Sinking of Johan Maurits van Nassau

14 May 1940, North Sea, off Callantsoog, North Holland

German success; the gunboat sunk

When Germany invaded the Netherlands on 10 May 1940 the gunboat Johan Maurits van Nassau, just home from the West Indies, was at Vlissingen, and she shot down a German aircraft on the first day. On 14 May she bombarded German batteries at the eastern end of the Afsluitdijk, the great dam across the Zuiderzee, from 18 kilometres away, silencing them. That afternoon, with the Dutch army about to surrender, she left Den Helder for Britain with three minelayers and two torpedo boats. Off Callantsoog German bombers singled her out as the largest ship. Two or three bombs hit her, one starting a fire by her ammunition, and she sank; 17 of her crew were killed. The rest of the little convoy reached England.