HNLMS Tjerk Hiddes (G16) (original) (raw)

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The camouflaged Tjerk Hiddes, 1942
History
United Kingdom
Name HMS Nonpareil
Builder William Denny and Brothers, Dumbarton
Laid down 22 May 1940
Launched 25 June 1941
Fate Transferred to Royal Netherlands Navy
Netherlands
Name HNLMS Tjerk Hiddes
Namesake Tjerk Hiddes de Vries
Completed June 1942[1]
Acquired 27 May 1942
Commissioned 30 October 1942
Identification Pennant number: G16
Fate Sold to Indonesia, 1 March 1951
Indonesia
Name RI Gadjah Mada
Namesake Gajah Mada
Acquired 1 March 1951
Fate Scrapped, 1961
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type N-class destroyer
Displacement 1,773 long tons (1,801 t) (standard)
Length 356 ft 6 in (108.7 m) (o/a)
Beam 35 ft 9 in (10.9 m)
Draught 12 ft 6 in (3.8 m)
Installed power 2 × Admiralty 3-drum boilers 40,000 shp (30,000 kW)
Propulsion 2 shafts; 2 geared steam turbines
Speed 36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph)
Range 5,500 nmi (10,200 km; 6,300 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement 183
Sensors and processing systems ASDIC Type 285 gunnery radar Type 286 surface-search radar
Armament 3 × twin 4.7 in (120 mm) guns 1 × single 4 in (102 mm) AA gun 4 × single 20 mm (0.8 in) Oerlikon AA guns 2 × twin 0.5 in (12.7 mm) machineguns 1 × quintuple 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes 1 × depth charge rack, 2 × throwers; 45 × depth charges

The destroyer HNLMS Tjerk Hiddes was a British built, Dutch warship of World War II. She was laid down on 22 May 1940 as a British N-class destroyer and launched on 25 June 1941 as HMS Nonpareil, but on 27 May 1942, she was transferred to the Royal Dutch Navy. The ship was commissioned in 1942[1] as HNLMS Tjerk Hiddes, named after the 17th century Dutch admiral, Tjerk Hiddes de Vries. Much of her war service was with the Royal Navy and United States Navy in the Indian Ocean and Australia, under the command of W. J. Kruys. Following the war, the destroyer was sold to Indonesia and renamed RI Gadjah Mada. She was scrapped in 1961.

HMS Nonpareil, Offa and Norseman at Scapa Flow, 25 June 1942

Acceptance trials started on 6 May; she was commissioned into the Royal Netherlands Navy service on 27 May and Tjerk Hiddes was allocated to serve with the British Royal Navy's 7th Destroyer Flotilla in the Eastern Fleet.[2]

At Scapa Flow, in June and early July, she worked-up with the Home Fleet and prepared for foreign service. In mid-July at the Clyde, she joined the escort[3] of military convoy WS21P from the Clyde to the Indian Ocean. During the voyage, on 5 August the convoy was augmented by eight ships of Convoy AS4, carrying equipment for the 8th Army in Egypt. On 20 August, Tjerk Hiddes and Nepal left the convoy, sailing to Kilindini, in Kenya.[2]

In September, Tjerk Hiddes joined the forces allocated to support landings to complete the occupation of Madagascar (Operation Streamline Jane), which was under the control of Vichy forces, and participated in preparatory exercises. On 9 September she left Kilindini to rendezvous with the assault convoy and its escort[4] on passage to Majunga for the landings. The two Dutch destroyers, Van Galen and Tjerk Hiddes were deployed as screen for HMS Illustrious.[2]

On 26–27 September, Tjerk Hiddes returned to Kilindini for convoy escort duties in the Indian Ocean. (At this time, other vessels of the 7th Flotilla were returning from detached service in Mediterranean.) Escort duties continued through October until her deployment for convoy defence between Sydney and Fremantle, under the control of the United States 7th Fleet.[2][5]

On 4, 11 and 15 December 1942, she made three nightly voyages to evacuate around 1000 Australian and Dutch troops as well as civilians from the island of Timor who were caught behind enemy lines after the battle of Timor. Lieutenant commander W. J. Kruys was awarded the U.S. Legion of Merit for the Timor mission. The crew received the Expedition Cross.[6][7][8]

Between 18 and 24 February 1943, she was deployed with sister ship Van Galen and cruisers HMAS Adelaide and HNLMS Tromp to escort a troop convoy between Fremantle and Melbourne (Operation Pamphlet; this military convoy was carrying the 9th Australian Division, recalled from the Middle East in response to the apparent Japanese threat to Australia).[2]

In January 1944, the Dutch ships Tjerk Hiddes, Van Galen and Tromp were transferred to the Eastern Fleet. On arrival in Trincomalee in February, Tjerk Hiddes rejoined the 7th Destroyer Flotilla for fleet screening and convoy protection duties in the Indian Ocean. From 22 to 24 February, she joined an unsuccessful search for a German blockade runner en route from Japan to Germany[2][9]

