Djambi-class corvette

The Djambi class was a class of steam corvettes of the Royal Netherlands Navy. The class comprised Djambi, Zoutman, Willem, Leeuwarden, Metalen Kruis and Curaçao. Later two ships of a supposedly 'slightly revised' type were built, the Zilveren Kruis-class corvettes.

The Djambi
Class overview
NameDjambi class
BuildersRijkswerf Amsterdam, Rijkswerf Vlissingen
Operators Royal Netherlands Navy
Preceded byGroningen class
Succeeded byZilveren Kruis class
In commission1861?–?
Completed6
Scrapped6
General characteristics
Type Steam Corvette
Tonnage1,083 tons[1]
Displacement2,030 tons
Length58.00 m (190 ft 3 in)
Beam12.25 m (40 ft 2 in)
Draught5.50 m (18 ft 1 in)
Installed power
Speed8.5 knots (15.7 km/h)[2]
Complement225
Armament
Armourship made of wood

Dutch Naval Plans in the 1850s

Plan 1855

The Dutch naval plan 1855 called for a screw corvette of 250 hp as standard fighting warship for the East Indies. The steam corvettes of the Groningen class were the first of this type. They were designated as 'Steamships second class'. The Djambi's were meant to supplement the number of these 'Steamships second class'.

Corvettes and armored ships

Even before the first of the Djambi class was launched, the whole class became technically obsolete when the French ironclad Gloire entered service in August 1860. The Djambi's could not damage armored ships, and were slower than most of them. For service in the colonies however, many nations continued to use (and build) wooden corvettes.

Dutch rating system

When the first Djambi's were ordered, they were designated as 'screw steamships first class'. When the lead ship Djambi was launched it was a 'screw steamships second class'. Still later they were again designated as '(Screw) Steamship first class'. This had to do with the Dutch rating system. In 1858 the Dutch navy had: ships of the line in two classes; frigates in two classes; corvettes in two classes etc. They kind of doubled this system for steamships, having 3 frigates with auxiliary power (45-51), 2 corvettes with steampower (19), 3 screw steamships of the second class, 5 screw steamships of the 4th class. For Steam paddlers there were also 4 classes. [3]

The change in designation of the Djambi class had to do with this rating system. In the sailing age the Dutch had corvettes that had their guns below the upper deck ('kuilkorvet'), and corvettes that had their battery on the upper deck (gladdeks korvet). The classification of the Djambi's (with their guns on the upper deck) as steam ships of the second class left room for a 'Steamship first class'. Later on two wooden ships of the Anna Paulowna-class would actually be laid down as 'Steamship first class'.

Design

Apart from the Dutch artificial classification in screw steamships of a certain class, the Dutch also spoke about ships in terms of actual type. This happened e.g. during the discussions about the 1862 naval budget. There were calls for a kuilkorvet (corvette with covered gundeck) of 22 guns, 350hp and 250 men. At the same the Djambi's were designated as corvettes, and in particular as flush deck corvettes.[4] While they were laid down in 1859-1860 Leeuwarden and Curaçao were referred to as 'Steam Corvettes'.

In all probability the design of the Djambi class was based on the experience gained with the preceding corvette class which included Groningen, Vice Admiraal Koopman and Citadel van Antwerpen. The Djambi class was two meters longer and 1-1.5 meter wider. That is, they were about 10-14% wider.

At the time the Dutch built the Djambi England built the slightly larger corvette HMS Orpheus of the Jason class.

Propulsion

The Djambi class had machines of 250 nominal horsepower, which was the same as that of the preceding corvette class.[5] When the Dutch shifted to using indicated horse power, the machines were measured at 700 indicated horse power.[6] The difference is due to nominal horse power not taking steam pressure into account. Therefore indicated horse power is a better measure.

The machines for Djambi were made by Fijenoord, the shipyard of the NSBM in Rotterdam, and tried in April 1861. The machines for two other early ships of the class were made by Van Vlissingen en Dudok van Heel in Amsterdam.[7]

In August 1862 Zoutman made a trial course on the Nieuwediep that was deemed 'satisfactory'. She attained a speed of 8-8.5 knots.[8] In an 1875 overview all existing ships of the class were said to attain 8.5 knots maximum. The earlier English corvette HMS Pearl of about equal size made 11.3 knots, but had 400 nominal and 1324 ihp, almost double the effective power.

Armament

Rifled and Smooth Bore muzzle loaders

The Djambi's carried a mix of rifled muzzle loaders of 16 cm caliber (RML) and smooth-bore muzzle loaders (SBML) of 16 cm caliber, known as long 30 pounders. Both cannon had a caliber of 16 cm, but the more modern rifled gun fired a cylindrical object and the smooth bore gun fired a traditional circular bullet of 30 pounds. With the invention of the rifled gun, nations switched from using bullet weight for classification of their guns, to using 'bullet' diameter. The rifled gun was designated by its diameter, because it could fire an object of arbitrary weight. On the contrary the weight of the shot of the traditional smooth-bore gun could be derived directly from its bore.

Rifled gun 16 cm No. 3
The rifled muzzle loader Getrokken Kanon 16 cm No. 3

The rifled gun used on the Djambi's was the RML 16 cm No. 3, introduced in 1862. It was the first attempt to produce a large caliber rifled gun for the Dutch navy. The gun was made by converting old bronze carronades by filling them up and reboring them. The guns were soon known to be almost completely ineffective against armored ships. This was not such a problem for the Djambi's, because they were not meant to fight armored ships.

