The ''Nias''-class was a class of four colonial ''schroefstoomschepen 4e klasse'' ( gunboats) built by ''Huygens en van Gelder'' in Amsterdam and ''Koninklijke Maatschappij de Schelde'' in Flushing for 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 ''Nias'', ''Mataram'', ''Edi'' and ''Serdang''.

Description

The ships were long, had a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of , a draught of , and had a displacement of 680 tons and 810-820 tons at full load. The ships had a top speed of . The main armaments of the ships were two single guns and one gun. ''Nias'' carried three guns instead of the two the others had.Koloniaal verslag van 1898, Bijlage C .4 p. 6 The ship had a complement of 97 men.

Construction

Service history

All ships were meant to serve in 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 ...

''Nias''

''Nias'' was laid down in 1894 at the shipyard of ''Huygens en van Gelder'' at Amsterdam and launched in 1895. She began service in the

in 1896. In February 1902 she was tasked with the defense of a newly built settlement at

Merauke Merauke is a large town and the capital of the South Papua province, Indonesia. It is also the administrative centre of Merauke Regency in South Papua. It is considered the easternmost city in Indonesia. The town was originally called Ermasoe. It ...

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

. In 1907 she was moved to subsidiary duties.

''Mataram''

''Mataram'' was laid down in 1895 at the shipyard of ''Huygens en van Gelder'' at Amsterdam and launched in 1896. She began service in the

in 1897. In 1916 she was moved to subsidiary duties and served as instruction vessel for the newly found ''Kweekschool voor Inlandse Schepelingen'' in

Makassar Makassar (, mak, ᨆᨀᨔᨑ, Mangkasara’, ) is the capital of the Indonesian province of South Sulawesi. It is the largest city in the region of Eastern Indonesia and the country's fifth-largest urban center after Jakarta, Surabaya, Med ...

''Edi''

''Edi'' was laid down in 1896 at the shipyard of ''Koninklijke Maatschappij de Schelde'' at Flushing and launched in 1897. She began service in the

in 1897. In 1910 she was moved to subsidiary duties.

''Serdang''

''Serdang'' was laid down in 1896 at the shipyard of ''Koninklijke Maatschappij de Schelde'' at Flushing and launched in 1897. She began service in the

in 1897. In November 1904 she followed the Russian fleet that was steaming for Japan as it passed east of

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

. On 11 September 1905 the ship took part in an expeditions to South Celebes. She was part of a naval force consisting of , , and two ships of the ''Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij''. The ships where engaged in operations against the lord of ''Loewoe''. An

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and marine i ...

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are ...

and a

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landing party were set ashore near Palope and later that day the soldiers and marines took the lord's palace. ''Serdang'' was in 1921 converted into a minelayer and in 1932 into a torpedo repair ship. She eventually scuttled 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 ...

off

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 ...

on 6 March 1942.

Notes

References

*Koloniaal verslag van 1898
Bijlage C 5.4
{{1890-1920DutchShips 19th-century naval ships of the Netherlands Gunboat classes