This vintage real photo postcard features a photograph of the “J. Heemskerek” sailing into Cuba’s Havana Harbor. The postcard is labeled a “Souvenir of Cuba”. The “HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerck” was launched in 1939. The ship was a Tromp-class light cruiser that sailed for Netherland’s navy. It was decommissioned in 1969 and sold for scrap in 1970. The cruiser was named after Admiral Jacob van Heemskerk (1567-1607). The ship was designed to be a torpedo cruiser. The ship had not yet been armed when Germany invaded the Netherlands in 1940. She escaped to Great Britain where she was completed as an air defense cruiser. Winston Churchill visited the ship in 1940 and 1941. She was used to protect convoys and the ship seemed to be charmed because it never lost a ship under her protection. In 1942 she was assigned to the Dutch East Indies to reinforce the defense fleet. After another reassignment, in 1942, the ship took part in an operation to retake Madagascar. She then joined allied navy forces in Australia and resumed convoy duty. Toward the end of 1942, accompanied by an Australian cruiser, she attacked and damaged a German supply vessel/blockade runner. The damaged ship eventually had to be scuttled by her own crew. At the end of 1943, the “J. van Heemskerk” worked in the Mediterranean doing convoy duty. In 1945, the ship was the first Dutch warship to arrive in Amsterdam post liberation. After the war, the ship served as a barracks ship for naval trainees. In 1069, after decades of service, the “J van Heemskerck” was decommissioned. SOLD
THE CABINET CARD GALLERY 
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