HNLMS Gelderland () was a protected cruiser of the Royal Netherlands Navy. During its career in the Dutch Navy it was most notable for being the ship Queen Wilhelmina sent to Portuguese East Africa to transport Paul Kruger to Europe during the Second Boer War. The ship was taken over by the Germans during World War II, rebuilt as an anti-aircraft cruiser and renamed Niobe. Commissioned into the German navy on 1 March 1944, she was sunk in Kotka harbour in Finland on 16 July 1944. Service history The ship was built at the Maatschappij voor Scheeps- en Werktuigbouw Fijenoord in Rotterdam and launched on 28 September 1898. The ship was commissioned on 15 July 1900. On 22 November that year she arrived in Marseille with Paul Kruger who she had picked up in Lourenço Marques by order of the Dutch Government. After dropping Kruger off she left for the Dutch East Indies. During this trip while entering the harbor of Port Said she collided with the British steamer Peterson. The collision required the ship to be repaired at Suez. On 6 January 1901 she could resume her journey and arrived three days later on 9 January in Surabaya. On 6 July 1904 Gelderland and both ran aground near Aroes Lampoejang, South Sumatra because of incomplete maps. The ships were repaired in Surabaya and Singapore respectively. On 17 June 1905 Gelderland and her sisters and Utrecht returned to the Netherlands. The journey involved stops in Tanjung Priok, Mahé, Perim, Port Said, Algiers and Tangier arriving at Den Helder on 30 August that year. In 1908 Gelderland, together with her sisters and , was sent to patrol the Venezuelan coast during the Second Castro crisis. On 17 June 1911 Gelderland left Rotterdam for England. On board was Prince Henry of the Netherlands who traveled to the United Kingdom to attend the coronation of George V. For the last part of the journey Gelderland was escorted by four British torpedo boats. Gelderland was sent to Constantinople on 11 November 1912 because of rising political tension and a direct war threat. A landing party of 100 men was put ashore and took position in the legations section of the city on 18 November 1912. She was relieved by on 30 May 1913. While patrolling along the Dutch coast an explosion occurred on 14 March 1917, killing one man and severely wounding nine others.