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Warship Wednesday (on a Thursday) Aug. 1, 2024: Going Dutch on a (Baby) Flat-top

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Here at LSOZI, we take off every Wednesday to look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1954 period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places.- Christopher Eger

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Warship Wednesday (on a Thursday) Aug. 1, 2024: Going Dutch on a Baby Flat-top

Nederlands Instituut voor Militaire Historie 2158_005349

Above we see a big Vliegtuigsquadron 860 (VSQ 860) Fairey Firefly Mk. I of the Dutch Marine Luchtvaartdienst, her quad 20mm Hispano Mk.V cannons clearly visible on her folded wings, as the strike aircraft is being made ready to launch from the deck of Hr.Ms. Karel Doorman (QH 1), Holland’s first vliegkampschip (aircraft carrier), to join operations against rebel forces on Java on 13 October 1946.

It was the jeep carrier’s second war.

But we are getting ahead of ourselves.

Meet Nairana

The Tasmanian word for a huge (and endangered) wedge-tailed eagle local to those seas, the first HMS Nairana got her name honest– she was born with it as the Huddart Parker Lines passenger ferry TSS Nairana, ordered from the Scottish firm of William Denny & Brothers in January 1914. While still on the ways, the 352-foot/3,000-ton passenger steamer was converted to handle seaplanes and commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1917.

Outfitted with a 95-foot flying platform, she could carry as many as eight single-engine floatplanes and finished the war with the Battle Cruiser Force before heading to North Russia to support the Allied intervention there during the Russian Civil War. Returned to her original owners in 1921, she worked in the commercial trade in Australia until 1948, including troopship service in WWII.

The first HMS Nairana, a seaplane tender, in her 1917-1918 dazzle pattern camouflage. Note her forward flying deck, stern recovery boom, hangar, and several small Sopwith floatplanes. IWM SP 1292, photo by Surgeon Oscar Parkes

Our subject had much the same backstory, just a 1940s version.

Laid down in November 1941 as a fast refrigerated cargo/passenger carrier by the Scottish shipbuilding firm of John Brown & Company on the Clydebank for Port Lines, she instead was diverted to Admiralty use once the new war got going. Acquired by the Royal Navy in 1942, she was soon finished as an escort carrier, HMS Nairana (D 05). Her only sister was the similarly converted HMS Vindex (D 15) while a third ship, HMS Campania (D 48), is more of a half-sister.

Nairana line drawing by Dr. Dan Saranga

Commissioned on 26 November 1943, Nairana went 17,000 tons (fully loaded) with an overall length across the flight deck of 528 feet while her beam ran 68 feet wide. Armament was two twin QF 4″/45 cal DP Mk XVI guns, four quad 40mm Mk VII QF pom-poms (possibly the most British of AAA guns), and eight twin 20 mm/70 Oerlikon Mark Vs.

Belowdecks was a 231-foot hangar serviced by a single centerline elevator. She had a single C-II catapult installed, which was capable of launching a 6.4-ton aircraft from a standstill to 70 knots. Her avgas capacity was 62,000 gallons, enough to fuel an empty Swordfish 370 times or a Martlet (Wildcat) 452 times. It was thought this sufficed to support a wing of as many as 20 single-engine aircraft.

Speed was 17 knots on her economical marine diesels, with a cruising range of 13,000nm at 15 knots– a convoy escort dream!

They would ultimately carry Type 277, Type 281В, and Type 293 radars.

Nairana and her sister(s) were a little larger and a couple knots faster than the most numerous RN escort carriers– the 34 American-built Bogue-class CVEs sent over via Lend-Lease and known as the Ameer, Attacker, Ruler, or Smiter class in British service depending on their arrangement. However, the Bogues had a second elevator and were thought capable of operating as many as 28 aircraft despite their smaller hangars and flight decks.

War!

The Royal Navy Research Archive has a great entry on Nairana’s WWII service but we’ll do more of a sum up for brevity.

HMS Nairana, escort carrier, 17 February 1944, Greenock, Scotland. Note the abundance of Carley floats and an embarked airwing. Photo by LT SJ Beadell, IWM A21848

Embarking her first air group of 12 Mk. II Swordfish and the personnel of the Fleet Air Arm’s 838 Squadron on 17 December 1943 (soon changed out to a mix of nine Swords and a half dozen Sea Hurricane Mk. IIcs of 835 NAS), our little carrier was nominated for service in the Western Approaches with the Liverpool-based 2nd British Escort Group. The role: Atlantic convoy defense.

Between 29 January 1944 when she tapped in on OS 066KM and 27 February 1945 when she left RA 064, Nairana helped escort no less than 21 convoys. These ran the gamut from the Freetown, Sierra Leone to Liverpool runs (SL & OS convoys) to Mediterranean runs (KMF, KMS, and MKS convoys) to the very dangerous Kola Pen/Murmansk runs (JW and RA convoys).

HMS Nairana, escort carrier, June 1944, view from one of her planes looking back. Note her camouflaged flight deck. IWM A 24131

HMS Nairana, an escort carrier, underway. Note what appears to be five 835 Squadron Sea Hurricanes forward, which should put this image in January-June 1944. IWM FL 12664

Her air group- which by October 1944 had grown to 14 Mk. III Swords and 6 Mk.VI Martlets of 835 NAS– in particular was very successful, downing at least two Bv138 long-range reconnaissance flying boats and numerous JU88s on the Russia run, along with three giant Junkers Ju 290s of FAGr 5 over the Bay of Biscay. They also reportedly attacked at least two surfaced U-boats (though without any confirmed sinkings).

In between convoy runs, Nairana served as a temporary home to the Barracuda of 768 DLT squadron and the Fireflies of 816 squadron for workups and was tasked with three different anti-shipping raids off the coast of occupied Norway (Operations Sampler, Winded, and Prefix/Muscular) in early 1945.

Of the Norway raids, Winded proved the most successful with Nairana’s Swords, operating alongside those of her sister Campania’s embarked 813 Sqn, managing to blitz four coasters on 28 January off Larsnes/Vaagsö, sinking the J.M. (164 GRT) and Varp (114 GRT) with rockets and bombs. Nobody said ani-shipping operations were glamorous.

