The Hr.Ms. Van Meerlant was a Dutch minelayer that was built between 1919 and 1920 in Schiedam, the Netherlands. After the mobilisation before WWII, the ship was active in the Wadden Sea area and along the coast of Holland. Amongst other places, the ship laid mine barriers in the Terschelling inlet, near IJmuiden and near Hook of Holland. The ship was later stationed in the southern frontier under the Naval Commander of Zeeland.

STIWOT

A mine laying drill on the Hr.Ms. Douwe Aukes, the sister ship of the Hr.MS. Van Meerlant, 1934, photographer unknown.

On May 15th, 1940, after the German invasion of the Netherlands, the ship diverted to Falmouth together with the gunboat Flores. On Juli 12th, the Van Meerlant was put into the Thames Local Defence Flotilla with Sheerness as its base.

In British service

On March 14th, 1941, the van Meerlant was decommissioned and handed over to the Royal Navy to free up crew members for other ships. A few months later, on June 4th, the Van Meerland ran into a mine in the Thames estuary and sank. Of the British crew, 42 went missing.

NIMH

The Hr.Ms. Van Meerlant during the interbellum, 1920, photographer unknown.

Type: Douwe Aukes class (only 2 ships were built in this class)

Yard: Gusto (formerly H. Smulders), Schiedam

Armament: 3 x 7,5cm cannon, 2 x 12,7mm and 1 x 6,5mm machine guns, 87 mines

Propulsion: 2 triple expansie steam engines, 2 coal fired Yarrow boilers

• Kimenai P.
  Traces of War.