HNLMS Soemba

Soemba
History
Netherlands
Name:	Soemba
Builder:	Mij Feijenoord, Schiedam
Laid down:	24 December 1924
Launched:	24 August 1925
Commissioned:	12 April 1926
Identification:	Pennant numbers: T199, HX1, A891
Fate:	Scrapped 12 July 1985
General characteristics
Class and type:	Flores-class gunboat
Displacement:	1,457 long tons (1,480 t) standard 1,793 long tons (1,822 t) full load
Length:	75.6 m (248 ft 0 in)
Beam:	11.5 m (37 ft 9 in)
Draught:	3.6 m (11 ft 10 in)
Installed power:	2,000 shp (1,500 kW) 4 Yarrow boilers
Propulsion:	2 shafts, 2 Triple-expansion steam engines
Speed:	15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement:	145
Armament:	As built: 3 × 5.9 in (150 mm) No. 7 guns 1 × 75 mm gun 4 × .50 Browning machine guns Added: 6 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannon
Armour:	Bridge: 50 mm (2.0 in) Deck: 25–50 mm (0.98–1.97 in) Ammunition hoists: 25 mm (0.98 in) Gun shields: 14–80 mm (0.55–3.15 in)

HNLMS Soemba (Dutch: Hr.Ms. Soemba) was a Flores-class gunboat built in the mid-1920s for the Dutch Indies Navy (Indische Militaire Marine) to patrol the Dutch East Indies.

Soemba sailed for the East Indies shortly after her commissioning and remained there until the start of the Pacific War in 1941. The ship fought Japanese forces in and around the Sunda Strait during the collapse of the East Indies. She was among the covering naval forces during transshipment of troops bound for Malaya from RMS Aquitania at Ratai Bay, Sunda Strait to smaller transports beginning 20 January 1942.

On 16 February Soemba was with a small force at Oosthaven that included the Australian ships HMAS Yarra, HMAS Goulburn and HMAS Burnie along with the British ships HMS Tenedos and HMS Encounter covering withdrawal of Allied forces from Sumatra. After evacuation Soemba remained in the port with Burnie to complete demolition of facilities that included destroying ammunition, rail equipment and placing depth charges under the Koninklijke Paketvaart-Maatschappij (KPM) wharf and a cargo shed as well as pouring sulphuric acid into the working parts and destroying propellers of four trucks of torpedoes. The ship was one of six Dutch ships joined with Australian corvettes in the Sunda Strait Auxiliary Patrol attempting to prevent Japanese infiltration of Java by small craft. On 27 February the ships came under air attack with Soemba suffering some casualties.

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