HNLMS Jacob Van Heemskerck (1939)
HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerck was a Tromp-class light cruiser of the Royal Netherlands Navy, named after Admiral Jacob van Heemskerk (1567–1607).
Originally designated as a flotilla leader and a torpedo cruiser in Decker's Fleet Plan of 1931, she was hastily commissioned on 10 May 1940, when Germany invaded the Netherlands. However, as she was not armed she escaped to the UK, she was refitted as an air defence cruiser, since these were the only type of gun available, and there was a growing need for this type of ship to protect the convoys. During the war the crew felt that their ship was blessed and gave her the nickname Oude Jacob (Old Jacob). She received the reputation that not a single convoy ship would be lost when she was on duty.
Read more about HNLMS Jacob Van Heemskerck (1939): Service History
Famous quotes containing the words jacob and/or van:
“As for me, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are now only the subtlest imaginable essences, which would not stain the morning sky.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“His reversed body gracefully curved, his brown legs hoisted like a Tarentine sail, his joined ankles tacking, Van gripped with splayed hands the brow of gravity, and moved to and fro, veering and sidestepping, opening his mouth the wrong way, and blinking in the odd bilboquet fashion peculiar to eyelids in his abnormal position. Even more extraordinary than the variety and velocity of the movements he made in imitation of animal hind legs was the effortlessness of his stance.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)