Eendracht-class cruisers

The ships of this class were meant to replace the old Java-class cruisers in the defence of the Dutch Indies. Orginally they had a main battery of 8 x 5.9 inch guns, but such an armament wasn't powerful enough in comparison with the modern cruisers built by the other navies. They were redisigned instead, being equipped with 10 guns and a modern AA-battery of 40 mm Bofors guns. The Germans found these ships at the dockyards after May 1940, but the construction was only in an early stage. Although the Germans planned to complete them as the trainingcruisers KH 1 and KH 2, the dockyards' capacity was put to other use, so the construction only advanced very slowly. In 1944, the Germans decided to block several ports with blockships, and the Zeven Provinciën was launched ( with the German atlantic bow ) to block the Nieuwe Waterweg. Fortunately, she was never used this way, both ships could be completed both war. The design however was modified several times, now implementing the lessons learned in the war. This meant that the ships didn't look like the original design at all, that displacement and dimensions were increased and appeared to be better ships. Originally, they were in fact a enlargement of the smaller cruiser De Ruyter, which was sunk in the Battle of the Javasea. Commissioned by the Dutch since 1953, the ships were bought by the Peruvian navy in the seventies, and are now approaching the end of their careers.

	Preliminary design of 1947
	Post-1972 look of these cruisers

Construction details
Name	De Ruyter Ex-Zeven Provinciën	Zeven Provinciën Ex-Eendracht Ex-Kijkduin
Dockyard	Wilton Fijenoord, Schiedam	Rotterdamsche Droogdok Mij, Rotterdam
Laid down	September 5 1939	May 19 1939
Launched	December 24 1944	August 22 1950
Commissioned	November 18 1953	December 17 1953
Dockyard number	670	219
Pennants	KH-1 (Kriegsmarine) KL-3 C-801	KH-2 (Kriegsmarine) KL-4 C-802
Status	Decommissioned October 12 1972, stricken January 26 1973. Commissioned in Peruvian Navy May 23 1973 as Almirante Grau. Still in service as Almirante Grau	Decommissioned October 16 1975, stricken June 6 1976. Transferred to Peruvian Navy August 17 1976 as Almirante Aguirre. Decommissioned 1999 and laid up. Scrapped 2000.

Specifications
	Design	Kriegsmarine design	As completed
Displacement	8350 t standard		9725t standard/11930 tons full load
Crew	800		973
Dimensions	185,70 (oa) x 17,25 (max) x 5 m		187,3 (oa)x17,25 (max)x5,64m (mean)
Armament	10 x 150 mm L/53 Bofors 12 x 40 mm L/60 Bofors 8 x .50 MG 6 x 21" torpedo tubes 2 aircraft	12 x 150 mm L/55 C/28 12 x 37 mm C/38 2 Arado Ar.196 floatplanes	8 x 152 mm 8 x 57 mm 8 x 40 mm

Armour details
Upper Deck	20 - 25 mm
Lower Deck	20 - 25 mm
Belt	100-75 mm
Conning tower	50 - 100 mm
Barbettes

Propulsion details
	Design	As completed
Boilers	6 Yarrow	4 Yarrow
Machinery	Parsons geared turbines	Parsons geared turbines
Performance	78000 shp	82500 shp
Max speed	32 knots	32 knots
Bunkerage	1750 t
Range	7000 nm @ 12 knots 5000 nm @ 15 knots
Shafts	3	2

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