HNLMS ''Java'' ( nl, Hr.Ms. Java) was a of the
Royal Netherlands Navy
The Royal Netherlands Navy ( nl, Koninklijke Marine, links=no) is the naval force of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
During the 17th century, the navy of the Dutch Republic (1581–1795) was one of the most powerful naval forces in the world an ...
. She was sunk during the
Battle of the Java Sea
The Battle of the Java Sea ( id, Pertempuran Laut Jawa, ja, スラバヤ沖海戦, Surabaya oki kaisen, Surabaya open-sea battle, Javanese : ꦥꦼꦫꦁꦱꦼꦒꦫꦗꦮ, romanized: ''Perang Segara Jawa'') was a decisive naval battle o ...
on 27 February 1942.
Service history
The ship was built by the
''Koninklijke Maatschappij de Schelde'' in Flushing and laid down on 31 May 1916. The ship was launched on 6 August 1921, and commissioned on 1 May 1925.
Later that year on 14 October ''Java'' left the Netherlands for a journey to the
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...
. She arrived in
Tanjung Priok
Tanjung Priok is a district of North Jakarta, Indonesia. It hosts the western part of the city's main harbor, the Port of Tanjung Priok (located in Tanjung Priok District and Koja District). The district of Tanjung Priok is bounded by Laksamana ...
on 7 December that year.
On 29 July 1929 ''Java'', the destroyers and , and the submarines and left
Surabaya
Surabaya ( jv, ꦱꦸꦫꦧꦪ or jv, ꦯꦹꦫꦨꦪ; ; ) is the capital city of the Provinces of Indonesia, Indonesian province of East Java and the List of Indonesian cities by population, second-largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta. L ...
and steamed to Tanjung Priok. There the ships waited for the royal yacht ''Maha Chakri'' of the
King of Siam
The monarchy of Thailand (whose monarch is referred to as the king of Thailand; th, พระมหากษัตริย์ไทย, or historically, king of Siam; th, พระมหากษัตริย์สยาม) refers to the c ...
and the destroyer ''Phra Ruang''. After this the ships, without the submarines, visited
Bangka,
Belitung
Belitung ( Belitung Malay: ''Belitong'', formerly Billiton) is an island on the east coast of Sumatra, Indonesia in the Java Sea. It covers , and had a population of 309,097 at the 2020 Census. Administratively, it forms two regencies (Bel ...
,
Riau
Riau is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the central eastern coast of Sumatra along the Strait of Malacca. The province shares land borders with North Sumatra to the northwest, West Sumatra to the west, and Jambi to the south. Accord ...
,
Lingga Islands
The Lingga Regency ( id, Kabupaten Lingga) is a group of islands in Indonesia, located south of Singapore, along both sides of the equator, off the eastern coast of Riau Province on Sumatra island. They are south of the populated Riau Archipela ...
,
Belawan
Belawan ( zh, t=勿老灣, s=, poj=mài lau ôan) is a harbor in Medan, North Sumatra. Located on the northeast coast of Sumatra, Belawan is Indonesia's busiest seaport outside of Java. It constitutes the most northerly of the city of Medan's 21 ...
and
Deli
Deli may refer to:
* Delicatessen, a shop selling specially prepared food, or food prepared by such a shop
* Sultanate of Deli, a former sultanate in North Sumatra, Indonesia
Places
* Deli, Boyer-Ahmad, a village in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Pro ...
. On 28 August that year they returned to Tanjung Priok.
On 31 August that year she participated in a fleet review at Tanjung Priok. The review was held in honor of the Dutch Queen
Wilhelmina of the Netherlands
Wilhelmina (; Wilhelmina Helena Pauline Maria; 31 August 1880 – 28 November 1962) was Queen of the Netherlands from 1890 until her abdication in 1948. She reigned for nearly 58 years, longer than any other Dutch monarch. Her reign saw World War ...
who was born that day. Other ships that participated in the review where the destroyers ''De Ruyter'' and ''Evertsen''.
On 23 August 1936 ''Java'', her sister ship and the destroyers ''Van Galen'', and were present at the fleet days held at
Surabaya
Surabaya ( jv, ꦱꦸꦫꦧꦪ or jv, ꦯꦹꦫꦨꦪ; ; ) is the capital city of the Provinces of Indonesia, Indonesian province of East Java and the List of Indonesian cities by population, second-largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta. L ...
. Later that year on 13 November she and her sister and the destroyers ''Evertsen'', ''Witte de With'' and ''Piet Hein'' made a fleet visit to
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
. Before the visit they had practised in the South China Sea.
