HNLMS Sumatra (1890)

For other ships with the same name, see HNLMS Sumatra.

The Dutch cruiser HNLMS Sumatra was a small protected cruiser with a heavy main gun. The ship was named after the island of Sumatra in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). It was discarded in 1907.

History
Netherlands
Name	Sumatra
Builder	Koninklijke Fabriek van Stoom- en andere Werktuigen, Amsterdam
Launched	1890
Fate	Sold for scrap, 1907
General characteristics
Type	Protected cruiser
Displacement	1693 tons
Length	229 ft 7 in (69.98 m)
Beam	37 ft 1 in (11.30 m)
Draft	15 ft 4 in (4.67 m)
Propulsion	2,350 ihp (1,750 kW)
Speed	17 kn (20 mph; 31 km/h)
Capacity	207 to 276 tons of coal
Complement	181
Armament	1 × 8.2 inch/35 caliber gun 1 × 5.9 inch/35 caliber gun[1] 2 × 4.7 inch/35 caliber guns (2x1) 4 × 1-pounder guns 2 × 1-pounder revolvers 2 × 14-inch torpedo tubes
Armor	Deck: 1.5 in (38 mm)

Design and construction

The design resembled a smaller version of the Esmeralda concept (the 1883 protected cruiser built by Armstrong/Elswick shipyards for Chile) and is most similar in size to the Chinese protected cruiser Chi Yuan (1883) a ship built at about the same time as Esmeralda.

Sumatra was armed with: one 21 cm A. No. 2 (Krupp 21 cm L/35) forward and one 15 cm A. No.2 (Krupp 15 cm MRK L/35) aft, both in shields. On the sides were sponsons for two 12 cm L.A. The smaller guns were: one 7.5 cm A., four 3.7 cm, two 3.7 cm revolver guns, and one mr. 7.5 cm A.^[1]

The Dutch Navy also built a larger protected cruiser with heavier armament, Koningin Wilhelmina der Nederlanden launched in 1892, which had an 11-inch gun forward and was most comparable to the Japanese protected cruisers of the Matsushima type.^[2] These ships represented a design philosophy in which navies that could not afford first-class battleships (including the Netherlands) mounted heavy weapons on coastal defense ships or moderately sized protected cruisers with the idea these ships would pose a threat to first-class opponents.

References

1. Zeemacht 1900, p. 94.
2. Conways, p.376

Bibliography

• Gardiner, Robert, ed. (1979). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. New York: Mayflower Books. ISBN 0-8317-0302-4.
• "Algemeen Overzicht der Scheepen en Vaartuigen van Oorlog". Jaarboek van de Koninklijke Nederlandsche Zeemacht. Vereins deutscher Eisen- und Stahlindustrieller und der Vereins deutscher Eisenhüttenleute. 1900. pp. 69–105.