By late March 1945, with the Soviets knocking on the door of Berlin and the Western Allies crossing the Rhine, the Atlantic convoy game was starting to wind down. 835 Naval Air Squadron, Nairana’s go-to air group, was disbanded on 1 April 1945 at RNAS Hatston, her Swords put to pasture in favor of Avengers and Barracuda, while her Martlets were handed over to 821 Sqn.

Meanwhile, eyes turned to the Pacific.

From King to Queen

With the British Pacific Fleet getting very muscular in 1945– the RN had six large armored fleet carriers, four light carriers, two maintenance carriers, and nine escort carriers (with over 750 embarked aircraft) along with five battlewagons and 100 escorts arrayed against the Japanese– realization came that the campaign to liberate the Dutch East Indies would soon be underway.

Keep in mind it wasn’t until July 1945 that the first Oboe-series landings in the Japanese-occupied DEI occurred at Balikpapan and it was felt that the campaign to root the Emperor’s forces out would likely take upwards of a year, based on what the U.S. Sixth Army was facing in the Philippines. This coalesced with the thinking that the planned final Allied landings in the Japanese home islands, Operations Downfall, Olympic, and Cornet, would see fighting lasting through most of 1946. Remember, there were still squad-sized units of Japanese surrendering on Hollandia and Morotai as late as 1956– with the latter island where the last holdout wouldn’t be caught until December 1974! 

Therefore, to give the Dutch some carrier power, starting in June 1945, Nairana began a series of operations off Scotland with an embarked squadron (VSQ 860) of the Free Dutch Navy along with officers and senior NCOs to be used as a cadre to operate their own carrier.

The squadron, formed in June 1943, had previously flown Swordfish from two Royal Dutch Shell-owned and manned tankers, MV Gadila and MV Macoma, which had been given flying decks to perform as Merchant Aircraft Carriers. They rode shotgun on 45 convoys.

Gadila (left) and Macoma (right), were converted to MAC carriers in June 1944. They still carried their oil cargo but also embarked 4-to-6 of NAS/VSQ 860’s Swordfish on convoy overwatch through April 1945. Macoma served as a MAC on 24 convoys and Gadila on 21.

Using Fairey Barracuda transferred hot from the RN FAA’s 822 Squadron, the Dutch of VSQ 860 got in their first carrier cats and traps as a squadron from Nairana.

A Fairey Barracuda MK II of NAS/VSQ 860 on the elevator of HMS Nairana, circa November-December 1945. NIMH 2158_102013

A Dutch deck party moving around a NAS/VSQ 860 Barracuda on HMS Nairana, circa November-December 1945. NIMH 2158_102018

A RATO-equipped Fairey Barracuda of Vliegtuigsquadron 860 lifts off from HMS Nairana, rolling over the stowed aircraft barrier. NIMH 2158_102038

A flaps-down NAS/VSQ 860 Barracuda comes in to trap on HMS Nairana under the control of a paddle-equipped LSO, circa November-December 1945. NIMH 2158_022771

A better look at that Dutch LSO, with Nairana’s eight arrestor wires and barricade in the background. Not a lot of room for error on a straight-deck 500-foot CVE! NIMH 2158_102040

A NAS/VSQ 860 Barracuda traps on HMS Nairana, circa November-December 1945. Notably, she had eight arrestor wires while her near-sisters Vindex and Campania only had six. NIMH 2158_102012

HMS Nairana with her hangar deck filled with Barracuda of Vliegtuigsquadron 860, circa November-December 1945. NIMH 2158_102014

Nairana was formally transferred to Dutch control in a quiet ceremony at Gareloch, Scotland on 20 March 1946. The British flag (Union Jack) was lowered and the Dutch Prinsengeus hoisted, with appropriate salutes and honors rendered from both sides.

The changeover NIMH 2158_101372

Her new name, Hr.Ms. Karel Doorman (QH 1), came as a salute to RADM Karel Willem Frederik Marie Doorman, killed in the Battle of the Java Sea in 1942 when his flagship was torpedoed during the battle and he elected to ride it to the bottom rather than abandon ship.

Dutch WWII poster, depicting Admiral Karel Doorman and his flagship light cruiser De Ruyter

Her first Dutch skipper was Capt. Alfred de Booy, a Java-born career naval officer with 28 years of service who had formerly commanded the frigate Hr.Ms. Johan Maurits van Nassau (which was sunk in May 1940) and served as naval attaché in London. 

Karel Doorman on the day she was transferred, 20 March 1946. Note her D 05 hull number she wore as Nairana has been painted out. NIMH 2158_025456

Karel Doorman, 20 March 1946, in rough shape but with her Prinsengeus flying, and her old British D 05 hull number. NIMH 2158_000829

Hr.Ms. Karel Doorman (QH 1) at the Royal Naval Dockyard Rosyth, where she was dry docked for the first three weeks of May 1946 just after the transfer. NIMH 101450

Fresh out of dry dock. Note she still retains her wartime camouflage and Carley floats and has her new QH 1 hull number applied to her bow. NIMH 2158_000845

Note her pennant number has been more haphazardly applied to her starboard side. NIMH 2158_000846

Kaarel Doorman Janes 1946

I found this short (silent) video of her in the NIMH archives from this period. 

Another War!

Following four months of refit and puttering around the North Sea, it was decided to send the country’s first aircraft carrier to its ongoing liberation and pacification efforts in the Dutch East Indies, where Japanese die-hards and Indonesian insurgents were embroiled in a war of independence. Seen off by Prince Bernhard, she would leave Holland in August 1946.

Honor guard, equipped with British Pattern 37 kit and .303 caliber SMLEs, present arms for the visit of Prince Bernhard to the carrier at Rotterdam’s Merwehaven, 6 August 1946. NIMH 2158_101511

Getting right with her gunnery, just in case. Note the peculiar arrangement of the twin Oerlikons on Hr.Ms. Karel Doorman, complete with early aiming computer. NIMH 2158_101519

She proceeded to Glasgow to pick up 15 new (to the Dutch) Firefly Mk Is, transferred from Royal Naval Air Station Fearn, which would be assigned to VSQ 860. Besides the aircraft, Karel Doorman would also pick up some 2,000 tons of parts, tools, and ordnance, as well as 130 aircrew and enlisted.

