HNLMS Abraham Crijnssen (1936)

HMAS/HNLMS Abraham Crijnssen
History
Netherlands
Name	HNLMS Abraham Crijnssen
Namesake	Abraham Crijnssen
Builder	Werf Gusto, Schiedam, The Netherlands
Laid down	21 March 1936
Launched	22 September 1936
Commissioned	27 May 1937
Decommissioned	26 August 1942
Fate	Transferred to the RAN
Australia
Name	HMAS Abraham Crijnssen
Commissioned	26 August 1942
Decommissioned	5 May 1943
Fate	Returned to RNN
Netherlands
Recommissioned	5 May 1943
Decommissioned	29 May 1961
Reclassified	Net-defence ship
Status	Preserved as museum ship
General characteristics
Class and type	Jan van Amstel-class minesweeper
Displacement	525 tons
Length	184 ft (56 m)
Beam	25 ft (7.6 m)
Draught	7 ft (2.1 m)
Propulsion	2 × Yarrow 3-drum boilers 2 × Stork triple expansion engines, 1,690 ihp (1,260 kW) 2 shafts 110 tons fuel oil
Speed	15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement	45
Armament	1 × 3 in (76 mm) gun 2 × twin Oerlikon 20 mm cannons Depth charges

HNLMS Abraham Crijnssen is a Jan van Amstel-class minesweeper of the Royal Netherlands Navy (RNN).

Built during the 1930s, she was based in the Dutch East Indies when Japan attacked at the end of 1941. Ordered to retreat to Australia, the ship was disguised as a tropical island to avoid detection, and was the last Dutch ship to escape from the region. On arriving in Australia in 1942, she was commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) as HMAS Abraham Crijnssen and operated as an anti-submarine escort. Although returned to RNN control in 1943, the ship remained in Australian waters for most of World War II. After the war, Abraham Crijnssen operated on anti-revolution patrols in the East Indies, before returning to the Netherlands and being converted into a boom defence ship in 1956.

Removed from service in 1960, the vessel was donated to the Netherlands Sea Cadet Corps for training purposes. In 1995, Abraham Crijnssen was acquired by the Dutch Navy Museum for preservation as a museum ship.