HNLMS Gouden Leeuw

Gouden Leeuw was a Prins van Oranje-class minelayer built for the Royal Netherlands Navy during the 1930s, intended to serve in the Dutch East Indies. Completed in 1932, the ship was stationed there when the Pacific War began in December 1941. Gouden Leeuw laid multiple defensive minefields in East Indian waters after the war began. One of these claimed a Japanese minesweeper in February 1942. The ship was scuttled as a blockship when Dutch forces surrendered the following month.

Description

The Prins van Oranje-class ships displaced at deep load. They measured long between perpendiculars with a beam of and a draught of. The minelayers were powered by a pair of triple-expansion steam engines, each turning a propeller shaft. Their boilers provided enough steam for the engines to produce a total of. The vessels had a maximum speed of. They had a complement of 121 officers and ratings.
The Prins van Oranje class were armed with a pair of single-mounted anti-aircraft (AA) guns on single mounts positioned fore and aft of the superstructure. They were also armed with two Bofors AA guns and a pair of machine guns on single mounts. They carried 121 naval mines.

Gouden Leeuw was laid down on 20 September 1930 at the De Maas shipyard in Slikkerveer, launched on 9 September 1931 and commissioned on 24 February 1932.
On 8 December 1932 Gouden Leeuw left the Netherlands for the Dutch East Indies, where she arrived on 27 January 1933 in Sabang.
In the period of September 1939 until January 1942 Gouden Leeuw laid minefields near Balikpapan, Tarakan and Surabaja. In January and February 1942 she was part of the defending force of Surabaya. She laid mines in Madura Strait, near Tuban and near Rembang. One of these sank the in Ambon Bay on 2 February 1942 and damaged two others. On 7 March she was scuttled by her own crew near Surabaya to prevent being captured by Japanese forces.