The armament of the Dutch merchant ship (ex-War Music 1918-1919, Glenspey 1919-1921, King Bleddyn 1921-1937) Stad Maassluis 1937-1950 (Francescu 1950-1954) in the Second World War

Originally published in G.A.J. Bovens/G.J. Frans Naerebout. Op de Lange Deining.

According to the list and supplements 1-2 on 13 September 1945 BDZ No. 673 sent by the office of armament the Royal Netherlands Navy located at 41 East 42nd Street, New York 17, USA. There were no complete records available, so there were several sources used to compile the list. Sometimes the kind of guns gave indirect information regarding the origin such as 4”/BL and 12 pounder guns were British mostly supplied in the United Kingdom, Canada or Curacao. The 4.7” guns were old Japanese guns placed on some vessels in the begin of the war at Singapore and some 4” guns in the same period at Surabaya, Dutch East Indies. The trade in which the ship was used gave also an indication were the guns were supplied, for example involved in the Pacific trade means supplied at the West Coast.

Armed with 1-10,16cm/4” Vickers gun

Launched with yard number 544 as a N type general caro ship by Harland&Wolff Ltd., Queen’s Island, Belfast, Northern Ireland on 2 November 1919, delivered to The Shipping Controller, London, England in December 1918, since 15 March 1937 of the Halcyon Lijn N.V., Rotterdam, Netherlands as the stad Maassluis, since September 1950 the Francescu, Italy-flagged, homeport Genoa, owner/manager Francescu Pittaluga Fu Giacomi, stranded off Bath, Netherlands on 6 April 1954, broken in two parts on 16 April 1954 and scrapped between 1954-1955.

Gross tonnage 6,541 tons, net tonnage 3,86 yons, deadweight 10,760 tons, grain capacity 481,037 cubic feet, bale capacity 429,371 cubic feet and as dimensions 125.66 x 17.01 x 10.48 (depth) metres.

Source

Archieven van hoofd handelsbescherming en diverse handelsbeschermingsofficieren 1941-1946 inv.no. 53 (Nationaal Archief, The Hague, Netherlands.