Dutch Navy

[maggie coenraats]

my father served in the dutch navy in ww2 between 1939 and 1945 on jacob van heemskerk any body have a family member on board i know ther arent meny living still any information would be good he was a steward on board...... old ship mates were andries de tang and jan broekman

[herakles]

Welcome to the forum Maggie! I do hope you can find information about your father here.

Can you supply any more information? The knowledge of the Netherlands Navy here is not all that good.

[astraltrader]

Welcome to the forum Maggie.
I am sure you have details of the ship who became known as Hollands luckiest cruiser during WW2. Just in case you do not have the basic specification to hand - here they are...

HNLMS JACOB VAN HEEMSKERK
CRUISER.

Career
Builder Nederlandsche Scheepsbouw Mij., Amsterdam; completed in British yard
Laid down: 31 October 1938

Launched
& commissioned 16 September 1939
Completed: 10 May 1940
Fate: Decommissioned 1969
Scrapped 1970
General characteristics
Displacement: 4000 tons
Length: 433 ft o/a (132 m)
Beam: 40.7 ft (12.4 m)
Draft: 17.5 ft (4.8 m)
Propulsion: 56,000 shp, Parsons geared steam turbines, 2 screws
Speed: 32.5 knots
Complement: 393 or 420
Armour: Side belt, 2-2.5 in., deck, 1.5 in.
Armament: 10 × 10,2 cm (ss/aa) (5 × 2); 8 × 40 mm (4 × 2); 8 × 20 mm AA guns; 2 depthcharge rails .

[Visje]

Hi Maggie,

This probably doesn't entirely answer your question, but perhaps I can give you a few directions how to obtain more information about your father's career:

The personnel files of Dutch Naval personnel are still preserved and maintained by the department Semi-Statische Archiefdiensten of the Ministry of Defence (formerly known as Bureau Registratie en Informatie Ontslagen Personeel, or BRIOP for short). Their archives contain the records for (in the case of the Navy) all personnel born after 1908. They can be reached via:

Ministerie van Defensie
T.a.v IVENT / DCDI / SSA
P.O. Box 7000
6460 NC Kerkrade
http://www.defensie.nl/cdc/ivent/defensiearchief/persoonsarchief

Please note that Dutch privacy laws apply to these archives, and that a certain procedure has to be followed. It includes submitting a copy of your passport and a death certificate. It's some bureaucratic hassle, but people tell me its well worth the effort and the people at the Ministry really do try their best to help.

Also, you might try to post messages at the following forums and sites:

http://www.dutchfleet.net
http://www.network54.com/Forum/594514/
http://www.marinematen.com/

Kind regards,

Jan Visser

[derek s.langsdon]

Maybe I'm getting hazy ! - but just what does a "Joint Logistics Support Ship" do ?- recall reading last month that such a vessel being built for t
he Netherlands Navy by "Damen Schelde"

(You can tell I'm of the "Hearts of Oak" era, as everytime4 I see a giant lorry speeding by bearing a sign"Logistics" etc... I wonder what's inside it !

derek-L