Djambi-class corvette

Djambi-class corvette
Dutch_Corvette_Djambi_(1860-1874).jpg The Djambi
Class overview
Name:	Djambi class
Builders:	Rijkswerf Amsterdam, Rijkswerf Vlissingen
Operators:	Royal Netherlands Navy
Preceded by:	Groningen class
Succeeded by:	Zilveren Kruis class
In commission:	1861?–?
Completed:	6
Scrapped:	6
General characteristics
Type:	Steam Corvette
Displacement:	2,030 tons
Length:	58.00 m (190 ft 3 in)
Beam:	12.25 m (40 ft 2 in)
Draught:	5.50 m (18 ft 1 in)
Installed power:	250 nominal horsepower 700 indicated horsepower (520 kW)
Speed:	8.5 knots (15.7 km/h)
Complement:	225
Armament:	14 × 16 cm Muzzle loader or 8 x 16 and 8 x 30 pdr
Armour:	ship made of wood

The Djambi class was a class of steam corvettes of the Royal Netherlands Navy. The class comprised Djambi, Zoutman, Willem, Leeuwarden, Metalen Kruis and Curaçao. Later two ships of a slightly revised type were built, the Zilveren Kruis and Van Galen

Dutch Naval Plans in the 1850's

Plan 1855

The Dutch naval plan 1855 called for a screw corvette of 250 hp as standard fighting warship for the East Indies. The steam corvettes of the Groningen class were the first of this type. They were designated as 'Steamships second class'. The Djambi's were meant to supplement the number of these 'Steamships second class'.

Corvettes and armored ships

Even before the first of the Djambi class was launched, the whole class became technically obsolete when the French ironclad Gloire entered service in August 1860. The Djambi's could not damage armored ships, and were slower than most of them. For service in the colonies however, many nations continued to use (and build) wooden corvettes.

Dutch rating system

When the first Djambi's were ordered, they were designated as 'screw steamships first class'. When the lead ship Djambi was launched it was a 'screw steamships second class'. Still later they were again designated as '(Screw) Steamship first class'. This had to do with the Dutch rating system. In 1858 the Dutch navy had: ships of the line in two classes; frigates in two classes; corvettes in two classes etc. They kind of doubled this system for steamships, having 3 frigates with auxiliary power (45-51), 2 corvettes with steampower (19), 3 screw steamships of the second class, 5 screw steamships of the 4th class. For Steam paddlers there were also 4 classes.

The change in designation of the Djambi class had to do with this rating system. In the sailing age the Dutch had corvettes that had their guns below the upper deck ('kuilkorvet'), and corvettes that had their battery on the upper deck ('gladdeks korvet'). The classification of the Djambi's (with their guns on the upper deck) as steam ships of the second class left room for a 'Steamship first class'. Later on two wooden ships of the Anna Paulowna class would actually be laid down as 'Steamship first class'.

Design

Apart from the Dutch artificial classification in (screw)steamships of a certain class, the Dutch also spoke about ships in terms of actual type. This happened e.g. during the discussions about the 1862 naval budget. There were calls for a Kuilkorvet of 22 guns, 350hp and 250 men. At the same the Djambi's were designated as corvettes, and in particular as Flush deck corvettes. While they were laid down in 1859-1860 the Leeuwarden and Curaçao were referred to as 'Steam Corvettes'.

In all probability the design of the Djambi class was based on the experience gained with the preceding corvette class that included the Groningen, Vice Admiraal Koopman and Citadel van Antwerpen. The Djambi class was two meters longer and 1-1.5 meter wider. That is, they were about 10-14% wider.

At the time the Dutch built the Djambi England built the slightly larger Corvette HMS Orpheus (1860) of the Jason class.

Propulsion

The Djambi class had machines of 250 nominal horsepower, which was the same as that of the preceding corvette class. When the Dutch shifted to using indicated horse power, the machines were measured at 700 indicated horse power. The difference is due to nominal horse power not taking steam pressure into account. Therefore, indicated horse power is a better measure. The machines for the Djambi were made by the NSBM in Rotterdam Feijenoord, and tried in April 1861. The machines for two other early ships of the class were made by Van Vlissingen en Dudok van Heel in Amsterdam.

