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Voortrekker class armored cruisers

Boer indian Ocean Raiders

At the beginning of the last decade of the 19th century, growing tensions with the neighboring British colony of Cape Town, combined with the influx of foreign currency due to the discovery of the Witwatersrand gold deposit, gave the South African admiralty the need and the means to change its naval strategy.

Since its first days of existance, the Republikeinse Vloot was a purely defensive navy, equipped mainly with coastal defense units.
The brand new Hoë See Eskader was to be able to strick British interests in the area, mainly by attacking maritime trade. For this task, armored cruisers seemed the perfect fit. They would be supplemented by ocean-going torpedo boats. The manpower requirements were partly offset by the increase in the proportion of colored-sailors (mainly assigned to hold duties) and the recruitment of new contingents of Dutch and German mercenary sailors (a local specialty).

Until then the main provider of warships was France. The country was inclined to support an antagonist of the British crown, and, since the fall of the Third Empire, Boer republican institutions engendered a natural empathy. But since the beginning of the eightees, relations between the two colonial powers began to normalize, notably with the signing of 1882 and 1886 concentions. So the australs republics started to move to their other europeens supports, Kingdom of Netherlands and German empire.
Dispite this, ordering their new main units directly to the actual foes of a former ally was percieved as too rude, there was still a significant amont of francophil among the political elite. Therefore ordering it from the batavian kingdom seemed to be a good compromise.

By then Koninklijke Maatschappij de Schelde was laying down the first protected cruiser of the Holland class. They offered an extended, armored, up-gunned version to fulfill the needs of boers navy. Guns were ordered from krupp and the turrets from Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino who was buiding the Kaiser Karl VI armored cruisers with similar main weaponery.

By 1898 autums , following the Fashoda Incident, work on ships has been significantly slowed down, as rumors had emerged that the order would be cancelled to reverse back to a french yard. But construction quickly resumed as the crisis was diplomaticaly solved.

A year latter, the second boer war caused a further postponement. Here again, the quick withdrawal of the British made it possible to resume quickly.

The first unit, christened Gerrit Maritz,was commissioned in by november 1900. the Piet Retief six month later. Together they composed the Voortrekkers class.
Ironically one of the first overseas journey of the ships was the 1902 king Edward VII Coronation Review,in Spithead. On the eve of the review, the english monarch had an audience aboard the royal yacht with a delegation of three Boer commanders; Louis Botha, Christiaan de Wet and Koos de la Rey, in an attempt to normalise relations with the United South African Republics.

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Displacement:
6,366 ts mean, 7,064 ts full load
Dimensions:
Length 119 m, Beam 17,030m, Draught 5,80m mean, 6,40m full load
Machinery:
2-shaft Vertical Triple Expansion, 7 cylindrical boilers, 8.500 ihp
Performance:
Speed 23 kts maximum, range 4.000 nm at 10 knots
Armour:
Nickel steel. Belt 203mm; Ship ends 170mm; Turrets 200mm max; casemates 80mm; deck 60mm maximum, CT 200mm all-round
Armament:
2x1 240mm/40 Krupp BL, 8x1 150mm/35 Krupp BL, 16x1 47mm/44 Skoda QF, 2x1 47mm/33 Hotchkiss revolver, 2x 450mm Torpedo tube (fore and aft , above water)
Crew
446

Dead end to War

Their first decade of service was relativly eventless.
In 1906, with, consecutively, commissioning of HMS dreadnought and laid down of HMS Invincible , the ships became obsolete overnight. Negotiations were undertaken to procure brand new battle cruisers to replace them. German Blohm & Voss shipyards won the bid, but talks and studies had stretched out considerably over time.

Their service times clearly having to be extended, the two ships were taken in hand for an overhaul at newly built Kersfeeshawe (today Durban) shipyards. Both received a modernized bridge with up-to-date fire control arrangements including rangefinders and more searchlights, and a tripod mast. The forward torpedo tube was suppressed. Less visible was an increase in main battery elevation, oil spray gear to their boilers and sprinkler equipment for their magazines.

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At the dawn of the First World War, their crews were down-sized in favor of the new Van Villebois-Mareuil battle cruiser and its sistership under construction in germany, reducing their operational capabilities. It was planned to bring them back to fully operational statue with german sailors levied on the crews of East Asia Squadron auxiliary ships when this one would have reached the Natalia coasts.
The Battle of the Falkland Islands put an end to this project. Furthermore, the loss of the Joris cut short any hope of being able to defend the coastline (to know more about the Veggeneraals battlecruiser class follow the link http://www.shipbucket.com/forums/viewto ... is#p196438). With regret, Admiral Mauritius Teston, commander-in-chief of the fleet, had to resolve to propose the disarmament of his ships. The artillery pieces were fitted on land mounts and sent inland. The armored belts was removed and used to build two armored trains armed with the lightest cannons. They were named after the two former ships and manned by the former crews. Only the most recent light units were secretly spared, in order to seize a potential opportunity to send Allies troop transports to the bottom.

