HNLMS Pieter Florisz (1937)

HNLMS Pieter Florisz was a Jan van Amstel-class minesweeper of the Royal Netherlands Navy and Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II.

HNLMS Pieter Florisz at IJmuiden on June 24, 1938
History
Netherlands
NameHNLMS Pieter Florisz
NamesakePieter Floriszoon
BuilderP. Smit, Rotterdam
Laid down22 November 1936
Launched11 May 1937
Commissioned13 September 1937
FateScuttled, 14 May 1940
Nazi Germany
NameM 551
Commissioned1940
Decommissioned1945
FateReturned to the Netherlands post-war
Netherlands
Recommissionedmid-1946
Decommissioned1961
FateSold for scrap, 1976
General characteristics
Class and typeJan van Amstel-class minesweeper
Displacement460 long tons (467 t)
Length56.8 m (186 ft 4 in)
Beam7.8 m (25 ft 7 in)
Draft2.2 m (7 ft 3 in)
Propulsion
Speed15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement45
Armament
  • 1 × 3 in (76 mm) gun
  • 2 × twin .50-calibre machine guns

Service history

Scuttled at Enkhuizen on 14 May 1940 after the Dutch surrender, the ship was salvaged by the Germans and commissioned into the Kriegsmarine.

In December 1940 she was converted to a torpedo recovery vessel and renamed M 551. In August 1944 the ship was assigned to the 27th U-boat Flotilla, responsible for the tactical training of U-boats.

In 1945 she was returned to the Royal Netherlands Navy, and repaired at the Willemsoord, Den Helder. Recommissioned under her original name in mid-1946, the ship served as fishery inspection vessel. On 16 September 1947 she sailed for the Dutch East Indies where she served as a patrol vessel, and later as a minesweeper with the 1st Flotilla at Surabaya. After her return to the Netherlands in 1950 the ship was converted to boom defence vessel.

Struck in 1961 and transferred to the Zeekadetkorps Nederland (Dutch Sea Cadets) at IJmuiden in 1962, the ship was finally decommissioned in September 1976 and sold for scrap.

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