SS Van Heemskerk

Van Heemskerk off Gorontalo, about 1910
History
Name	Van Heemskerk
Owner	1909: Koninklijke Paketvaart-Mij 1918: Shipping Controller 1919: Koninklijke Paketvaart-Mij
Operator	1918: British India SN Co
Port of registry	1909: Batavia 1918: Singapore 1919: Batavia
Builder	Nederlandsche SM, Amsterdam
Yard number	100
Laid down	5 April 1909
Launched	31 August 1909
Completed	29 October 1909
Identification	1909: code letters TJKG 1918: UK official number 140132 1918: code letters TWMK by 1926: code letters TJDF by 1934: call sign PKEH
Fate	Sunk by air attack, 1943
General characteristics
Type	passenger ship
Tonnage	2,996 GRT, 1,896 NRT, 4,377 DWT
Length	325.5 ft (99.2 m)
Beam	43.8 ft (13.4 m)
Depth	25.0 ft (7.6 m)
Decks	3
Installed power	233 NHP, 1,300 ihp
Propulsion	1 × screw 1 × triple-expansion engine
Speed	10+1⁄2 knots (19.4 km/h)
Capacity	passengers: 26 × 1st class, 29 × 2nd class, 941 × steerage cargo: 164,000 cubic feet (4,600 m3) grain, 140,000 cubic feet (4,000 m3) bale
Armament	1942: DEMS
Notes	one of several sister ships

SS Van Heemskerk was a passenger steamship that was launched in the Netherlands in 1909 and sunk by enemy action off New Guinea in 1943. She spent most of her career with Koninklijke Paketvaart-Maatschappij (KPM, the "Royal Packet Navigation Company"), based in the Dutch East Indies.

In the First World War the United Kingdom seized her under angary. In the Second World War she escaped the Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies, and became part of the Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA) command's permanent local fleet. A Japanese air attack sank her on 26 June 1943.