Orange America

During the period that Imperial Skies covers (late C.19th/early C.20th), three foreign powers had colonies in South America. We covered the British and French colonial fleets stationed in the Guianas, and today we complete the set with a small Dutch flotilla based in Dutch Suriname.

The largest vessel is the Van Ghent class light battleship, which is preferred to the smaller De Ruyter cruisers because of its longer range and endurance, although several of the latter are also based in the main Dutch base in Paramaribo. Also found on colonial policing duty in the Suriname flotilla are Crijnssen class destroyers and Onversaagd class frigates, both older types.

Suriname is rich in a number of natural resources, so there is a steady stream of merchant traffic transporting all manner of goods. In particular, Suriname has significant amounts of bauxite, a type of aluminium ore, which is shipped back to Europe and used in the production of lightweight airship frames. As part of this release we also have a pair of small Dutch merchants – the Zaandam freighter and Batavia Bauxite Carrier.

Our Imperial Skies South America project is finally nearing its conclusion – after today’s release we have just one more country left to complete the set, and we promise you’ll be seeing the Venezuelans very shortly.

VANF-1012 – Dutch Suriname Flotilla – £14.00
VANF-5010 – Dutch Bauxite Convoy – £14.00
VAN-1006 – van Ghent class Light Battleship – £7.50
VAN-1007 – Crijnssen class Destroyer – £2.00
VAN-1008 – Onversaagd class Frigate – £1.50
VAN-5021 – Zaandam class Merchant – £2.00
VAN-5022 – Batavia class Bauxite Carrier – £1.50