Another 15 Firefly Mk Is, sold to the Dutch from FAA stocks just after Karel Doorman left Glasgow would go on to equip VSQ 861, then eventually be reassigned to 1 Sqn in the Dutch Antilles. In 1947, the Dutch purchased another 40 upgraded Firely FR.4s, which would be used by 1, 2, 4, 5, and 7 Sqns. This would be augmented by 14 Mark NF.V radar-equipped night fighters delivered in 1949. The final Fireflies acquired by the Dutch were a quartet of ex-Canadian Navy aircraft purchased in 1952. 

Karel Doorman at the George V Docks in Glasgow, 26-to-29 August 1946 giving a good shot of her aft 4″/45 twin mount. NIMH 2158_025464

A VSQ 860 Firefly Mk I, one of 15, being stowed in Karel Doorman’s hangar on 26 August 1946. Note it still carries RN FAA roundels. NIMH 101445.

Observe the small Dutch orange and black triangle national marking applied near the cockpit. This style had already been replaced by the current four-color (blue, white, red, and orange) roundel. NIMH 101375

Leaving Glasgow on 1 September, her crew crossed the equator and called at Simonstown on the way to Java.

Crossing the Line ceremony on board Hr.Ms. Karel Doorman with Captain A. de Booy receiving the “Grand Cross in the Order of the Floating Bar” from Neptune, 11 September 1946. NIMH 101459

While near the Cocos Islands, her Fireflies launched on 13 October and flew some 500 km to the Kemajoran airfield near Batavia, with almost all arriving safely (one cracked up on landing without casualties).

MLD Firefly coming up the elevator on Hr.Ms. Karel Doorman, 13 October 1946. It still has its mix of British and obsolete Dutch markings. NIMH 2158_005348

Fairey Fireflies Mk.I taking off from Karel Doorman. NIMH 2158_000834

A group of four Fairey Fireflies Mk.1 airborne over Hr.Ms. Karel Doorman on their way to Kemajoran airfield. On the left is the frigate Hr.Ms. Van Galen. NIMH 2158_101547

Een formatie van drie Fairey Firefly I carrier-jager-verkenners, behorend tot de vloot van 860 Vliegtuigsquadron. NIMH 2158_012904

Soon afterward, VSQ 860 flew on to Morokrembangan, near Soerabaja in the east of the island, and the Dutch assumed responsibility for air support in the East Indies from the RAF, which had been hard at work doing it since before VJ Day.

Our carrier then commenced in a series of port calls in the region, stopping at Surabaya, Makassar, Moena, Ambon, and Banda.

While at Tandjong Priok near Jakarta, she picked up two captured Japanese floatplanes to be taken back to Holland for tests and display: a Kawanishi N1K (Rex) and an Aichi E13A (Jake).

Hr.Ms. Karel Doorman with a Japanese Aichi E13A floatplane on her deck on 7 November 1946. NIMH 2158_000839

A view showing both the N1K and E13A. NIMH 2158_005346

It was important for the Dutch to police up these former Japanese military planes as the local Indonesian forces (the TKRO) were gathering as many as they could for the coming struggle against the colonial forces. Of note, the Fireflies of VSQ 860 spoiled this in a big way on 27 July 1947 when they destroyed 36 Indonesian aircraft including seven very dangerous Ki-43-II Oscars on the ground at Maguwo airfield, leaving the TKRO in the area just four working aircraft to their name: two Yokosuka K5Y1 Willow (Cureng) biplane trainers, one Mitsubishi Ki-51 Sonia bomber, and one remaining Hayabusha. Interestingly, some of these still survive in the Indonesian Air Force Museum.

On the way back to Europe, by way of Dakar and Casablanca, Karel Doorman visited South Africa from 8 to 18 January 1947, where she was swamped by a local outpouring from the ethnic Dutch Boers.

Hr.Ms. Karel Doorman, sans visible aircraft, at Cape Town with Tafelberg in the background, January 1947. Note her hull numbers have been down-sized from the big white numbers seen earlier. NIMH 2158_000843

Back in Holland, the carrier had a brief refit at NV Dok en Werf Maatschappij Wilton-Fijenoord in Schiedam.

In het dok bij de NV Dok en Werf Maatschappij Wilton-Fijenoord, Hr.Ms. Karel Doorman. 18 February 1947. NIMH 2158_005336

NIMH 2158_005341

She then ventured out to make a series of port calls in Western Europe, in particular visiting London for a week in April. There, she received a silver salver from Albert Victor Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Hillsborough, KG, CH, PC, then the 1st Lord of the Admiralty.

Right 1st Viscount G.H. Hall, First Lord of the Admiralty, talking to Capt. A. de Booy, commander of Hr.Ms. Karel Doorman 18 April 1947. De Booy would go on to become the Dutch Navy’s CNO in 1950 and retire as a vice admiral in 1956. He passed in 1990, aged 89. NIMH 101443

This was followed up with a series of tactical exercises and a trip to Norway and Iceland with the River-class frigate Hr.Ms. Johan Maurits van Nassau (ex-HMS Ribble) and D-Day veteran gunboat-turned-training ship Hr.Ms. Soemba as escorts.

Karel Doorman at Eidfjord, Norway, where she called 18-20 July 1947. NIMH 0018_101559

Hr.Ms. Karel Doorman on the piles at Maashaven, Rotterdam, 7 October 1947. Note she doesn’t have a camo flight deck any longer but still has her side camo. NIMH 2158_005338

In October 1947, she took members of Parliament and government ministers to sea for a series of trials with the country’s first naval helicopter, a Sikorsky S.51/H-5 (“Jezebel”), and Auster liaison aircraft.