In August 1862 the Zoutman made a trial course on the Nieuwediep that was deemed 'satisfactory'. She attained a speed of 8-8.5 knots. In an 1875 overview all existing ships of the class were said to attain 8.5 knots maximum. The earlier English corvette Pearl of about equal size made 11.3 knots, but had 400 nominal and 1324 ihp, almost double the effective power.

Armament

The rifled muzzle loading gun Getrokken Kanon 16 cm No. 3

The Djambi's were initially each armed with 8 rifled muzzle loaders of 16cm and 8 long 30 pounders (smooth-bore ML). Both objects had a diameter of 16 cm. The former fired a cylindrical object. The latter fired a traditional circular bullet of 30 pounds. With the invention of the rifled gun nations switched from using bullet weight for classification of their guns, to using 'bullet' diameter. The rifled gun was designated by its diameter, because it could fire an object of arbitrary weight. On the contrary the weight of the shot of the traditional smooth-bore gun could be derived directly from its bore. Later on, in the 'Memoriaal van de Marine (1880)', the Leeuwarden and Curaçao had lost their old smooth-bore 30 pounders, and each had 16 rifled 16 cm guns. Probably from the by then retired Zoutman and Willem.

The rifled gun involved was the 16cm Rifled No.3, introduced in 1862. It was the first attempt to produce a large caliber rifled gun for the Dutch navy. The inspiration probably came from the massive amounts of old 30 pounder guns that the French navy converted. The Dutch navy had 38 old unfit bronze 60 pounder carronades lying around somewhere. In 1861 plans were made to fill these up, to rebore them to a smaller diameter of 16 cm (=30 pd), and to rifle them. Later on the army produced 12 more of these guns for the navy, bringing the total to 50.

These rifled 16 cm ML were soon known to be almost completely ineffective against armored ships. This was not such a problem for the Djambi's because they were not meant to fight armored ships.

The classic smooth bore gun was the long 30-pounder No.4, at least that's what the Metalen Kruis had in 1880 The 30 pdr long No. 4 had been introduced in 1853 and had a barrel length of 3.19 meter. This was longer than the 30 pdr long No. 2 found in the previous corvettes, which was only 2.77 long. There were rumors that with its beam of 12.25 meter the Djambi was too narrow to properly operate all the guns. The 'problem' was probably caused by the smooth-bore guns. The Djambi was about 50 cm wider on each side than the previous class, and so the increased barrel length of (3.19-2.77) 42 cm should not have been a problem. However, that does not help if all kinds of obstacles are placed on the extra space.

Ships in the class

Of the 6 ships 4 were built at the Rijkswerf in Amsterdam and 2 (Leeuwarden, Curaçao) at the Rijkswerf in Flushing.

Name	Laid down	Launched	Commissioned	Fate
Djambi	29 December 1858	31 October 1860	1 June 1861	May 1874 sold
Zoutman	5 November 1859	20 September 1861	16 June 1862	Unfit August 1871
Willem	19 February 1861	8 July 1863	16 June 1866	Decommissioned 15 Sep. 1871 BU 1874
Leeuwarden	6 December 1859	19 October 1861	16 August 1866	Unfit 1885
Metalen Kruis (ex. Soerabaya)	21 March 1860	29 July 1862	1 November 1863	BU 1879
Curaçao	14 July 1860	10 December 1863	16 May 1867	Retired as guardship in Surabaya Nov 1885

References

• Departement van Marine (1861). "Koninklijke Nederlandsche Marine op den 19 Februarij 1861". Gebroeders van Cleef. p. 86. https://books.google.nl/books?id=LfRTAAAAcAAJ. 
• Departement van Marine (1869). "Koninklijke Nederlandsche Marine op den 1sten Januarij 1869". Gebroeders van Cleef. p. 103. https://books.google.nl/books?id=ffRTAAAAcAAJ. 
• Tideman, B.J. (1880). "Memoriaal van de Marine". Van Heteren Amsterdam. https://proxy.archieven.nl/0/7F6BF76519C84FD7B51DF5FF91D869A9. 
• Tweede Kamer (1875). "Bijlagen van het verslag der Handelingen". Nederlandsche Staatscourant. https://books.google.nl/books?id=QEk9AQAAMAAJ.