SS Jan Pieterszoon Coen

Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland ordered the ship on 27 December 1912. She was laid down on 14 October 1913 at the Nederlandsche Scheepsbouw Maatschappij shipyard in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Coen was planned to be christened by Mrs. den Tex on 30 September 1914, but half an hour before this was to happen, Coen left the slipway on her own. Construction of Coen continued while she was in the water. On 20 May 1915, she left the shipyard to continue construction on the IJ. This move included the narrow passage of the Oosterdok Lock. After she had been carefully pulled through, she was taken into Juliana Drydock at 4 AM on the 21st. Coen was completed and acquired on 17 June 1915. Coen made her maiden voyage on 11 September 1915. The ship's lengths were long overall and registered. Her beam was and her depth was , molded to her shelter deck. Her tonnages were , and 12,600 tons displacement. The ship had seven decks, three continuous the full length of the ship, with a shelter deck. Eight watertight bulkheads divided the ship into nine watertight compartments with ten watertight doors capable of being closed remotely from the bridge. Eight single ended forced draft Scotch boilers with two furnaces each provided steam for two three-cylinder triple expansion steam engines driving twin screw propellers. The combined power of the twin engines was rated at 1,364 NHP and fourteen lifeboats, two powered, enough for all persons aboard. By 1930 she also had wireless direction finding. By 1934 the four-letter call sign PEZP had superseded both her code letters and her three-letter call sign. ==Early career==

Sea trials After being completed in June 1915, Jan Pieterszoon Coen became the new flagship of the Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland, and was also the largest ship ever to be built in the Netherlands at the time. She completed her sea trials in IJmuiden in June 1915 with several passengers aboard, including the company's president J.B.A Jonckheer, four ministers with their spouses, the Mayor of Amsterdam with his spouse and two law enforcers. There were also a high number of officials, important business relation officials and the supervisory boards and the boards of shipyard and shipping company of the SMN. The ship's Master at the time was Captain H.G.J Uylkens who led the ship to open seas together with the tugboat Cycloop van Zurmülen. The ship sailed South past Zandvoort, Katwijk, Noordwijk and Scheveningen. During lunch however, a submarine was spotted by the guests and crew. Everyone became worried at first, but it was soon clear that it was a Dutch submarine that was given orders to guide Jan Pieterszoon Coen back to IJmuiden. The ship completed her sea trials and arrived back in IJmuiden without incident. Active service On 11 September 1915 at 3pm, Jan Pieterszoon Coen left Amsterdam, Netherlands for her maiden voyage to Batavia, Dutch East Indies. She sailed through the Mediterranean Sea and the Suez Canal to reach her destination. Jan Pieterszoon Coen left Amsterdam for Batavia again on 1 Januari 1916, but this time she would sail around Cape of Good Hope and Cape Town to reach Batavia. She arrived on 17 February 1916 before returning to the Netherlands, where she arrived on 6 May. After the war, the ship would continue to sail the Amsterdam – Batavia route. ==Later service and end==

Jan Pieterszoon Coen left Batavia for the last time on 28 June 1939 and was stationed in Amsterdam on 29 July 1939 where she was waiting to be scrapped. However, due to the outbreak of the Second World War, the ship was needed again and she made two short voyages to Lisbon, Portugal, in order to retrieve passengers from the MS Oranje. When the German Army invaded the Netherlands in May 1940, the Royal Netherlands Navy made a plan which involved scuttling Jan Pieterszoon Coen at the entrance of the port of IJmuiden in order to prevent German warships entering the harbor. The plan was set in motion in the night of 14 May 1940, Captain R. van Rees Vellinga sailed Jan Pieterszoon Coen from Amsterdam to IJmuiden. Once there, the ship was supposed to be escorted to the harbor entrance by two tugboats, but they were accidentally sunk too early. As a solution to the problem, The Royal Netherlands Navy ordered the tugboat Atjeh and a minesweeper to tow the ship into place. The tugboat and minesweeper towed the ship into place with much difficulty due to the tide change. The ship was positioned with the bow to the Southern pier and the stern to the Northern pier of the port entrance. The explosives which were previously installed on the ship were detonated and the ship sank between the piers. Her upper decks were still sticking out of the water due to the shallow depths. The plan was successful and the ship prohibited German ships to enter the harbor, the Netherlands however surrendered to the Axis powers and was occupied by Nazi-Germany. ==Wreck==

The German Army emptied the ship of movable property during 1940, they could do this because the ship was mostly above water. Rijkswaterstaat was thinking of salvaging Jan Pieterszoon Coen, since the ship was mostly intact and in shallow waters. But due to a series of storms, the ship sank deeper into the sand. In 1941, a 50-meter portion of the stern was removed so largeships could use the harbor again. ==Footnotes==