Hr.ms Flores. (1925-1968) The naval history of Dutch vessel
Ik kwam onderstaande tegen op wildbillguarnere site en word nieuwsgierig!.
Misschien zijn hier kenners die iets kunnen toevoegen!?
Dear friends,
Last year I have bought three photographs of scenes from the D-Day landing. It turned out to be pictures taken on Omaha Beach, a couple of weeks/months after the actual landings had taken place. Depicted are LCI-93, a couple of LCM's and parts of the famous Mulberries.
At the moment I am doing research into the history of these vessels. The information I have gathered so far is very interesting indeed. When I have finished my quest I will publish it on the forum.
During my research I came across a very nice detail. It turns out that during D-Day there was a Dutch vessl (Destroyer/sloop) which took active part in the battle for the beaches. What was even more surprising for me was the name of this ship; HMS FLORES !
During her long life she served all over the world. During WOII she took part in Operation Husky,(the invasion of Sicily, July-10-1943), Operation Avalanche (the invasion of Salerno, September-09-1943), Operation Stanley (covering the 5th army at Volturno, October-13-1943), Operation Shingle (the landings at Anzio, February-04-1944), D-Day (Jube-06-1944) where she was part of the Eastern Task Force and she silenced the German gun battery "Arromanche III". was in action near Gold and Sword and Juno Beach. Her last action during the War was bombarding artillery-postions near Le Point Homme.
Her sister-ship HMS Soemba was in the front-lines also.
So now I understand my great interest in the D-Day landings and all the history attached to it; in a way I was there!
Please check-out
www.netherlandsnavy.nl/Flores_his.htm,
www.strijdbewijs.nl/nl/nl.htm for further reading.
Kind regards,
Flores Hopman.
Antwoord door IMIKE
Flores, the HNMS Sumatra was a 6670 ton light cruiser. Her sister ship, HNMS Java, was sunk in the Battle of the Java Sea (February 7, 1942). HNMS Flores was, as you stated, a 1700 ton sloop. Her sister ship was HNMS Soemba. With a main battery of 3 5.9" guns, they had a lot more clout than British sloops.