ABC-class minesweeper

Class overview
Name	ABC class
Builders	Tandjong Priok Drydock Co., Tanjung Priok
Operators	Royal Netherlands Navy
Preceded by	A
Succeeded by	DEFG
In service	1938–1942
Planned	6
Completed	6
Lost	6
General characteristics
Type	Minesweeper
Displacement	145 tons
Length	31.6 m (103 ft 8 in)
Beam	5.45 m (17 ft 11 in)
Draught	1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)
Propulsion	1 × 300 ihp (220 kW) Werkspoor diesel engine
Speed	12 knots (22 km/h)
Complement	17
Armament	2 × 37 mm (1.5 in) cannons 2 × 7.7 mm (0.30 in) Lewis machine guns

The ABC class was a class of six police cruisers of the Government Navy used for fishery protection, counter smuggling and small personnel and cargo transport. Upon the declaration of war by the Netherlands on Japan following the Attack on Pearl Harbor, the entire class was commandeered by the Royal Netherlands Navy and would be militarized and converted to auxiliary minesweepers.^[1][2][3][4]

Ships of class

Name	Construction yard	Completed	Fate
Alor	Tandjong Priok Drydock Co., Tanjung Priok	1938	Scuttled by own crew at Tanjung Priok on 2 March 1942 after the Battle of the Java Sea made it seemingly impossible to escape to Australia.
Aroe	Tandjong Priok Drydock Co., Tanjung Priok	1938	Scuttled by own crew at Tanjung Priok on 2 March 1942 after the Battle of the Java Sea made it seemingly impossible to escape to Australia.
Bantam	Tandjong Priok Drydock Co., Tanjung Priok	1938	Scuttled by own crew at Tanjung Priok on 2 March 1942 after the Battle of the Java Sea made it seemingly impossible to escape to Australia. Salvaged and repaired by Japanese forces, commissioned 10 August 1943 as submarine chaser Cha 117. Sunk by USS Hardhead on 23 July 1945.[5]
Bogor	Tandjong Priok Drydock Co., Tanjung Priok	1938	Scuttled by own crew at Tanjung Priok on 2 March 1942 after the Battle of the Java Sea made it seemingly impossible to escape to Australia.
Ceram	Tandjong Priok Drydock Co., Tanjung Priok	1938	In February 1942 Ceram rescued 38 survivors from the troop transport Sloet van de Beele which was sunk by aircraft from the Japanese aircraft carrier Ryūjō. Scuttled by own crew at Tanjung Priok on 2 March 1942 after the Battle of the Java Sea made it seemingly impossible to escape to Australia.
Cheribon	Tandjong Priok Drydock Co., Tanjung Priok	1938	Scuttled by own crew at Tanjung Priok on 2 March 1942 after the Battle of the Java Sea made it seemingly impossible to escape to Australia.

Citations

1. Mark, Chris (1997). Schepen van de Koninklijke Marine in W.O. II. Alkmaar: De Alk. ISBN 978-90-6013-522-8.
2. Helfrich, Conrad Emile Lambert (1950). Memoires van Admiraal Helfrich Amsterdam: Elsevier.
3. von Münching, L.L. (1978). Schepen van de Koninklijke Marine in de Tweede Wereldoorlog (in Dutch). Alkmaar: De Alk. ISBN 90-6013-903-8.
4. "ABC-klasse hulpmijnenvegers in Nederlands Oost-Indië". tracesofwar.nl (in Dutch).
5. Toda, Gengoro S. "第百十七號驅潜特務艇の艦歴 (No. 117 submarine chaser - Ship History)". Imperial Japanese Navy -Tokusetsu Kansen (in Japanese).

External links

• Description of class