The Indian Ocean Great Trek

However, the South Africans could not bring themselves to scuttle their cruisers. At the start of the conflict, the West African shore seemed rather a friendly coast: Portuguese East Africa, despite the traditional Anglophilia of the Lusitanian kingdom, remained neutral, as did Italian Somalia. Deutsch Ostafrika was controlled by an ally, only British East Africa was hostile territory. It therefore did not seem unrealistic to try to shelter the ships in a neutral port. For added security, the two ships, completely stripped of any military equipment, were fakely sold to a complicit Dutch shipping company, Koninklijke Paketvaart-Maatschappij (A secret protocol provided that the two cruisers would be returned at the end of hostilities for the initial purchase price, a paltry sum.). Officially the plan was to rebuilt then into small fast liners for services in the Dutch East Indies.

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Rechristened Jan van Riebeeck and Simon van der Stel (two figures of the Dutch colonization of southern Africa), with a minimal exclusively Dutch crew, the former cruiser undertook a daring journey. The Persian Gulf had been identified as the safest area reachable. The plan was to proceed by random leapfrogs from one port to another to limit the opportunities for interception by the royal navy. It took four months to travel up the Mozambican coast via Lourenço Marques, Inhambane, Vilanculos, Beira, Quelimane, Antonio Enes, Mossuril then Porto Amelia. By then Italy had joinned the Allied Powers making the Horn of Africa a dangerous area. As the Portuguese authorities were increasingly hostile, the ships set course for Darl-el Salam, under German control. This port being susceptible to bombardment by the Royal Navy, it was not a safe haven but The Arabian Peninsula was now totally out of reach.
The idea started to emerge in the mind of the expedition commander to conform to the "official" plan. Negotiations were undertaken via the Dutch consul. After long negotiations, the secret protocol was amended. From now on, only one of the two ships would be returned later while the other would actually be transformed into a liner. In return, they would be allowed to seek refuge in the port of Batavia, seven thousand five hundred kilometers from their current anchorage.

The boats were repainted in the colors of their official owners with broad neutrality markings. Their hulls were carenned so as not to lose the slightest knot. Basic cabins were built on the upper deck to get as close as possible to the appearance of a civilian ship.
On the evening of October 5, 1915, the two ships set sail, lights off, heading due east.
Despite their official neutrality, the risk of boarding by the Royal Navy remained present. Captains Tijssen and van Beurden therefore renounced the most direct route.

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Once passed vertically from Madagascar, the convoys headed south to pass between the big island and Reunion. They only turned to the north-east once they had passed the Kergelen Islands. So close to the southern ocean, the navigation conditions were very difficult and the Piet Retief saw its upper decks ravaged by a storm which almost caused it to capsize.

Until then the British, who had indeed the intention of boarding the ships, were still looking for them in the center of the Indian Ocean. But an Australian whaler reported the presence of two large ships displaying a large Dutch flag on the bow, at proximity to Heard and MacDonald Islands.
Understanding the maneuver, the admiralty intensified its patrols on a line between Exmouth and the Coco Islands.
On the morning of November 25, 1915, the former Afrikaneer cruiser was about to be intercepted by the Australian cruiser HMAS Encounter, when another vessel stood out from the horizon.
Informed of the British arrangement, the authorities of the Dutch East Indies had sent the cruiser HNLMS Holland (their distant cousin) to meet them to secure the transfer. Under this escort the ships reached Batavia on December 1, 1915.

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The full conversion of the Jan Van Riebeeck (former Piet Retif ) into a real liner in Surabaya lasted almost 3 years.
The temporary cabins were entirely rebuilt in local exotic wood. The structure was globally reinforced and received a third metal deck integrating a ballroom. The existing bridge was retained, but twinned with a second on the upper deck. The front and rear turtlebacks were flattened to gain surface area.
A new clipper bow was built in front of the existing one. Although it was an undeniable aesthetic success, its poor manufacturing made it fragile and it was torn off several times in raught weather during the ship's new life.

Overall the result was very satisfactory. Despite its modest size, it was a ship very popular with wealthy clients and it remained in service until the Second World War.

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What was initially a cover story had become partially true.

More is to come..........

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