Hr.Mrs.Abraham Crijnssen – Dutch ship in the service of the Allied Navy (WWII)
The ship was built during the 1930s, she was based in the Netherlands East Indies when Japan attacked at the end of 1941.
After the Japanese invasion the ship left for Australia. Three other Dutch minesweepers left behind and destroyed and sunk in the harbour of Surabaya to prevent them from falling into the hands of the enemy.
For its escape the ship was painted in camouflage colours and the ship was disguised as a tropical island with the help of nets, branches and other greenery. By sailing at night and anchoring during the day.
On 15 March 1942, she arrived in Geraldton, WA. Here the ship served as a patrol vessel until 16 August 1942. After that the ship joined the Royal Dutch Navy based in Melbourne, mainly operating for the Australian Navy. From here she was deployed from Brisbane and involved in minesweeping activities, convoy escorts and personnel training duties until the end of the war.
From the return to Dutch service until 1945, the ship again served as a patrol vessel. On 7 June 1945 the Abraham Crijnssen left Sydney for Darwin with the order to tow the Dutch submarine K IX there, but during the trip the tow rope broke, and the K IX washed ashore on a beach.
After the Second World War, the Abraham Crijnssen was used as a patrol ship in the Dutch East Indies until 1949, from 1949 until the independence of the Dutch East Indies the ship was again actively used as a minesweeper. After the independence of the Dutch East Indies, the ship returned to the Netherlands where it was given on loan to the sea cadets in 1961
In 1995 it was decided to preserve the Abraham Crijnssen for posterity, it can be seen as a museum ship for the public in the Navy Museum in Den Helder.
Video The WW2 Ship Dressed Like an Island – HNLMS Abraham Crijnssen
Ontsnapping van de Abraham Crijnssen
Memories of the RAN Commander of the Crijnssen
There are a couple of quotes from the RAN commander of the ship, Lieutenant Arthur Irwin Chapman, RANR (S). He wrote of the commissioning some thirty years later:
“I marched on board the Crijnssen with a white ensign under one arm and two framed pictures under the other – one of H.M. King George VI and the other of the actress Rita Hayworth (in a very fetching black negligee). The latter had been in the wardroom of my previous ship and was my property. In the interest of international goodwill it was agreed that HM Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands would remain in the Crijnssen’s wardroom and so King George was installed in my cabin. It was agreed however that Miss Hayworth was worthy of wardroom status and she was installed on the bulkhead opposite Queen Wilhelmina.“
and
On 26 January 1943, while escorting a convoy through Bass Strait, the Dutch minesweeper Crijnssen, accompanied by HMAS Bundaberg, detected a suspected submarine on ASDIC. After sounding action stations, Crijnssen dropped depth charges at shallow and deeper settings, resulting in violent explosions that churned oil and scum to the surface but no conclusive evidence of a submarine. Despite further attacks and ordering the convoy to scatter, no wreckage or bodies were found, and the search was abandoned. The operation left Crijnssen with damage to her stern, requiring a week in dry dock in Sydney for repairs. Lieutenant Chapman wrote of the incident:
“The Crijnssen had not picked up sufficient speed from her patrol speed and two depth charges set at 50 feet severely shook up the after section, smashing every bit of crockery, tearing off light switches and fittings and fracturing several minor pipe lines. Queen Wilhelmina crashed to the deck, King George was hanging crazily on one screw but Miss Hayworth was completely secure”.
