Java-class cruiser

Java circa 1935
Class overview
Name	Java class
Builders	Koninklijke Maatschappij de Schelde, Flushing Nederlandsche Scheepsbouw Maatschappij, Amsterdam Wilton-Fijenoord, Schiedam (cancelled)
Operators	Royal Netherlands Navy
Preceded by	Holland class
Succeeded by	De Ruyter
Built	1916–1926
In commission	1925–1944
Planned	3
Completed	2
Cancelled	1
Lost	2
General characteristics as built
Type	Light cruiser
Displacement	6,776 t (6,669 long tons) standard 8,339 t (8,207 long tons) full load
Length	155.3 m (509 ft 6 in) oa
Beam	16 m (52 ft 6 in)
Draught	6.1 m (20 ft 0 in)
Propulsion	3-shaft Germania geared steam turbines 8 Schultz-Thornycroft boilers 73,000 shp (54,000 kW)
Speed	31 knots (57 km/h; 36 mph)
Range	3,600 nmi (6,700 km; 4,100 mi) at 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement	525
Armament	10 × Bofors 150 mm (5.9 in) guns 8 (Java) or 6 (Sumatra) × Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft guns 8 × Browning .50 machine guns 2 x Depth charge rails with each rail being able to carry 5 depth charges 36 Mines
Armour	7.5 cm (3.0 in) belt 2.5 to 5 cm (0.98 to 1.97 in) deck 12.5 cm (4.9 in) conning tower 10 cm (3.9 in) shields
Aircraft carried	2 Fokker C.VII-W floatplanes

The Java class was a class of light cruisers of the Royal Netherlands Navy, with the lead ship named after the island of Java in the Dutch East Indies. Originally, three ships were planned: Java, Sumatra, and Celebes. Celebes was intended to be the flagship of the naval commander in the Dutch East Indies, and therefore she was slightly bigger than the other two ships. However, the contract was cancelled with 30 tons of material already prepared (a new ship, HNLMS De Ruyter was later built to fill that requirement).

The class was designed by the Dutch with technical oversight by the German company Krupp, and constructed in the Netherlands. Armed with ten 150-millimetre (5.9 in) guns, they were of comparable capability to the German and British cruisers designs of the time. However, these were not turret-mounted, and by the time the cruisers were finally launched after all the delays caused by the upheaval of World War I (Sumatra in 1920, Java in 1921), the ships had already become outdated. Nevertheless, both Sumatra and Java were still active at the outbreak of World War II, mainly for colonial duties. Both vessels were lost in the war, with Java torpedoed and sunk by the Japanese in 1942 in the Dutch East Indies and Sumatra scuttled as a breakwater during the Allied invasion of Normandy in 1944.