The two Dutch CLs De Zeven Provinciën
and Kijkduin
(later named Eendracht
) were captured by the German army in May 1940. Although the ships were still in an early stage of construction it was first decided to continue the ships with a modified design and use them as training cruisers. It was planed to complete the ships by mid 1942 or early 1943. For both ships it was planed to use German 15 cm guns which were already under construction for the M-Class
cruisers and H-Class
battleships.
The former De Zeven Provinciën
was renamed to KH1
(Project Ersatz Emden). From August 1941, work continued only with slow speed and in 24.12.1944 the ship was launched. The incomplete cruiser survived the war and after a total reconstruction, it was completed by the Dutch between 1947 and 1953 and put into service as De Ruyter
. In 1973 it was sold to Peru and renamed to Almirante Grau
. It will be put out of service in 2008.
First Dutsch post-war design
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