Coastal Defence Ship - The Dutch Pantserschepen

The Dutch Pantserschepen

The Dutch used their armoured ships mainly to defend their interests overseas, in particular in their colonial possessions (Netherlands Antilles) in the West Indies and the East Indies. For this reason the ships had to be capable of long-range cruising, providing artillery support during amphibious operations, and carrying the troops and equipment needed in these operations. At the same time the ships had to be well enough armed and armoured to face contemporary armoured cruisers of the Imperial Japanese Navy (the likely enemy). As such they were expected to act as mini-battleships rather than as strictly coastal defence vessels.

The last Dutch pantserschip HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën, was built in 1909 more or less as a stop-gap measure while the Dutch Admiralty and government contemplated an ambitious fleet plan comprising a number of dreadnought battleships. This ambition was never realized due to the outbreak of the First World War. The Second World War put an end to a similar project to obtain fast capital ships in the late 1930s with German assistance.

Prior to the Second World War, the Dutch had relegated all the surviving pantserschips to secondary duties. The Axis powers converted several to serve as floating anti-aircraft batteries and subsequently utilized some as block ships.