HNLMS Willem van Ewijck (1937)

Willem van Ewijck
History
Netherlands
Name	Willem van Ewijck
Builder	P. Smit, Rotterdam
Laid down	1936
Launched	22 February 1937
Commissioned	19 July 1937
Fate	Sunk, 8 September 1939
General characteristics
Class and type	Jan van Amstel-class minesweeper
Displacement	460 long tons (467 t)
Length	56.8 m (186 ft 4 in)
Beam	7.8 m (25 ft 7 in)
Draft	2.2 m (7 ft 3 in)
Installed power	2 × Yarrow boilers 1,600 ihp (1,193 kW)
Propulsion	2 shafts, 2 × triple expansion engines
Speed	15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement	45
Armament	1 × single 3 in (76 mm) gun 2 × twin .50-calibre machine guns

HNLMS Willem van Ewijck was a Jan van Amstel-class minesweeper of the Royal Netherlands Navy.

Description

The Jan van Amstel-class ships were 55.8 metres (183 ft 1 in) long, with a beam of 7.8 metres (25 ft 7 in) and a draught of 2.2 metres (7 ft 3 in) at deep load. They displaced was 450 long tons (460 t) at normal load, which increased to 585 long tons (594 t) at deep load. A pair of Yarrow boilers fed steam to two triple-expansion steam engines that each drove a single propeller shaft. The engines were rated at 1,690 indicated horsepower (1,260 kW) which gave the ships a speed of 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph). They carried up to 110 long tons (110 t) of fuel oil and had a complement of 45 officers and ratings.

Service history

Willem van Ewijck was sunk on 8 September 1939 after hitting a mine off Terschelling. The ship was assisting in minelaying and hit a dutch mine while doing so. Thirty-three of the crew were killed.

Bibliography

• Roberts, John (1980). "The Netherlands". In Chesneau, Roger (ed.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. Greenwich, UK: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 385–396. ISBN 0-85177-146-7.
• van Willigenburg, Henk (2010). Dutch Warships of World War II. Emmen: Lanasta. ISBN 978-90-8616-318-2.