While returning to the Netherlands she was sent to
Gibraltar
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...
where she performed convoy duties during the
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...
in the
Strait of Gibraltar
The Strait of Gibraltar ( ar, مضيق جبل طارق, Maḍīq Jabal Ṭāriq; es, Estrecho de Gibraltar, Archaic: Pillars of Hercules), also known as the Straits of Gibraltar, is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Medi ...
from 1 April to 5 May 1937.
After seven months of refit in the Netherlands she left for the Dutch East Indies on 4 May 1938. Along the way she performed convoy duties in the Strait of Gibraltar from 10 to 13 May and on 25 June that year she arrived in Tanjung Priok. On 13 October that year she collided with ''Piet Hein'' in the
Sunda Strait
The Sunda Strait ( id, Selat Sunda) is the strait between the Indonesian islands of Java island, Java and Sumatra. It connects the Java Sea with the Indian Ocean.
Etymology
The strait takes its name from the Sunda Kingdom, which ruled the weste ...
. ''Java'' had to be repaired at
Surabaya
Surabaya ( jv, ꦱꦸꦫꦧꦪ or jv, ꦯꦹꦫꦨꦪ; ; ) is the capital city of the Provinces of Indonesia, Indonesian province of East Java and the List of Indonesian cities by population, second-largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta. L ...
.
World War II
![HNLMS Java 1939](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/HNLMS_Java_1939.jpg)
As the war with
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
began in December 1941, ''Java'' performed convoy duties in conjunction with British forces. On 15 February 1942, the force which ''Java'' was a part of was attacked by "
Kate Kate name may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Kate (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname
* Gyula Káté (born 1982), Hungarian amateur boxer
* Lauren Kate (born 1981), American autho ...
" bombers from the carrier although no damage was sustained.
On 19 February, the
ABDA
The American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) Command, or ABDACOM, was a short-lived, supreme command for all Allied forces in South East Asia in early 1942, during the Pacific War in World War II. The command consists of the forces of Australia ...
naval forces sailed to Bali to attempt to disrupt Japanese landings there, and the ''Java'' took part in the
Battle of Badung Strait
The Battle of Badung Strait was a naval battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, fought on the night of 19/20 February 1942 in Badung Strait (not to be confused with the West Java city of Bandung) between the American-British-Dutch-A ...
. In this action, fire was exchanged with the Japanese but the ''Java'' took no damage. The Japanese successfully captured Bali while severely damaging the Dutch cruiser and a Dutch destroyer, and sinking the .
On 27 February 1942 ''Java'' took part in the
Battle of the Java Sea
The Battle of the Java Sea ( id, Pertempuran Laut Jawa, ja, スラバヤ沖海戦, Surabaya oki kaisen, Surabaya open-sea battle, Javanese : ꦥꦼꦫꦁꦱꦼꦒꦫꦗꦮ, romanized: ''Perang Segara Jawa'') was a decisive naval battle o ...
. During the evening phase of that battle she was struck by a
Long Lance
The was a -diameter torpedo of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), launched from surface ships. It is commonly referred to as the Long Lance by most modern English-language naval historians, a nickname given to it after the war by Samuel Eliot Mori ...
torpedo fired from the . The torpedo detonated an aft magazine and blew the stern off the ship, causing flooding in the aft engine room and setting fire to the anti-aircraft deck. As the ship took on a heavy list to port, the flooding caused the electrical equipment to shut down. The crew abandoned ship and the ''Java'' sank about fifteen minutes after being struck by the torpedo. 512 of her crew lost their lives in the sinking.
Wreck
The wreck of ''Java'' was discovered by a specialist wreck diving expedition on 1 December 2002, lying on its starboard side at a depth of . The wreck of her consort HNLMS
''De Ruyter'' which was sunk at the same time (as ''Java'') was also discovered on 1 December 2002, whilst HNLMS
''Kortenaer'', sunk during the late afternoon of 27 February 1942, was discovered by the same group in August 2004.
On 15 November 2016 the Dutch Ministry of Defence reported the disappearance of the wreck of ''Java'', along with the wrecks of the
''De Ruyter'' and parts of the
''Kortenaer''. The Royal Netherlands navy announced that they will launch an investigation, suspecting illegal salvage. In February 2017 a report was issued confirming the salvaging of the three wrecks.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Java (1921)
Java-class cruisers
1921 ships
Ships built in Vlissingen
Maritime incidents in February 1942
World War II shipwrecks in the Java Sea
World War II cruisers of the Netherlands
Naval magazine explosions