The MLD’s Sikorsky S-51 Air Sea Rescue (ASR)/training helicopter H 1 “Jezebel.” In U.S. Navy service, the type was classified as the HO3S and saw much service in Korea on C-SAR missions for downed aircrew. NIMH 2158_026176

A second trip to the Dutch East Indies in the winter of 1947 saw her bring some replacement Fireflies to the country– three (F-22, F-24, and F-27) had been lost to ground fire and one to an accident– along with several Austers.

Taylorcraft Auster Mk.IIIs coming up from Karel Doorman’s hangar to fly ashore at Java. Note the new style roundels. NIMH 2158_005337

Taylorcraft Auster Mk.III taking off from Karel Doorman. NIMH 101381

A group photo of OVW members in front of the OO accommodation of the Marine Air Base Morokrembangan after the arrival of the aircraft carrier Hr.Ms. Karel Doorman in the Dutch East Indies, late 1947. NIMH 2158_025462

Three Fairey Firefly fighter-reconnaissance aircraft of VSQ 860 at Maospati airfield during the so-called Second Police Action (Operation Megatan). Also visible in the photo is an Auster AOP Mk.3 reconnaissance aircraft and a MLD-Catalina maritime patrol flying boat. NIMH 2158_023056

Review of Karel Doorman on 20 December 1947 by Vice-Admiraal Albertus Samuel Pinke, the commander of the naval forces in the Dutch East Indies from 1946 to 1949. Note the height-finding radar on a short tower by the deckhouse. NIMH 2158_101504

Repatriation

On 9 March 1948, Karel Doorman left Holland for the last time, returning to Plymouth where she was returned to the Royal Navy’s custody. Disarmed and with her sensors removed, she was sold for pennies on the pound to Port Line, the shipping company that had originally ordered her in 1941.

Following a conversion back to her more or less planned configuration at Harland and Wolff in Ireland, ex-Nairana/ex-Karel Doorman embarked on her third life as MV Port Victor in September 1949.

She continued her commercial service until 1971 when the well-traveled ship and twice-former aircraft carrier was sold to a breaker in Taiwan.

Her two near-sisters, Vindex and Campania, were the final two escort carriers in RN service.

Vindex and Campania in the 1946 ed of Jane’s.

Like Nairana/Doorman, Vindex was sold back to the Port Lines as the unimaginatively named MV Port Vindex in October 1947 and scrapped at Kaohsiung in August 1971.

Campania, decommissioned in December 1952 after supporting British atomic testing in the Pacific, was scrapped in 1955.

Epilogue

Karel Doorman is remembered fondly by the Dutch Navy as she was essentially the cradle of their sea-going naval aviation.

Maritime art of Hr.Ms. Karel Doorman in the Dutch Naval collection. NIMH 2158_005340

The second Hr.Ms. Karel Doorman (R81), the 19,000-ton former Colossus-class light carrier HMS Venerable, was commissioned into the Dutch Navy on 28 May 1948 and operated until 1970 when she was third-handed to the Argentines as the Veinticinco de Mayo.

Vliegkampschip Hr.Ms. Karel Doorman (R 81) ligt gepavoiseerd op de boeien. 2158_009425

The third Hr.Ms. Karel Doorman (F827), commissioned in 1991, was the lead ship of a new class of ASW frigates for the Dutch. She retired in 2006 and continues to serve the neighboring Belgians as Louise-Marie (F931).

Fregat Karel Doorman (F 827) 2158_009637

The fourth Hr.Ms. Karel Doorman (A833), a 27,000-ton is a replenishment and logistic ship, commissioned in 2015 and is the largest ship to ever serve in the Dutch fleet.

Zr.Ms. Karel Doorman (A833)

As for VSQ 860, they continued flying air support missions over the Dutch East Indies until Indonesian independence in December 1949. After chalking up more than 2,000 sorties over the islands, the 11 remaining Karel Doorman-delivered Fireflies were shipped out.

The Dutch continued to use the type on Biak and Curacao in the West Indies. The last time the Firefly was deployed in anger by a European nation was in 1962 when the MLD flew its remaining aircraft in Biak against Indonesian forces encroaching on Dutch New Guinea before its transfer to Jakarta the next year.

A period Kodachrome of a full-color radar-equipped Firefly FR.Mk.IV night fighter of the Marine Luchtvaartdienst at Biak, Nederlands Nieuw-Guinea, ready to roll, circa 1961. In all, the Dutch operated some 80 Fireflies of all types during the Cold War, losing 25 to accidents and three (all of VSQ 860) to combat, withdrawing the last one in 1963. NIMH 2158_012906

Today– after flying Hawker Sea Fury FB.50s (5 July 1950 – 25 June 1956) and Sea Hawk FGA.50s (18 Sept 1957 – 30 Oct 1964) from the second Hr.Ms. Karel Doorman–860 is in the rotor wing business and has flown Wasps, Lynx (from the third Hr.Ms. Karel Doorman), and now NH90s, which it occasionally flies from the fourth Karel Doorman.

Some things never change.

Ships are more than steel
and wood
And heart of burning coal,
For those who sail upon
them know
That some ships have a
soul.

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Ghosts of the Java Sea, 30 Years Ago

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March 1992: Here we see the Dutch anti-air frigate Hr.Ms. Tromp (F 801), left, steaming next to the Jacob van Heemskerck-class ASW frigate Hr.Ms. Witte de With (F 813) with an SH-14AB Sea Lynx helicopter aloft between them. Trailing is the Kortenaer-class ASW frigate Hr.Ms. Van Kinsbergen (F 809) and a replenishment ship that looks to be Hr.Ms. Poolster (A835). Importantly, the photo-ex was taken right around the 50th anniversary of the Battle of the Java Sea.

Fotoafdrukken Koninklijke Marine photo Via NIMH (ON 2158_018605)

Further, if you have keen eyes, you will notice the Marineluchtvaartdienst Lynx has an ode to The Pink Panther on its nose, the cartoons a tradition for the service’s Lynx

Of note, Tromp carries the name of a Dutch cruiser/destroyer leader that only missed being sunk at the Feb. 28, 1942, Battle of the Java Sea while Witte de With carries the monicker of a Dutch destroyer that survived that clash only to be damaged by Japanese planes on 1 March 1942 at Surabaya and scuttled as the Dutch left Java. Meanwhile, Van Kinsbergen, named for a Dutch naval hero, was a name also carried by a sloop during WWII that, like Tromp and Witte de With, sailed with the Free Dutch forces– capturing 12 German steamers in the West Indies in the early part of the conflict.

