The A class were four minesweepers

Minesweeper (ship)

A minesweeper is a small naval warship designed to counter the threat posed by naval mines. Minesweepers generally detect then neutralize mines in advance of other naval operations.-History:...

 of the Royal Netherlands Navy

Royal Netherlands Navy

The Koninklijke Marine is the navy of the Netherlands. In the mid-17th century the Dutch Navy was the most powerful navy in the world and it played an active role in the wars of the Dutch Republic and later those of the Batavian Republic and the Kingdom of the Netherlands...

. They were the first minesweepers of the Dutch Navy specifically designed as such, as earlier minesweepers were converted tugboat

Tugboat

A tugboat is a boat that maneuvers vessels by pushing or towing them. Tugs move vessels that either should not move themselves, such as ships in a crowded harbor or a narrow canal,or those that cannot move by themselves, such as barges, disabled ships, or oil platforms. Tugboats are powerful for...

s.

The A class was based on a German design used during the First World War

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. All ships of the A class were built between 1928 and 1930 at Willemsoord, Den Helder

Willemsoord, Den Helder

Willemsoord is a large former dockyard of the Royal Netherlands Navy in Den Helder. It is now a maritime museum, housing the Dutch Navy Museum and the Nationaal Reddingmuseum Dorus Rijkers. In 2009 the replica of the Dutch East India Company ship Prins Willem which was located in a dock burned...

. All four ships were commissioned on 4 August 1930, and two days later, on 6 August 1930, all four sailed to the Dutch East Indies

Dutch East Indies

The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....

, arriving at Surabaya

Surabaya

Surabaya is Indonesia's second-largest city with a population of over 2.7 million , and the capital of the province of East Java...

 on 30 October 1930.

During the Japanese invasion of March 1942 all four ships were scuttled by their crews. Three of the ships, A, B and C, were salvaged and put into service with the Imperial Japanese Navy

Imperial Japanese Navy

The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...

as auxiliary submarine chasers no. 113, 112 and 116. All were sunk by US forces in 1944–1945.

Source

• Mark, C. Schepen van de Koninklijke Marine in W.O. II Alkmaar: De Alk bv, 1997: 109-110.
• Netherlandsnavy.nl :: A class minesweepers