Propulsion

The ship had two Yarrow steam boilers that could deliver 800 hp each, for a total of 1600 hp.^[5][6] This allowed Jan van Brakel to reach a speed of 15 kn.^[7]

Armament

When it came to armaments Jan van Brakel was equipped with two 7.5 cm cannons, a single 3.7 cm cannon and four 12.7 mm machine guns.^[1] In addition, it could carry 60 mines.^[7]

Second World War

On 12 May 1940 the ship laid 80 mines in the waters west of Haaksgronden.^[8] Two days later, on 14 May 1940, Jan van Brakel left for England.^[7] There the ship was made ready in Portsmouth to be able to lay British mines.^[9]

On 1 June 1940 Jan van Brakel left Portsmouth for the River Tyne to lay mines if needed.^[9] Later it also performed escorting duties for allied convoys in British waters.^[7] In April 1942 the ship left for Curaçao to escort allied convoys in the waters of the Caribbean.^[1] After two years of being active in the West Indies, Jan van Brakel returned at the end of 1944 to England and was rebuilt as a mother ship for minesweepers.^[7]

After the Netherlands was liberated Jan van Brakel functioned as mother ship for other minesweepers and was stationed at Terschelling.^[10] However, this was only for a short duration as the ship left on 14 October 1945 for the Dutch East Indies together with eight minesweepers.^[11] On 28 January 1946 they arrived and began clearing minefields that were still present in the territorial waters of the Dutch East Indies.^[12] Later Jan van Brakel was also used as hydrographic survey vessel.^[13][14]

In 1951 the ship returned to the Netherlands and was rebuilt as a small frigate.^[14] After being taken back into service in April 1953 it fulfilled the same duties as it did before the Second World War.^[15]

In June 1955 the ship left for Dutch New Guinea and performed patrol duties.^[14]

On 1 August 1957 Jan van Brakel was decommissioned and afterwards used as target ship near Biak.^[3]