HNLMS Sumatra
Built by the Nederlandsche Scheepsbouw Maatschappij in Amsterdam, laid down on 15 July 1916, launched in December 1920 & finally commissioned May 1926. The delay being caused by destruction of her turbines in a fire on 31 May 1922 at Werkspoor NV Engineering Works. L 155m x b 16m x d 6.2m, displacement 8090 tons full load, 82,000 shp for 31 knots. Armament: 10 x 150mm guns + 4 x 75mm AA guns & two float planes

On 21 September departed for Netherland East Indies where she performed “show the flag” cruises, protection & evacuation of Dutch citizens during the Chinese civil war. The ship had a number of engineering problems throughout it’s life & also stranded on a reef in May 1931, being towed off by the gunboat Soemba being repaired in Surabaya

1934-35 Sumatra was modernised at Surabaya, part of which was the replacement of the 75mm AA battery with six 40mm guns. 1938 returned to the Netherlands, en-route performing convoy duties in the Strait of Gibraltar the Spanish Civil War, finally arriving in July.

May 1940 arrived in the UK & performing convoy escort duties until late 1940, when returned to the NEI & laid up for a major refit, this being only partially completed by Jan 1942 when she sailed for Ceylon & later the UK where she was laid up with ongoing engineering problems. Transferred to the RN at the end of April 1944 & finally scuttled as part of the Gooseberry Pier. The wreck was broken up in the early 1950s.

From a photo given to me in the 1960s, information from various sources