"Evertsen" – the Dutch destroyer

"Evertsen" belonged to the group of Dutch destroyers, modeled after the British "Amazon" and "Ambuscade" type ships. The Dutch ships were built with great attention to unsinkability, the hull was divided into many watertight compartments, the ships had a double bottom. The weak point of these destroyers was, that all the propulsion equipment was placed in one room, which could determine the fate of the entire ship, if a torpedo had hit the middle part of the ship. These destroyers were equipped with minelaying rails, and the ship could take 24 mines on deck. A characteristic feature of this class of ships, distinguishing them from other ships of the class, was the possibility of having a seaplane in its armament, which was placed on a special platform. But it was rarely taken on voyages, since it could only be used in good weather. "Evertsen" was launched on September 29, 1926 and entered service on April 12, 1928. Initially its main task was crew training and routine patrolling of the state's territorial waters, which were sometimes diversified with long-distance voyages to the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia. With the outbreak of war in Europe, the ship was assigned to escort Allied convoys. When the war began in the Pacific and a real threat to the Dutch East Indies from the Japanese side arose, the destroyer was directed to the Java Sea region. The Allies realized the seriousness of the situation and created an international battleship group (ABDA), which included “Evertsen”. This group was supposed to stop the invasion of the Japanese imperial forces on the island of Java. On February 27, 1942 after the lost battle, the command decided to withdraw the ships, that were supposed to break out of the encirclement. “Evertsen” was supposed to protect the cruisers “Houston” and “Perth”, which were supposed to break through the Sound and sail to Tiljatjapa. But the destroyer was late in sailing and had to chase these cruisers. The cruisers met the Japanese convoy and attacked the escort ships. "Evertsen", taking advantage of the confusion, that arose, broke through the Sound Strait. But, having entered the open ocean, two Japanese destroyers appeared on the horizon - "Shirakumo" and "Marukumo", after a night and unequal battle the Dutch ship was put aground near Sabuk Island. Most of the crew was taken prisoner by the Japanese.

Not very complicated, well-designed and perfectly detailed model, which will suit modelers of any experience. However, we recommend for advanced beginners and modelers of little experience working under the supervision of a more experienced colleague, don’t rush, work carefully and attentively. The model is designed on a scale of 1 : 250 and is without an underwater part, but the hull, superstructures, armament and other equipment are projected perfectly, but not complicated. There are even details of a seaplane model, only there are no details of its "landing" platform. There are no reserves of colors. The textual instruction in Polish are large, detailed and clearly explain the entire assembly process of the model. It perfectly complement the equally large, informative and easy-to-read graphical instruction.