Netherlands East Indies Fleet 1941-45

mordvin

It's a little known fact that the Dutch navy was substantially involved in the early Pacific campaigns. In fact, until the debacle at the Battle of the Java Sea, a Dutch admiral was in command of the Allied ABDACOM (American, British, Dutch, Australian Command) fleet. It consisted of approx. 4 light cruisers, 12 destroyers, 9 submarines and 4 inshore defense heavy gunboats.

This force's effectiveness was greatly compromised by the fact that these disparate forces had never worked together before, lacked effective air support, and that at least half of the American torpedoes used also by the Dutch were duds. Most of this fleet was destroyed by March of 1942, but several surviving Dutch ships served with the U.S. Navy, most notably the Tromp and the Van Heemskerck which were converted to anti-aircraft cruisers.

I think that a title on this little known and ultimately doomed force would be of great interest.

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