| Career (Netherlands) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | HNLMS Isaac Sweers |
| Builder: | Koninklijke Maatschappij De Schelde, Flushing, Netherlands Completed by John I. Thornycroft & Company, Southampton, England |
| Laid down: | 26 November 1938 |
| Launched: | 16 March 1940 |
| Commissioned: | 29 May 1941 |
| Fate: | Torpedoed and sunk on 13 November 1942 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Gerard Callenburgh class destroyer |
| Displacement: | 1604 tons standard 2228 tons full load |
| Length: | 107 m (351 ft 1 in) |
| Beam: | 10.6 m (34 ft 9 in) |
| Draught: | 2.8 m (9 ft 2 in) |
| Propulsion: | 2 shaft, Parsons geared turbines 3 Yarrow type boilers 45,000 hp |
| Speed: | 37.5 kn (69.5 km/h) |
| Range: | 3,200 nmi (5,900 km) at 15 kn (28 km/h) |
| Armament: |
|
HNLMS Isaac Sweers, (Dutch: Hr. Ms. Isaac Sweers) was Gerard Callenburgh class destroyer of the Royal Netherlands Navy.
Contents |
The keel was laid on 26 November 1938. The ship was launched on 16 March 1940 and the unfinished ship was evacuated to England after the German invasion of the Netherlands. She was next completed in the Great Britain, with six British 4 inch dual purpose guns instead of planned five 120 mm guns. The ship was modern for her time, she was fast and had two fully stabilised 40 mm Bofors AA-guns, each with its own "Hazemeyer" fire control.
The ship's plans were saved from the Germans and elements were incorporated into Royal Navy ship designs.[1]
Isaac Sweers was part of the Allied flotilla of destroyers which torpedoed and sank the Italian cruisers Alberico da Barbiano and Alberto da Giussano on 13 December 1941, at the Battle of Cape Bon. She riddled the Da Giussano with gunfire at short range and launched four torpedoes against the torpedo boat Cigno; all of them missed their target. She escorted the important convoy MW 8B to Malta in January 1942. During this mission the British destroyer HMS Gurkha II was torpedoed by the German submarine U-133 on 12 January 1942. Isaac Sweers towed the stricken British destroyer through a field of burning oil and saved her entire crew of 240 sailors. They were taken to Tobruk.
On 13 November 1942, during Operation Torch, Isaac Sweers was hit by two torpedoes from the German submarine U-431. She sank with the loss of 108 of her 194 men.