WORLD WAR 2 IN REVIEW: HNLMS Isaac Sweers: Dutch Destroyer

Isaac Sweers while serving with the Royal Navy. Her career was brief, 1941-1942.

HNLMS Isaac Sweers was one of four Gerard Callenburgh-class destroyer built for the Royal Netherlands Navy during World War II.

The keel was laid on 26 November 1938. The ship was launched on 16 March 1940 and the unfinished ship was evacuated to England after the German invasion of the Netherlands. She was completed in Great Britain, with six British 4-inch dual purpose guns instead of planned five 120 mm guns. The ship was modern for her time, she was fast and had two manually stabilized 40 mm Bofors AA-guns, each with its own "Hazemeyer" fire control, an on-mount mechanical analog fire control computer integrated with a on-mount optical rangefinder. It was the first Dutch ship to use radar to aim its AA-guns. The ship's plans were saved from the Germans and elements were incorporated into Royal Navy ship designs.

Isaac Sweers was part of the Allied flotilla of destroyers which torpedoed and sank the Italian cruisers Alberico da Barbiano and Alberto da Giussano on 13 December 1941, at the Battle of Cape Bon. She riddled Alberto da Giussano with gunfire at short range and launched four torpedoes against the Italian torpedo boat Cigno; all of them missed their target. She escorted the important convoy MW 8B to Malta in January 1942. During this mission the British destroyer Gurkha was torpedoed by the German submarine U-133 on 12 January 1942. Isaac Sweers towed the stricken British destroyer through a field of burning oil and saved her entire crew of 240 sailors. They were taken to Tobruk.

During Operation Torch, on 11 November 1942, along with HMS Porcupine, Isaac Sweers helped rescue 241 men from the ship Nieuw Zeeland, a Dutch troop transport that had been torpedoed by the German submarine U-380 at 35°57′N 03°58′W - about 80 miles (130 km) east of Gibraltar, in the Mediterranean. On 13 November 1942, Isaac Sweers was hit by two torpedoes from the German submarine U-431 under command of Wilhelm Dommes. One torpedo struck a oil tank, which had just been completely topped off, spreading burning oil over the ship and the water. The second torpedo hit the longroom and officers’ quarters, killing all 13 officers sleeping there. The survivors were picked up by the British armed trawler HMS Loch Oskaig (T/Lt. G.T.S. Clampitt, RNR), which also tried to get alongside the burning ship, but had to abandon the plan due to the heavy fires and exploding ammunition. She sank with the loss of 108 of her 194 crew.

Hr.Ms. torpedobootjager Isaac Sweers, 1941-1942.

Destroyer Isaac Sweers, 1941-1942.

Commander Houtsmuller, Captain of Isaac Sweers coming on board his ship at Alexandria, 24 December 1941.

Commuter Houtsmuller, captain of the Isaac Sweers (left) with Rear Admiral I. G. Glennie, Rear Admiral Destroyers, at Alexandria, 24 December 1941. Portion of torpedo tubes visible at left.

Dutch sailors pulling out torpedoes for varnishing and revision on board the Isaac Sweers at Alexandria, 24 December 1941.

Dutch sailors cleaning and oiling torpedoes on board the Dutch destroyer Isaac Sweers in the Mediterranean, 24 December 1941, at Alexandria.

Dutch sailors off duty enjoying a yarn beside depth charges on board the Isaac Sweers at Alexandria, 24 December 1941.

Members of the gun crew of the Isaac Sweers overhauling their pom-poms while in harbor at Alexandria, 24 December 1941.

Dutch sailors repainting and cleaning the Isaac Sweers's side after returning from patrol, at Alexandria, 24 December 1941.

Isaac Sweers, 1942.

HMS Gurkha, 30 minutes after being torpedoed, as photographed from the Isaac Sweers.

The destroyer HMS Gurkha, photographed from the Dutch destroyer Isaac Sweers after being torpedoed by the U-133 in January 1942. Isaac Sweers saved all of Gurkha's crew by towing the ship clear of a burning oilfield, then taking them on board.