Initially HNLMS Djambi, lead ship of the class and Zoutman, had only 4 RML 16cm No.3 and 12 smooth bore 30-pounders. Later each of the Djambi's was armed with 8 rifled muzzle loaders of 16 cm caliber and 8 smooth-bore muzzle loaders of 16 cm caliber. Still later, Leeuwarden and Curaçao had lost their old smooth-bore 30-pounders, and each had 16 rifled 16 cm guns. Probably from the by then retired Zoutman and Willem.

Long 30-pounder No. 4

The classic smooth bore gun was the long 30-pounder No.4, at least that's what Metalen Kruis had in 1880[9] The 30 pdr long No. 4 had been introduced in 1853 and had a barrel length of 3.19 meter. This was longer than the 30-pounder long No. 2 found in the previous corvettes, which was only 2.77 long.[10]

There were rumors that with her beam of 12.25 meter Djambi was too narrow to properly operate all the guns.[11] The 'problem' was probably caused by the smooth-bore guns. Djambi was about 50 cm wider on each side than the previous class, and so the increased barrel length of (3.19-2.77) 42 cm should not have been a problem. However, that does not help if all kinds of obstacles are placed on the extra space.

Ships in the class
Zoutman in Hong Kong Roadstead in 1866

Of the 6 ships 4 were built at the Rijkswerf in Amsterdam and 2 (Leeuwarden, Curaçao) at the Rijkswerf in Vlissingen.

Name Laid down Launched Commissioned Fate
Djambi 29 December 1858 31 October 1860 1 June 1861 May 1874 sold
Zoutman 5 November 1859 [12] 20 September 1861 [13] 16 June 1862 [14] Unfit August 1871[15]
Willem 19 February 1861 [16] 8 July 1863 [17] 16 June 1866 [18] Decommissioned 15 Sep. 1871[19] BU 1874[20]
Leeuwarden 6 December 1859 [21] 19 October 1861 [22] 16 August 1866 [23] Unfit 1885 [24]
Metalen Kruis (ex. Soerabaya[25]) 21 March 1860[26] 29 July 1862 [27] 1 November 1863 [28] BU 1879 [29]
Curaçao 14 July 1860 [30] 10 December 1863 [31] 16 May 1867 [32] Retired as guardship in Surabaya Nov 1885[33]

References
  • Departement van Marine (1861), Koninklijke Nederlandsche Marine op den 19 Februarij 1861, Gebroeders van Cleef, p. 86
  • Departement van Marine (1869), Koninklijke Nederlandsche Marine op den 1sten Januarij 1869, Gebroeders van Cleef, p. 103
  • Tideman, B.J. (1880), Memoriaal van de Marine, Van Heteren Amsterdam
  • Tweede Kamer (1875), Bijlagen van het verslag der Handelingen, Nederlandsche Staatscourant

Notes
  1. "Binnenland". N.R.C. 20 July 1862.
  2. Tweede Kamer 1875, p. Bijlage A Algemeen Overzigt der Schepen en vaartuigen van oorlog op den 1sten Augustus 1875.
  3. "Staat der Nederlandsche Zeemagt, op 1 januarij 1858". Rotterdamsche Courant. 26 February 1858.
  4. "Uittreksel uit de Memorie van Toelichting". Algemeen Handelsblad. 8 October 1861.
  5. Tideman 1880, p. 2e afd p. 7.
  6. Tideman 1880, p. 2e afd p. 12.
  7. "Utrecht, Zondag 28 April". Utrechtsche provinciale en stads-courant. 29 April 1861.
  8. "Nieuwediep, 29 Aug". Algemeen Handelsblad. 1 September 1862.
  9. Tideman 1880, p. 2e afd p. 13.
  10. Tideman 1880, p. 2e afd p. 119.
  11. "Enquête omtrent de Zeemagt die Nederland behoeft". Nieuwe Rotterdamsche courant. 8 October 1861.
  12. "Binnenlandsche Berigten". Nederlandsche staatscourant. 8 November 1859.
  13. "Binnenlandsche Berigten". Nederlandsche staatscourant. 22 September 1861.
  14. "Nieuwe Diep, 16 junij". Nieuwe Rotterdamsche courant. 25 May 1866.
  15. "Marine". Nederlandsche staatscourant. 31 July 1871.
  16. "Binnenland". Dagblad van Zuidholland en 's Gravenhage. 21 February 1861.
  17. "Binnenlandsche Berigten". Nederlandsche staatscourant. 9 July 1863.
  18. "Binnenlandsche Berigten". Nederlandsche staatscourant. 9 July 1863.
  19. "Binnenlandsche Berigten". Nederlandsche staatscourant. 2 Sep 1871.
  20. "Nog een paar bescheiden vragen". Het nieuws van den dag. 18 Sep 1874.
  21. "Binnenland". Nieuwe Rotterdamsche courant. 10 December 1859.
  22. "Binnenlandsche Berigten". Nederlandsche staatscourant. 20 October 1861.
  23. "Vlissingen, 17 Aug". Algemeen Handelsblad. 20 August 1866.
  24. "Binnenland". Provinciale Drentsche en Asser courant. 17 June 1885.
  25. "Amsterdam 27 october". Rotterdamsche courant. 29 October 1862.
  26. Departement van Marine 1869, p. 108.
  27. "Binnenlandsche Berigten". Nederlandsche staatscourant. 30 July 1862.
  28. "Binnenlandsche Berigten". Nederlandsche staatscourant. 8 October 1863.
  29. "Vendutie". Soerabaijasch handelsblad. 22 August 1879.
  30. "Vlissingen, 16 Julij". Rotterdamsche courant. 18 July 1860.
  31. "Middelburg, 9 december". Middelburgsche courant. 9 December 1863.
  32. "Marine en Leger". Rotterdamsche courant. 18 May 1867.
  33. "Batavia, 26 November". Java-bode. 26 November 1885.
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