HR. MS. VAN GALEN - HOLENDERSKI NISZCZYCIEL Z II WOJNY ŚWIATOWEJ

HNLMS Van Galen was a Dutch destroyer from the interwar period and World War II. The keel was laid in 1927, the launch took place in June 1928, and commissioned in 1929. The length of the ship was 98.15 meters and a width of 9.53 meters. Full displacement reached approx. 1,650 tons, and maximum speed - approx. 34 knots. The deck armament, at the time of launching, consisted, among other things, of: 4 120 mm guns, 1 anti-aircraft gun 75 mm or 6 torpedo tubes 533 mm. HNLMS Van Galen was one of eight destroyers belonging to the Admiralen class. Units of this type were created in connection with the need to replace the Roofdier-class ships in the line - which still remember the times of World War I. The design of the new destroyers was ordered in Great Britain, and after modification in the Netherlands, it was approved and put into production. The changes - in relation to the original design - concerned, among others: the use of a different type of main artillery cannons, reinforcement of anti-aircraft weapons or the use of mine tracks. As a result, relatively successful destroyers were created, similar in armament, performance or general combat capabilities to units of this type from other countries of the 1920s. It is worth adding that HNLMS Van Galen belonged to the so-called Series II of the Admiralen type, on which other boilers were used in the engine room and the on-board armament was slightly changed. HNLMS Evertsen, shortly after entering service, served in the waters surrounding the Netherlands, but in 1930 was transferred to the Dutch East Indies. Interestingly, however, as the only destroyer of his class, he did not end his service in the area of this former Dutch colony, because in April 1940 he was sent back to the metropolis. He got there two days before the German aggression! In its course, it was sunk on May 10, 1940 as a result of an air attack in the port of Merwehaven. In October 1941 it was lifted from the bottom by the Germans.