The East Indies Dutch Navy and the fall of Java 1942

Few people are aware of the tragedy that was the lot of the gallant Dutch Navy in World War 2. Indeed, the war did not stop for the Dutch after Germany invaded their homeland : there remained, on the other side of the planet, a place they had called home for centuries, their Dutch East Indies colony. As of now, this place is called Indonesia, with a booming economy & an expanding population of 285 millions people. But at the start of World War 2, it was a Dutch dominion, ruled from its capital Batavia, modern day Djakarta.

This all came to an end at the end of 1941, when Japan started a war aimed in priority at laying their hands on the mineral & energy ressources of the colony. A mere 3 months later, on 5th March 1942, Batavia fell. For Admiral Hellfrich, commander of the Dutch Navy in the Pacific, Java was home, his birth place, and he made sure forces under his command fought tooth & nail to stop the invasion.

Dutch Surface Naval Forces in the Pacific consisted of 3 light cruisers and 7 destroyers, under the tactical command of Admiral Karel Doorman. The ships were relatively good, and of reasonable age : HNMS Java, the oldest ship, was built in 1921, the most recent, HNMS Tromp in 1937. But facing the more recent Japanese heavy cruisers and destroyers, they were utterly outclassed.

This light cruiser was Admiral Doorman’s flagship. Built in 1935, it carried 7 x 150mm guns in 4 turrets (Turret B had but a single gun), but no torpedoes. It was fast enough, but lightly armored, as most light cruisers built in the thirties. It was sunk at the battle of the Java Sea on February 28th 1942, taking most of her crew, among them Admiral Doorman, to a watery grave.

Built in 1921, it still kept an adequate speed, and its armament was not inferior to that of De Ruyter, consisting of 10 x 150mm guns, the arrangement of which only allowing 7 to fire at a same target. Like De Ruyter, i twas deprived of torpedoes. And like De Ruyter, it met its end at the battle of the Java Sea under the guns of cruisers Haguro & Nachi.

The most recent ship, she was also lighter and less armored, but sported a decent 6 x 150 mm guns main battery. And unlike the other two cruisers, she was fitted with 2 triple torpedo mounts, one on each side of the ship. She was also luckier, having been damaged earlier in February 1942 and sent to Australia for repairs that were completed in May. It kept serving the A llied cause till the end of the war, to be decommissioned in 1955.

8 of these ships, with a variant, were built between 1925 & 1930, so buying both blisters available from  GHQ , 4 models each, will net you the whole class. They were very efficient ships, well designed for their time, but of course, they were hard pressed to fight  the bigger and better armed Japanese destroyers. 1 was lost in Europe, and the other 7 were lost in the campaign around Java.