Protected Cruiser: HNLMS Sumatra 1890

[Brian James]

The Dutch unique Protected Cruiser HNLMS Sumatra pictured c1895.
Built at Koninklijke Fabriek van Stoom Werktuigen, at Amsterdam in 1890,the design resembled a smaller version of the Esmeralda concept (the 1883 Protected Cruiser built by Armstrong Elswick shipyards for Chile) and was most similar in size to the Chinese Protected Cruiser Chi Yuan (1883) a ship built at about the same time as Esmeralda. Sumatra had an 8.2-inch gun forward and 5.9-inch gun aft, both in shields, with sponsons on the sides for the two 4.7-inch guns.These ships represented a design philosophy in which navies that could not afford First-Class Battleships (including the Netherlands) mounted heavy weapons on Coastal Defense Ships or moderately sized Protected Cruisers with the idea these ships would pose a threat to first-class opponents,she was scrapped in 1907.