Three of the four of the above-shown vessels were evidently so well-maintained in service to the Royal Netherlands Navy that after full careers with the Dutch they sailed for Greece (Van Kinsbergen as Navarinon), Chile (Witte de With as Capitán Prat), and Pakistan (Poolster as Moawin).

Warship Wednesday, March 2, 2022: Burnt Java

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Here at LSOZI, we take off every Wednesday for a look at the old steam/diesel navies of the 1833-1954 period and will profile a different ship each week. These ships have a life, a tale all their own, which sometimes takes them to the strangest places. – Christopher Eger

Warship Wednesday, March 2, 2022: Burnt Java

NIMH photo

Here we see the Koninklijke Marine naval docks at Soerabaja (Surabaya), on the island of Java in the Dutch East Indies. The photo was taken 80 years ago today, 2 March 1942, from the coal jetty towards the West. With the Japanese fast approaching, the Dutch started the destruction of the yard at 11:30 am and you can make out the 1,500-ton dry dock sunk along with the patrol boats P19 and P20. The new 2,500-ton drydock is listing to the right with a cloud of smoke from the Perak oil tanks in the background.

While the scuttling of the Vichy French fleet at Toulon in 1942, and the self-destruction of the Royal Danish Navy at its docks in Copenhagen in 1943 to keep them out of German hands are well-remembered and often spoken about in maritime lore, the Dutch wrecking crew on Java at Soerabaja and Tjilatjap gets little more than a footnote.

Dominated by the Dutch for some 125 years before the Japanese effort to uproot them, Java was one of the centerpieces of the Indonesian archipelago in 1942 and a principal base for the colonial forces. While Borneo, Sumatra, and other islands may have had more resources– including natural rubber and pumping 20 million barrels a year of oil– Java was the strategic lynchpin. Defended by the (nominally) 85,000-man Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) along with their own air force, the ML-KNIL, it was the Dutch Navy and its shore-based long-range patrol craft of the MLD naval air service that was the colony’s first line of defense.

Japanese invasion map of the Netherlands East Indies cropped to show the landings and attack on Java. Note the location of the Dutch naval bases and how far the island is from Darwin. (OSS Collection Stanford University)

However, with the ML-KNIL/MLD’s aircraft swatted from the sky, and the Dutch navy’s largest units– the cruisers Hr.Ms. De Ruyter and Java— sunk at the Battle of the Java Sea on the night of 28 February along with following on Battle of Sunda Strait on 1 March that saw two Allied cruisers sent to the bottom, Java was wide open, and future war criminal Gen. Hitoshi Imamura’s 16th Army started landing on the island at three points directly after.

While Dutch Lt. Gen. Hein Ter Poorten’s force of three KNIL divisions and a mixed brigade worth of British/Australian/American reinforcements would seem on paper to be an even match for Imamura’s troops, the Japanese had the momentum from the start and by 8 March, the Dutch radio station at Ciumbuluit signed off with “Wij sluiten nu. Vaarwel tot betere tijden. Leve de Koningin!” (We are closing now. Farewell till better times. Long live the Queen!)

This effectively ended the short-lived ABDACOM command, severed the Malay-Timor barrier protecting Australia, and was the near-height of the Japanese success in the South Pacific. In March 1942, the Japanese would mount no less than 17 air raids on Western and Northern Australia.

Unescapable

The noose around Java was tight and several vessels that tried to break out failed.

The Japanese cruisers Takao and Atago found the old destroyer USS Pillsbury (DD-227) near nightfall on 2 March and sent her to the bottom with all hands.

At roughly the same time, the Japanese heavy cruiser Maya, accompanied by destroyers Arashi and Nowaki, found the British destroyer HMS Stronghold (H50) trying to escape from Tjilatjap to Australia and sank her, recovering 50 survivors.

The Australian Grimsby-class sloop HMAS Yarra (U77) was escorting a convoy of three British ships (the depot ship HMS Anking, the British tanker Francol, and the motor minesweeper HMS MMS 51) and survivors from the Dutch ship Parigi, from the fighting in Java to Fremantle when they were attacked on 4 March by three Japanese heavy cruisers– Atago, Takao and Maya, each armed with ten 8-inch guns– and two destroyers. The 1,080-ton sloop gave her last full measure but was unable to stop the massacre of the convoy and the Japanese were especially brutal, with reports of close-range shelling by the two Japanese destroyers, witnessed by 34 survivors on two rafts. The blockade-running Dutch freighter Tawali, rescued 57 officers and men from Anking that night, while the escaping Dutch steamer Tjimanjoek found 14 further survivors of the convoy on 7 March, and two days later 13 of the sloop’s ratings were picked up by the Dutch submarine K XI (a vessel that would go on to serve with the British in the Indian Ocean through 1945).

Persian Gulf, August 1941. Aerial port side view of the sloop HMAS Yarra II. She would be sunk along with her three-ship convoy while trying to escape Java on 4 March 1942. (AWM C236282)

Survivors

To be sure, the last large Dutch surface ship in the Pacific, the cruiser Hr.Ms. Tromp had escaped destruction and would serve alongside the Allies for the rest of the war, while her sister Jacob van Heemskerck, arriving too late to be sunk in the Java Sea, would duplicate her efforts.

Likewise, several Dutch submarines had managed to evade the Japanese dragnet and make for Australia, where they would continue their war.

Others, under an order of the Dutch navy commander on Java, RADM (acting) Pieter Koenraad, were ordered to attempt to escape after receiving the code KPX. (Koenraad and his staff embarked on the submarine Hr.Ms. K-XII, which made it to Australia safely, and from there he left for England, returning to Java in 1945 with the Free Dutch forces)

The 500-ton net-tender/minesweeper Hr.Ms. Abraham Crijnssen, capable of just 15 knots and laughably armed, famously decided to try for Australia camouflaged as a small island, leaving Java on 6 March with a volunteer crew and making it to safety on 20 March.