Tjerk Hiddes immediately after the war in Amsterdam

On 22 March, Tjerk Hiddes deployed with a large fleet[10] to practice at-sea refuelling and to rendezvous with the US aircraft carrier USS Saratoga. Saratoga's role was predominantly to act as a mentor for Commonwealth units intended for service in the western Pacific (as the British Pacific Fleet) with the United States Navy, where these units would have to convert to use American procedures. As a part of the retraining, Commonwealth and United States naval aircraft executed attacks on Japanese oil installations. Apart from the training and the damage thus caused, it was hoped that Japanese forces would be diverted from regions where the Americans planned to take the offensive.[2]

Tjerk Hiddes had to return prematurely to Trincomalee on 25 March, with mechanical defects, and remained under repair until June, when she returned to convoy escort duties in the Indian Ocean.[2]

In October 1944, she returned to the United Kingdom, joining the 8th Destroyer Flotilla at Plymouth on convoy duties in the Southwest Approaches. She moved to Dundee for a refit from May to August 1945, by which time the war was over.[2]

Tjerk Hiddes after her refit, Rotterdam, October 1949

Tjerk Hiddes resumed peace time service with the Royal Netherlands Navy after completion of the refit at Dundee. She returned to the Dutch East Indies, and was transferred to newly independent Indonesia in March 1951. She was renamed RI Gadjah Mada and became the flagship of the Indonesian Navy.

On 17 April 1958, Gadjah Mada took part in Operation 17 August (Indonesian: Operasi 17 Agustus), an amphibious landing to crush PRRI rebellion in West Sumatra.[11] She acted as shore bombardment to support Indonesian Marines landing on Tabing Beach, Padang.[12]

RI Gadjah Mada

In June 1958, destroyer Gadjah Mada along with Bathurst-class corvette RI Pati Unus and Albatros-class corvettes RI Sultan Hasanudin and RI Pattimura took part as shore bombardment in Operation Independence I (Indonesian: Operasi Merdeka I), an amphibious landing at Kema, North Sulawesi to capture the Permesta rebel capital of Manado.[12]

She was removed from the active list in 1961. The ship was scrapped in 1961[13] by F. Rijsdijk, in Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht.[5][2]

  1. ^ a b Sources vary on this ship's commissioning date, some authoritative ones quoting October 1942. Since she is reliably listed as an escort for military convoy WS21P, from UK to the Middle East in July and August 1942, completion by June 1942 seems correct.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Mason, Lt Cdr (Retd) Geoffrey B (2003). "Dutch HNethMS TJERK HIDDES (G 16), ex-HMS NONPAREIL – N-class Destroyer". SERVICE HISTORIES of ROYAL NAVY WARSHIPS in WORLD WAR 2. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  3. ^ WS21P's escort also included the cruiser HMS Orion and a sister ship, the Australian destroyer HMAS Nepal
  4. ^ The assault convoy's escort included the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, cruisers HMS Birmingham and HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerck. Force M provided cover and control of landings and included battleship HMS Warspite, cruisers HMS Gambia and HMS Dauntless, minelayer HMS Manxman, monitor HMS Erebus, seaplane carrier HMS Albatross, destroyers HMS Foxhound, Hotspur, Arrow, Active, Inconstant and Fortune, HMAS Napier, HMAS Norman, Nepal and HNLMS Van Galen, and escort destroyer HMS Blackmore
  5. ^ a b Whitley, M J (2000). Destroyers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia. London: Arms and Armour Press. pp. 117 & 214. ISBN 1-85409-521-8.
  6. ^ HNMS Tjerk Hiddes—Timor Ferry. Rear Admiral C. V. Gordon, United States Naval Institute Proceedings, February 1960.
  7. ^ Timor Triumph. HNIMS Tjerk Hiddes at Timor-1942. Graham Wilson. Journal of the Australian Naval Institute, January/March 1997.
  8. ^ Legion of Merit. Award by Mr Roosevelt. Dutch recipient in W.A.. The West Australian, Sat 18 September 1943.
  9. ^ The search was performed by cruiser HMS Gambia with destroyers HMS Rotherham and Tjerk Hiddes.
  10. ^ Operation Diplomat naval force included the Australian destroyers HMAS Norman, Nepal, Napier and Quiberon, British destroyers HMS Quilliam, Pathfinder, Queenborough and Quality and Dutch destroyers HNLMS Tjerk Hiddes and Van Galen as screen for the capital ships. These were the battlecruiser HMS Renown, battleships HMS Queen Elizabeth and Valiant, aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, cruisers HMS London, Ceylon, Cumberland and Gambia.
  11. ^ Historia.id, Perang Saudara Bersandi 17 Agustus
  12. ^ a b Haryadi, Yosafat Robert (2019). Sejarah Kavaleri Korps Marinir. Surabaya: Penerbit Karunia. pp. 235 & 238–239. ISBN 978-979-9039-97-2.
  13. ^ Colledge, p.445