HNLMS Bengalen (ES-1934)
The Bengalen class escorts were built as long range escorts for escorting the merchant trade to and from the Dutch East Indies and the Netherlands. These ships would perform the range of duties that the corvettes to escort destroyers would undertake in foreign navies.
These ships utilised the last of the 3.9" guns, from the Radetzky class ships, fitted to the new AA mounting developed for the secondary armament for the Java class. A pair of 40mm and various twin and single 20mm rounded out the gun armament. A pair of 21" torpedo tubes was fitted to give the ships some teeth against larger prey.
The engines were diesels to give the ships the long cruising range necessary, but these were no good for sustained high speed as they tended to break down on long high speed runs. Still the ships were more than adequate for their duties and were a good investment for the Dutch Navy.
| Displacement | 600 tons std 740 tons full load |
| Length | 233.5 ft |
| Breadth | 30 ft |
| Draught | 11 ft |
| Machinery | 2 shaft diesel engines, 9,000bhp |
| Speed | 24 knots |
| Range | 5000 miles at 12 knots |
| Armour | nil |
| Armament | 2 x 3.9" (2x1) 2 x 40mm (1x2) 6 x 20mm (2x2 2x1) |
| Aircraft | nil |
| Torpedoes | 2 x 21" (1x2) |
| Complement | 90 |
| Notes | HNLMS Bengalen |