Personnel covered the ship in foliage and painted the hull to resemble rocks. The ship remained close to shore during the day and only sailed after sunset, sometimes traveling less than 50 miles a night. “Mijnenveger Hr.Ms. Abraham Crijnssen (1937-1961) gecamoufleerd in een baai (Soembawa) in Indische wateren in 1942.” (NIMH 2158_000014 and 2158_028298)

The scuttling itself

This left all the vessels too broken, under-armed, or small to break through the Japanese blockade and make it 1,200 miles across dangerous waters to Australia. Not wanting them to fall into the hands of the Japanese, the Dutch, and their Allies took the wrecking ball to over 120 vessels on Java at Soerabaja, Tanjon Priok, at Tjilatjap on 2 March.

The largest of these under Dutch naval control, Hr.Ms. Koning der Nederlanden was a 70-year-old 5,300-ton ramtorenschip ironclad that had been disarmed and turned into a barracks ship in 1920. She hadn’t left the harbor in generations under her own steam, so this was a no-brainer.

The Hr.Ms. Koning der Nederlanden originally mounted a pair of Armstrong 11-inch rifled muzzle-loading guns in each of her two turrets and was protected by 8 inches of iron plate. Used as an accommodation ship for the flotilla of Dutch submarines in the islands, she was set on fire and sunk at Soerabaja on March 2. (Photo NIMH)

Other large ships sent to the bottom were a group of Allied merchantmen trapped in the harbors including three 7,000-9,000-ton Dutch Java-China-Japan Lijn line cargo ships– Tjikandi, Tjikarang, and Toendjoek— scuttled as blockships. In all, 39 merchantmen were torched, mostly small Dutch coasters and empty tankers, but including three British Malay vessels (SS Giang Seng, Sisunthon Nawa, and Taiyuan) that had escaped Singapore, the 1,600-ton Canadian freighter Shinyu, and the small Norwegian tramps, Proteus and Tunni.

The two most potent Dutch combat vessels left in Java, the Admiralen-class destroyers (torpedobootjagers) Hr.Ms. Banckert and Witte de With did not survive the day. These 1,650-ton Yarrow-designed boats were built in the late 1920s and, capable of 36 knots, carried four 4.7-inch guns and a half-dozen torpedo tubes. Both had been severely mauled in surface actions with the Japanese and were unable to evacuate to Australia. The Dutch built eight of these destroyers and lost all eight in combat with the Germans and Japanese within 22 months of Holland entering the war.

Hr.Ms. Banckert seen in better days (Photo NIMH)

Hr.Ms. Witte de With (Photo NIMH)

Marine docks in Soerabaja. The photo was taken from the warehouse towards the East. Start of the destruction 11:30 am. The 3,000-ton dry dock with the destroyer Hr.Ms. Banckert is seen sinking. The dock had been torpedoed by Hr.Ms. K XVII before the submarine was able to submerge and make for Freemantle with the port’s commanding admiral aboard. On the right is the 227-ton tug/coastal minelayer Hr.Ms. Soemenep.

Speaking of destroyers, the old four-piper Clemson-class destroyer USS Stewart (DD-224) had been severely damaged at Badung Strait, only making it to Soerabaja with her engine room still operating while submerged. Written off, her crew was evacuated to Australia on 22 February and the ship, stricken from the Navy List, was left to the Dutch to scuttle.

USS Stewart (DD-224) steaming at high speed, circa the 1920s or 1930s. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. NH 61898

The Dutch, who had a huge submarine fleet in the region, had three small “K” (for Koloniën or Colonial) subs scuttled at Soerabaja, the 583-ton circa 1923 KVII-class Hr.Ms. K X, the 828-ton circa 1926 K XI-class Hr.Ms. K XIII, and the 1,045-ton circa 1934 K XIV-class Hr.Ms. K VIII.

Colonial Submarine Hr.Ms. K X seen here upon arrival at Surabaya. In the background both the Java class light cruisers (Java and Sumatra) and on the far right a Wolf-class destroyer. 25 December 1924. Fast forward over 17 years later and the little sub was in repair at the same port and unable to get underway for Australia

Onderzeeboot Hr.Ms. K X

Onderzeeboot Hr.Ms. K VIII in drydock

De onderzeeboot Hr.Ms. K XIII op zee

The Hr.Ms. Rigel, a 1,600-ton unarmed local government-owned (gouvernementsvaartuig) yacht used by the Dutch governor-general that had been converted to a minelayer, was too fine to let the Japanese have but too slow to make run the blockade. She ended her career on 2 March as a blockship at Tanjong Priok.

Hr.Ms. Rigel in her prewar livery (Photo NIMH)

When referencing mine craft, the ten Djember (DEFG)-class auxiliary mijnenvegers (minesweepers), small 100-foot vessels of just 175 tons constructed specifically for work in the islands, were all either scuttled or left wrecked on the builders’ ways in Java. Similarly, the five even smaller 74-ton Ardjoeno-class auxiliary minesweepers, the twin 150-ton Alor and Aroe, and the twin 145-ton Ceram and Cheribon, were in the same lot, with the Dutch sinking these as well.

Minesweepers of the 3rd Division, auxiliary minesweepers of the Alor-class in action in the Dutch East Indies in 1941. These were all sunk by their crews on 2 March 1942. Small vessels like these had no hope of storing enough fuel to make it 1,200 miles to Allied lines. (Photo NIMH)

The Alors were built as regional police vessels (politiekruisers) for use in coast guard roles and were outfitted as sweepers in 1939 under naval command. (Photo NIMH)

One great unrealized hope that could have spoiled the Japanese landings was the 17 TM-4 class of motor torpedo boats. Begun at Navy Yard Soerabaja in 1940, they were small and quick vessels, just 63 feet long with a 5-foot draft, they could make 36 knots.

TM-4 klasse motortorpedoboot Hr.Ms. TM 8 portside. Note her two stern torpedo tubes and two forward light machine guns.

