koningin Regentes'' ( nl, Hr.Ms. Koningin Regentes) was a (''pantserschip'') of the Royal Netherlands Navy. The ship was built at the '' Rijkswerf'' in Amsterdam at the start of the twentieth century. After the eruption of the

Mount Pelée Mount Pelée or Mont Pelée ( ; french: Montagne Pelée, ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Montann Pèlé, meaning "bald mountain" or "peeled mountain") is an active volcano at the northern end of Martinique, an island and French overseas departmen ...

volcano on the French island of

Martinique Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in ...

the ship provided assistance to the casualties, and then later participated in an expedition to the island of Bali in 1906. She made several journeys to show the Dutch flag and was finally decommissioned in 1920.

Design

The ship was long, had a beam of , a draught of , and had a displacement of 5,002 tons. The ship was 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 fea ...

s, which were rated at and produced a top speed of . Her

belt armour Belt armor is a layer of heavy metal armor plated onto or within the outer hulls of warships, typically on battleships, battlecruisers and cruisers, and aircraft carriers. The belt armor is designed to prevent projectiles from penetrating to ...

was thick, while she also had of barbette armour and turret armour. Two single turret guns provided the ship's main armament, and these were augmented by four single guns and eight single guns. The ship had a complement of 340 men.

Service history

After being laid down in 1898, ''Koningen Regentes'' was built at the '' Rijkswerf'' in Amsterdam and launched on 24 April 1900. The ship was christened there by the Dutch Queen Mother,

Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont (Adelheid Emma Wilhelmina Theresia; 2 August 1858 – 20 March 1934) was Queen of the Netherlands and Grand Duchess of Luxembourg as the wife of King-Grand Duke William III. An immensely popular member of the Dutch ...

and was then commissioned into the Royal Netherlands Navy on 3 January 1902. On 11 March that year she departed from the port of

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

bound for the

Dutch West Indies 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 ...

in response to rising political tension between the Netherlands and

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

to evacuate the Jews of Coro to Curaçao. She interrupted this journey to assist and help the casualties of the

volcano eruption on the French island of

. After this, the ship continued her journey in concert with and on 2 April 1902 they arrived in the Venezuelan port of

La Guaira La Guaira () is the capital city of the Venezuelan state of the same name (formerly named Vargas) and the country's main port. It was founded in 1577 as an outlet for Caracas, to the southeast. The town and the port were badly damaged during ...

. Prior to their arrival, the Venezuelan Navy had repeatedly checked Dutch and Antillean merchant ships and the presence of the Dutch warships acted as a deterrent against further actions. In 1906 ''Koningin Regentes'', along with her sister ship and the protected cruiser , assisted in an expedition to the island of Bali in the Dutch East Indies as part of Dutch attempts to integrate the southern kingdoms of

Tabanan Tabanan is one of the regencies (''kabupaten'') in Bali, Indonesia. Relatively underdeveloped (compared with Badung and Denpasar to the east), Tabanan Regency has an area of 1,013.88 km2 and had a population of 386,850 in 2000, rising to 42 ...

Badung Badung is a regency of Bali, Indonesia. Its regency seat is in the upland town of Mangupura. It covers districts to the west of the provincial capital of Denpasar, and it has a land area of 418.52 km2. The regency had a population of 5 ...

and

Klungkung Klungkung Regency is the smallest regency (''kabupaten'') on Bali, Indonesia. It has an area of 315 km2 and had a population at the 2010 Census of 170,543 which increased to 206,925 at the Census of 2020. The administrative centre for the reg ...

into the Dutch East Indies. On 16 and 17 September, the ships bombarded the city of

Denpasar Denpasar (; Balinese: ᬤᬾᬦ᭄ᬧᬲᬃ) is the capital of Bali and the main gateway to the island. The city is also a hub for other cities in the Lesser Sunda Islands. With the rapid growth of the tourism industry in Bali, Denpasar has e ...

and afterwards ground forces broke what resistance remained. 10 August 1909 the ship, together with and ''De Ruyter'', departed from

Batavia Batavia may refer to: Historical places * Batavia (region), a land inhabited by the Batavian people during the Roman Empire, today part of the Netherlands * Batavia, Dutch East Indies, present-day Jakarta, the former capital of the Dutch East In ...

to China,

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

, Japan and the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

to show the flag. The following year the ship undertook a cruise to Australia to

show the flag {{Short pages monitor