BAP Almirante Grau (CLM-81)

BAP Almirante Grau (CLM-81) was a De Zeven Provinciën-class light cruiser that served in the Dutch and Peruvian navies.

Completed for the Dutch in 1953 as HNLMS De Ruyter (C801), she was acquired by Peru in 1973 and served as fleet flagship.

[1][2] She and her sister-ship, later De Zeven Provinciën, were intended to replace the two Java-class cruisers in the Dutch East Indies.

The Kriegsmarine intended to complete her as the training cruiser KH 1 but construction was slow and she was not launched until 24 December 1944, with the intent by then to use her as a blockship in the Nieuwe Waterweg, the approaches to Rotterdam.

[1][4] In Dutch service both ships participated in several NATO exercises, and were frequently used as flagships for different naval task forces.

She was designated fleet flagship in succession to another cruiser of the same name (the former HMS Newfoundland), which was renamed Capitán Quiñones.

HNLMS De Ruyter in her original post-war configuration.
Her Majesty Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and Captain W. J. Kruys with Officers and crew at the commissioning of HNLMS De Ruyter (1953)
Her Majesty Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and Captain W. J. Kruys with Officers and crew at the commissioning of HNLMS De Ruyter in 1953.
De Ruyter seen here in September 1971, just before she was decommissioned.
BAP Almirante Grau (CLM-81) leaves the harbor of Curaçao, June 1973.