Motortorpedoboot Hr.Ms. TM 5 Hr.Ms. TM 8 en Hr.Ms. TM 6. Note the exhaust pipes for their three gasoline aviation engines, salvaged from old seaplanes

Motortorpedoboot Hr.Ms. TM 5 op hoge vaart met op achtergrond Hr.Ms. TM 8

TM8 getting on the plane

As the islands were cut off from Europe due to the German occupation of their homeland, much use of surplus parts was made. This included Lorraine Dietrich gasoline engines from condemned 1920s Dornier Wal and Fokker T-4 aircraft as well as Great War-vintage 17.7-inch torpedo tubes from scrapped Roofdier-class destroyers and Z-class torpedo boats.

Their only other armament was twin Lewis guns. “Motortorpedoboot Hr.Ms. TM 5 (1940-1942), Hr.Ms. TM 8 (1940-1942) en Hr.Ms. TM 6 (1940-1942) afgemeerd.”

Just 12 TM-4s were completed by March 1942, and they were all scuttled, while the other half-dozen were left unfinished onshore.

In the same vein as the TM-4s, the Dutch had planned to build at least 16 130-ton B-1-class subchasers at three different yards around the colony. These 150-foot motor launches, armed with a 3-inch popgun, some AAA pieces, and 20-depth charges, would have gone a long way towards providing the Dutch some decent coastal ASW. However, none were completed in March 1942 and the work done by the time of the fall of Java was disrupted as much as possible.

As a stopgap before the B-1s were complete, the Dutch had ordered eight small wooden-hulled mosquito boats from Higgins in New Orleans.

The Dutch Higgins boats substituted 16 depth charges for the more familiar torpedo tubes used on these vessels’ follow-on brothers as the Navy’s PT boats. They also had a 20mm gun and four .50 cals, in twin mounts with plexiglass hoods. Classed as OJR (Onderzeebootjager= Submarine hunter), the first six arrived as deck cargo in December 1941 and February 1942 but saw little service.

Onderzeebootjager Hr.Ms. OJR 4 (1941-1942) wordt te New Orleans a/b van het ms Poelau Tello gehesen voor verscheping naar Ned. Indië

Two had been lost in gasoline explosions and the Dutch scuttled the remaining four in Java (OJR-1, OJR-4, OJR-5, and OJR-6) on 2 March.

Incidentally, the two undelivered Higgins boats (H-7 and H-8) were delivered after the fall of the Dutch East Indies to the Dutch West Indies where they patrolled around Curacao.

Onderzeebootjager Hr.Ms. H 8 (1942-1946) op weg van New Orleans naar Curaçao

The local Dutch government had several small patrouillevaartuigen gunboats at their disposal outside of naval control, dubbed literally the Gouvernementsmarine or Government’s Navy. Dubbed opium jager (opium hunters), they engaged in counter-smuggling and interdiction efforts around the archipelago as well as tending aids to navigation, coastal survey, and search and rescue work. Once the war began, they were up-armed and taken under navy control and switched from being gouvernementsvaartuig vessels.

Small patrol boats scuttled in Java on 2 March 1942 included Hr.Ms. Albatros (807 tons), Aldebaran (892 tons), Biaro (700 tons), Eridanus (996 tons), Farmalhout (1,000 tons), Fomalhaut (1,000 tons), Gemma (845 tons), Pollux (1,012 tons), and Valk (850 tons).

Flotilla vessel (opium hunter of the Gouvernements-navy) Valk

The arrival of the submarine Hr.Ms. K XIII in the Emmahaven. In the background is the survey ship Eridanus of the Gouvernementsmarine (GM). Taken over by the Navy in September 1939, Eridanus was converted to a gunboat and later scuttled at Soerabaja on 2 March 1942, along with the submarine shown.

Epilogue 

In all, of the more than 120 ships destroyed by the Dutch on Java, almost 90 were small vessels under 1,000 tons such as the Djembers, the TM torpedo boats, and the assorted coastal patrol, subchasers, and minelayers. Many of their crews were marched into Japanese POW camps to spend the next four years in hell, while a small trickle was able to escape on their own either into the interior– keep in mind that about half of the rank and file in the Dutch Far East fleet were local Indonesians– or manage somehow to make for Allied-controlled areas.

The Japanese were able, as the war dragged on, to raise and salvage many of the scuttled vessels and return them to service in the IJN. Likewise, several of the TMs and B-1s that were left unfinished were eventually launched under the Rising Sun flag.

Imperial Japanese Navy Type-101 MTB, ex-Dutch TM4 ,1943, under attack by USAAF aircraft

Of the larger ships, the destroyer Hr.Ms. Banckert was raised by the escort-poor Japanese in 1944, partially repaired, and put in service as the patrol craft PB-106. On 23 October 1945, VADM Shibata Yaichiro, CINC, Second Southern Expeditionary Fleet, surrendered Java to Free Dutch Forces, and Banckert/PB-106 was returned to the Dutch, who promptly sank her in gunnery exercises.

The stricken Asiatic Fleet destroyer, ex-USS Stewart, whose hull had been broken and her crew had left her scuttling to the Dutch, was also salvaged by the Imperial Japanese Navy, and entered service as Patrol Boat No. 102 in 1943, rearmed with a variety of Dutch and Japanese weapons and her funnels retrunked into a more Japanese fashion. Found at Kure after the war, she was taken over by a U.S. Navy prize crew in October 1945 and steamed under her own power (making 20 knots no less!) across the Pacific to Oakland.

Her old hull number was repainted and a Japanese meatball was placed on her superstructure, she was sunk by the Navy in deep water in May 1946.

Ex-USS Stewart (DD-224) under attack while being sunk as a target on 24 May 1946. Airplanes seen include an F4U Corsair in the lead, followed by two F6F Hellcats. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Catalog #: 80-G-702830.

When the Dutch returned to Java in 1945, besides resuming control of the few vessels still around that had been refloated by the Japanese– craft which was soon discarded– they embarked on a campaign to salvage many of the rest, with hulks shipped off to Australia where they were broken into the 1950s. 

Remains of former Dutch submarine K VIII, Jervoise Bay, Cockburn Sound, Western Australia in 1956 after being blowup for scrapping.

