The armament of the Dutch merchant ship Terkoelei in the Second World War

According to the list and supplements 1-2 on 13 September 1945 BDZ No. 673sent 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 2-2cm guns supplied at New York on 4 March 1943

Launched by Blohm&Voss, Hamburg with yard number 398 on 28 November 1922, delivered as the Essen to the Deutsch-Australischhe Dampfschiffs-Gesellschaft A.G., Hamburg, Germany on 10 October 1923, since 1926 of the Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt A.G., Hamburg, laid up at Surabaya in September 1939, seized on 10 May 1940 at Surabaya, Dutch East Indies, renamedTerkoelei of the Dutch government, managed by Firma Wm Ruys&Zonen, Rotterdam, Netherlands and torpedoed by the German submarine U631 on the Atlantic Ocean bound from New York, USA towards Swansea, England as part of convoy JX229 on 17 March 1943. The Dutch newspaper De Indische courant dated 29 August 1939 reported that the Essen of the HPAG arrived a day earlier earlier at Surabaya coming from Probolinggo and that she would be laid up for the time being. The captains of German merchant ships were ordered to go to neutral harbors.  

Gross tonnage 5,158.00 tons, net tonnage 3,093.00 tons, deadweight 8,130.00 tons and as dimensions 128.70 x 17.10 x 7.90 metres.

Source

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