HNLMS Johan Maurits van Nassau

HNLMS Johan Maurits van Nassau
History
Name:	Johan Maurits van Nassau
Namesake:	John Maurice, Prince of Nassau-Siegen
Builder:	Koninklijke Maatschappij De Schelde, Vlissingen
Laid down:	17 July 1931
Launched:	20 August 1932
Commissioned:	5 April 1933
Fate:	Sunk, 14 May 1940
General characteristics
Type:	Gunboat
Displacement:	1,457 long tons (1,480 t) (standard) 1,793 long tons (1,822 t) (full load)
Length:	78.7 m (258 ft 2 in)
Beam:	11.5 m (37 ft 9 in)
Draught:	3.6 m (11 ft 10 in)
Installed power:	2,100 ihp (1,600 kW)
Propulsion:	2 × triple expansion steam engines 4 × Yarrow boilers 2 × screws
Speed:	15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement:	124
Armament:	3 × 150 mm (5.9 in) No. 7 guns 2 × 40 mm (1.57 in) anti-aircraft guns 4 × .50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns 3 × .303 in (7.70 mm) machine guns
Armour:	Armour deck: 25 mm (0.98 in) Conning tower: 25 mm (0.98 in) Turrets: 25 to 40 mm (0.98 to 1.57 in)
Aircraft carried:	1 × floatplane

HNLMS Johan Maurits van Nassau (Dutch: Hr.Ms. Johan Maurits van Nassau), named after John Maurice of Nassau, was a Dutch gunboat that served in the early part of World War II, when it was sunk. She was the sole ship of her class, which was developed from the earlier Flores-class.

When the war broke out, Johan Maurits van Nassau was in the West Indies due to be relieved by the new gunnery training ship Van Kinsbergen, allowing the Maurits to return to the Netherlands. On 10 May 1940, the day the Germans launched their blitzkrieg, she was stationed as a search and guard vessel at Vlissingen, where she immediately was targeted by German aircraft, of which she shot down one. She remained in the area for a couple of days and was then ordered to bombard the Dutch aerodrome at Waalhaven in Rotterdam, which had been occupied by German paratroopers. She arrived in Hoek van Holland, but after the loss of the destroyer Van Galen during her attempt to do the same, the operation—of which Flores was also part—was cancelled.

As part of the Battle of the Afsluitdijk, Maurits was ordered by Den Helder on 12 May 1940 to silence a German battery near the Afsluitdijk, and on 14 May, she bombarded the German battery (consisting of 88 mm (3.46 in) guns of the 1. Kavalleriedivision) at a range of about 18 km (11 mi) and silenced them. Her advanced fire control system enabled great accuracy. Despite fierce retaliation by German aircraft, she remained undamaged, to the great surprise of all.

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