HNLMS Schorpioen

1860s iron-hulled monitor — the oldest surviving Dutch warship, moored at the Marinemuseum

The HNLMS Schorpioen is the oldest surviving Dutch warship and one of the most unusual vessels in any European naval museum. Launched in France in 1868, she is a monitor-type ironclad: a low-profile armoured warship with a rotating gun turret, designed to operate in shallow coastal waters. The combination of iron armour, steam propulsion, and a sailing rig places her squarely in the experimental years of the industrial naval revolution.

The ship is moored in the dry dock at Willemsoord and accessible to visitors as part of a Marinemuseum ticket. Her low freeboard and heavy turret make her quite unlike a conventional warship, and the contrast with the later submarine and minesweeper moored alongside tells the story of how naval technology transformed over a century.

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A story
The Schorpioen was built in France in the 1860s and represents the brief transitional era when navies were uncertain whether the future belonged to steam or sail. She was fitted with both: a full sailing rig and a steam engine, with an armoured turret amidships for the heavy guns. She never fired a shot in anger and spent most of her career as a training ship.

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