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The German Flying Boats Busting Japanese Tin Cans

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Dornier Flugzeugwerke’s all-metal three-engined Do 24 flying boat was designed in the mid-1930s to replace the Dutch Navy’s Dornier Do J Wal (whale) aircraft flown in the Dutch East Indies.

Below we see a Dornier Wal, taking off next to the Dutch cruiser Java, somewhere in the Dutch East Indies. As pointed out by Georgios Nikolaides-Krassas, an avid LSOZI reader, the Wal was “Do-24s ‘grandfather,’ so to speak, and predecessor in the Netherlands Naval Aviation Service (Marineluchtvaartdienst-MLD). Judging by the presence of the 75 mm/55 cal. Bofors/Wilton-Fijenoord Mark 4 AA guns and the awnings, the photograph must have been taken in the Dutch East Indies at some point between 1926, when the Do-J was introduced in MLD service, and the refit in the early 1930s that saw the removal of said AA guns, a few years before the first flight of the prototype of Do-24 (which, it must be pointed out, was developed to meet a requirement by the MLD).”

The Do 24 was a big, beautiful aircraft, with an 88-foot wingspan– nearly as wide as the famed PBY Catalina. With a 150kt cruising speed, the ability to carry over 2,600-pounds of ordnance under its wings, and a 1,600nm range, they could pose a serious threat to approaching sneaky enemy fleets.

Dornier Do-24K-1 maritieme patrouillevliegboot X-13 (1938-1942).

Bomb suspension of the first Dornier Do 24K-1 maritime patrol flying boat (German: Hochsee-Aufklärungsflugboot) of the Naval Aviation Service (MLD), built by Dornier in Friedrichshafen (South Germany). They could carry six 200 kg (440-pound) bombs, three under each wing. Also, note the searchlight on the engine cowling.

The Dutch wanted 90 of the aircraft, with the first third built by Dornier in Germany and the rest under license by Aviolanda in Holland.

A formation of nine Dornier Do-24K maritime patrol flying boats and six smaller Fokker T.IV naval bombers over ships of the Royal Netherlands Navy, circa 1939.

However, by 1940, this plan was dead in the water.

When the Germans swept through the Lowlands in May 1940, they captured 26 incomplete aircraft in Holland and went on to build another 159 for the Luftwaffe on the Dutch line, substituting BMW-made Braamo engines– the same type used in the Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the globe, some 37 Do.24s were in service in the Dutch East Indies, concentrated mostly at Naval Air Station Morokrembangan near Soerabaja in eastern Java, and proved vital in the short three-month campaign for those islands.

De Dornier Do-24K-1 maritieme patrouillevliegboten X-2 (1938-1941) en X-3 (1938-1942)

It was a Do.24 that alerted the Dutch garrison at Tarakan that the Japanese invasion fleet was over the horizon, allowing the important oil fields there to be put to the torch.

Dornier 24 flying boat of the Royal Netherlands Navy sights the Japanese invasion fleet off Kuching, British Borneo, 23 December, 1941

The Japanese Fubuki-class destroyer Shinonome met her end on the morning of 17 December 1941 while part of the Borneo invasion force at the hand of a Do 24.

As detailed by Combined Fleet: 

  • 0650 [Tokyo time; Dutch time local 0550] While in distant company of HIYOSHI MARU and W-7 the SHINONOME was attacked shortly after dawn by Dutch flying boat X-32 of GVT-7 (GVT = Groep Vliegtuigen = Aircraft Group) off Miri, Borneo (04-24 N, 114 E). Five bombs were dropped, with two direct hits and one near-miss observed. One of them detonated an aft magazine: SHINONOME came to a stop, heeled over, and went down by the stern within five minutes.
  • 0700 HIYOSHI MARU and W-7 attacked by Dutch Flying Boat X.33. Attack ended.
  • 1020 MURAKUMO sees a huge column of white water erupting from the sea in the area of Baram Lighthouse and a huge underwater shock is felt at the same time. It seemed like a deep super depth charge in its concussion.
  • 1246 To investigate, MURAKUMO cast off from No.3 TONAN MARU after having first refueled. The destroyer thereafter discovered a ten-meter long patch of oil about fifteen kilometers off Baram Lighthouse containing relatively little debris. Most poignantly, the only recognizable item was a barrel of radishes, known to have been embarked by SHINONOME from the supply ship SURUGA MARU at Camranh Bay.
  • 1930 MURAKUMO gave up searching for survivors, having found not a single one. Returned to Miri and assigned patrol duties. Thus Lt.Cdr. Sasagawa and all hands – some 221 officers and men – perished.

After it became apparent that the Dutch East Indies could not be held in the face of the overwhelming Japanese effort, 11 surviving Dorniers were able to evacuate to Australia in late February 1942– some 80 years ago today.

Three days later, an air raid on Roebuck Bay left five of the remaining Do.24s sunk, along with four Dutch PBYs.

“A Japanese air raid on Tuesday morning 3 March 1942 resulted in the loss of nine MLD flying boats, which were moored in Roebuck Bay near Broome (Western Australia). These were the Dornier Do-24K-1 flying boats X-1, X-3, X-20, X-23, X-28, and the Consolidated PBY-5 Catalina flying boats Y-59, Y-60, Y-67, and Y -70. The photo shows the smoke development, which presented a sinister spectacle over the bay just after the attack.”

The final six Do 24s served with the Australians, absorbed in No. 41 Squadron RAAF as A49 1-6, serving as amphibian transports between Australia and New Guinea until late in the war.

Lake Macquarie, Australia’s largest coastal saltwater lake, C. 1943. A Dornier Do 24 Of the Dutch Royal Marine Airforce flies low over the lake. AWM 044610.

The exiled Do.24s mirrored the work of the Free Dutch No. 320 (Netherlands) Squadron RAF, which was formed from Marineluchtvaartdienst personnel that escaped from Holland to the UK with eight Fokker T.VIIIW twin-engined patrol seaplanes. The latter squadron finished the war flying Hudsons. 

All photos via the NIMH, which has a very nice photo collection of these aircraft in action, both in German and Dutch livery.