Eugène Edouard Bernard Lacomblé (26 October 1896 – 28 February 1942) was an officer in the

Royal Netherlands Navy The Royal Netherlands Navy (, ) is the Navy, maritime service branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. It traces its history to 8 January 1488, making it the List of navies, third-oldest navy in the world. During the 17th and early 18th centurie ...

from 1914 to 1942. He ended his career on board the ship HNLMS ''De Ruyter''.

Life

After Higher Civic School (''Hogere Burger School'', HBS), Lacomblé trained in navigation at the

Royal Netherlands Naval College The Royal Naval College was the service academy of the Royal Netherlands Navy. From 2005 it is part of the ("Royal naval institute" or KIM) as part of the ("Netherlands defence academy") in Den Helder. It offers a program of four or five year ...

in Willemsoord in 1914. In 1917 he was promoted to lieutenant (Lieutenant ter Zee or LtZ) 3rd class and was posted to the

East Indies The East Indies (or simply the Indies) is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The ''Indies'' broadly referred to various lands in Eastern world, the East or the Eastern Hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainl ...

. There he was assigned to the ''De Ruyter'', then under the command of LtZ N. Maats. Three months later he was made lieutenant second class and posted to the torpedo service on board the torpedo training ship HNLMS Koningin Emma der Nederlanden. He then moved into submarines until the end of 1927, making some trips back to the Netherlands. In 1928, as lieutenant second class, he was made first officer on board the ''Brino'' and within a year rose to lieutenant first class. In 1931 he went to the East Indies for the third time, this time on the mail-ship ''Christiaan Huygens''. Upon arrival in

Surabaya Surabaya is the capital city of East Java Provinces of Indonesia, province and the List of Indonesian cities by population, second-largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta. Located on the northeastern corner of Java island, on the Madura Strai ...

he was, as first officer, placed in the Naval Barracks at Goebeng. At the start of 1932 he was transferred to HNLMS ''De Zeven Provinciën'' and in the summer was made equipagemeester of the Surabaya Naval Establishment. Three years later he returned to the Netherlands and at the end of 1935 was given command of the minelayer ''Douwe Aukes'', stationed at

Ostend Ostend ( ; ; ; ) is a coastal city and municipality in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerke, Raversijde, Stene and Zandvoorde, and the city of Ostend proper – the la ...

and

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine, in northwestern France. It is in the prefecture of Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one ...

. He then spent a few months on the naval staff at the Department of Defence. In 1938 Lacomblé went to the East Indies for the fourth and final time, now on board M.S. ''Marnix van Sint Aldegonde''. After arriving there he was made first officer of the cruiser '' ''De Ruyter'''', then commanded by KtZ H.J. Bueninck. On 1 February 1940 Lacomblé was promoted to Kapitein-LtZ. During the Japanese invasion of the East Indies he was the commander of the ''De Ruyter'', from which

Karel Doorman Karel Willem Frederik Marie Doorman (23 April 1889 – 28 February 1942) was a Royal Netherlands Navy officer who during World War II commanded remnants of the short-lived American-British-Dutch-Australian Command naval strike forces in ...

commanded the 'Combined Striking Force'. On 27 February the ''De Ruyter'' was hit by a Japanese torpedo during the

Battle of the Java Sea The Battle of the Java Sea (, ) was a decisive naval battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II. Allied navies suffered a disastrous defeat at the hand of the Imperial Japanese Navy on 27 February 1942 and in secondary actions over succ ...

and Doorman and Lacomblé got the crew off the ship, though they went down with it themselves.

Honours

* He won the ereteken for long service as an officer. *On 28 May 1949 he was made Knight, 4th class in the

Military William Order The Military William Order, or often named Military Order of William ( Dutch: , abbreviation: MWO), is the oldest and highest honour of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is named after St. William of Gellone (755–814), the first Prince of Ora ...

, with the following citation: {{DEFAULTSORT:Lacomble, Eugene 1896 births 1942 deaths People from Arnhem Royal Netherlands Naval College alumni Royal Netherlands Navy officers Royal Netherlands Navy personnel of World War II Dutch military personnel killed in World War II Knights Fourth Class of the Military Order of William Captains who went down with the ship