HNLMS Tromp was the lead ship of the destroyer leaders built for the Royal Netherlands Navy. Built just prior to World War II, the ship served mainly in the Pacific and Indian Oceans against the Japanese, being based out of Sydney, Fremantle and Trincomalee where she served alongside British, Australian and US warships. After the war, she returned to the Netherlands; after 1949, Tromp was used as a training and accommodation ship, before being decommissioned in 1955, and scrapped in 1969.
Design and description
thumb|left|Sectional view and deck layout of Tromp.
thumb|left|Launch ceremony in 1937
thumb|left|On [[Juliana Drydock (1911)|Juliana Drydock]]
Originally designated as a flotilla leader in the Deckers Fleet Plan of 1931, Tromp was ordered in 1935 and laid down at the Nederlandsche Scheepsbouw Maatschappij (Netherlands Shipbuilding Company), in Amsterdam, on 17 January 1936.
Tromp was launched on 24 May 1937. She was named after Admirals Maarten Tromp and Cornelis Tromp. Tromp was commissioned into the Royal Netherlands Navy on 18 August 1938.
In mid-September 1939, the ship searched several German merchantmen in Padang, before proceeding to Surabaya for a refit. Throughout 1940, the ship undertook patrol and escort duties as part of the Netherlands East Indies Squadron before escorting ships of the Java–New York Line in a convoy to the Gilbert Islands in early 1941. A new captain, Commander J.B. de Meester, arrived in July. In the final months of 1941, tensions in the region began to heighten amidst concerns about war with Japan and in November 1941 Tromp was involved in searches of Vichy French merchant vessels operating in the area.