HNLMS Zeven Provinciën(Eendracht-class)

The ships of this class were meant to replace the old Java-class cruisers in the defence of the Dutch Indies. Originally they had the main battery of 8 x 5.9-inch guns, but such armament wasn't powerful enough in comparison with the modern cruisers built by the other navies. They were redesigned instead, being equipped with 10 guns and a modern AA-battery of 40 mm Bofors guns. The Germans found these ships at the dockyards after May 1940, but the construction was only in an early stage. Although the Germans planned to complete them as the training cruisers KH 1 and KH 2, the dockyards' capacity was put to other use, so the construction only advanced very slowly. In 1944, the Germans decided to block several ports with blockships, and the Zeven Provinciën was launched ( with the German Atlantic bow ) to block the Nieuwe Waterweg. Fortunately, she was never used this way, both ships could be completed both wars. The design, however, was modified several times, now implementing the lessons learned in the war. This meant that the ships didn't look like the original design at all, that displacement and dimensions were increased and appeared to be better ships. Originally, they were, in fact, an enlargement of the smaller cruiser De Ruyter, which was sunk in the Battle of the Java Sea. Commissioned by the Dutch since 1953, the ships were bought by the Peruvian navy in the seventies and were scrapped in 2000.