HNLMS Java was the lead ship of the Java-classlight cruisers operated by the Royal Netherlands Navy. She was designed to defend the Dutch East Indies and outperform all potential rivals. She was laid down in 1916, but a series of delays saw her commissioning nearly a decade later in 1925. By the time she entered service, her design was already dated. Over the next several years, she operated in the Indonesian archipelago and protected merchant ships during the Spanish Civil War. During World War II, she joined allied forces as part of the ABDA fleet, participated in several failed attempts to intercept Japanese invasions of the East Indies, and fended off several air attacks. During the Battle of the Java Sea, she was ambushed by the cruiser Nachi. A torpedo struck her magazine; the resulting explosion ripped the ship apart and she promptly sank. Her wreck was later illegally salvaged for metal in the 2010s, which destroyed most of the ship.
During the early 20th century, the primary purpose of the Dutch Navy was the protection of the economically vital Dutch East Indies.[1]:385 In 1914, the Navy planned for a large expansion of its fleets, concerned about Japanese naval expansion and the need to maintain Dutch neutrality during World War I. One major aspect of the plan was the Java-class cruiser, intended to outperform all comparable cruisers, especially those of Japan. The new Japanese Chikuma-class scout cruiser - with 5,000 long tons (5,080t) displacement, eight 15cm (5.9in) guns and a top speed of 26 knots (48km/h; 30mph) - was used as a template for what the new design needed to surpass.[2]:5,6,8
Design
When Java and her class was designed in 1915, the Navy believed they were the most powerful and modern cruisers in the world. She had ten 15cm (5.9in) guns: two on the bow, two stern, and three guns on either side. The rest of her armament consisted of four 7.5cm (3.0in)anti-aircraft guns, four 12.7mm (0.50in)machine guns, and 36 mines. She had a length of 155.3m (510ft), beam of 16m (52ft), draft of 5.5m (18ft), and a displacement of 8,278 long tons (8,411t). Her top speed of 30 knots was achieved by three turbines powered by eight boilers which provided 73,000 shaft horsepower (54,000 kilowatts) to three propellers. Her armor consisted of 125mm (4.9in) around the conning tower, 100mm (3.9in)gun shields, 75mm (3.0in)armored belt, and an armored deck between 25–50mm (1–2in) thick.[2]:10
Construction
Dutch naval architects had no experience with a ship such as Java, so design work and construction of various parts was done by the German Germaniawerft and Krupp. On 15 November 1915, she was ordered from the N.V. Koninklijke Maatschappij De Schelde shipyard in Vlissingen and laid down on 31 May 1916.[2]:8 The reliance on German expertise soon backfired as World War I and the Treaty of Versailles crippled the German arms industry, which lead to supply shortages. In conjunction with a series of strikes and delays in building the ship's engines, construction stalled for years.[2]:8,9[3]:73 Progress restarted in 1920, although the third ship of the class, Celebes, was canceled during the construction pause.[2]:8,9Java was launched on 9 August 1921, and finally completed on 1 May 1925.[4]:190
The significant delays of her construction saw the ship outdated by the time she entered service. The Washington Naval Treaty in 1922 created a new standard of cruiser equipped with 203mm (8.0in) guns, which Japan heavily invested in. Other elements of her design were dated at launch, such as her single-barrel open turrets that shared a magazine compared to enclosed, multi-gun turrets with an independent magazine popular with other navies.[5]:138[2]:10
Service history
Java c.1935, after her refit
Peace time
After her commissioning, Java sailed to Sweden and Norway before she left for the Dutch East Indies. For the next several years, she operated in the Indonesian Archipelago and visited numerous cities throughout Asia and Oceania. In 1937, she left Asia and protected convoys traveling through the Straight of Gibraltar during the Spanish Civil War for several months in 1937. While in Europe, she participated in the 1937 Spithead Fleet Review before returning to the Netherlands for a refit.[1]:191 During her refit, her anti-air armament was swapped out four twin Borfors40mm (1.6in) guns.[2]:10 Once work was done in January 1938, she resumed convoy escort duty in Gibraltar before she returned to the East Indies in May.[1]:191
On 13 October that year she collided with Piet Hein in the Sunda Strait. Java had to be repaired at Surabaya.[6]
Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor and Japanese attacks on British Malaya, the Dutch government-in-exile declared war on Japan on 8 December 1941.[2]:37 Now in a war zone, Java continued to escort convoys.[4]:191 Over the next two months, Japan's rapid advances across Southeast Asia overwhelmed the region's Allied naval forces. In an effort to coordinate resistance, elements of the Australian, British, Dutch, and American navies formed ABDACOM: an ad hoc command that brought together each nation's available ships under a (nominally) unified structure. One of ABDACOM's first steps was the formation of an offensive fleet - the Combined Striking Force - composed of a mix of American and Dutch cruisers and destroyers. After initial delay, Java was reassigned to the Striking Force that was in desperate need of ships. Command of the fleet was under Dutch Admiral Karel Doorman on his flagshipDe Ruyter, who was already in charge of the Dutch East Indies Fleet.[5]:176–177,208-209
Java's first role in the Combined Striking Force was to intercept the invasion of Sumatra.[5]:206–208 A floatplane from De Ruyter found the Japanese invasion fleet, and the Allies were likewise detected. Without air support, the fleet was molested by Japanese bombers throughout Valentine's Day. Miraculously, no ships in the fleet were hit. Nevertheless, Doorman ordered a retreat, concerned about the possibility of further attacks.[5]:209–211
Japan's next target was Bali. The Allies knew the fall of Bali would directly threaten ABDA's bases on Java, and that an immediate response was needed.[5]:224 A force to counterattack was assembled, but due to time constraints, the Allies were unable to coordinate a unified strike. Instead, the operation was planned in several waves. The first wave was led by Java and De Ruyter, along with several destroyers. The plan was for the two cruisers to sail by at night and attack the invasion force's escorts and draw them away. This would leave the transports vulnerable to a follow-up attack by Allied destroyers.[5]:227–229,[226]
On the night of 19 February, the battle began when the two cruisers found the destroyers Asashio and Ōshio escorting a transport off Bali. After catching the Japanese by surprise, the ships opened fire. However, limited communication and poor visibility prevented the ships from hitting each other. After ten minutes, Doorman believed the destroyers were sufficiently damaged and took the cruisers north, and hoped that he was followed.[5]:230–232 The Japanese did not take the bait. Instead, they then engaged the Allied destroyers, routing them and sinking the Dutch destroyer Piet Hein in the process.[5]:233
On the 26th, the Allies learned that the invasion of Java was underway. Doorman intended to use everything at his disposal to repel the assault, and was reinforced by units from the Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy.[7] The enlarged fleet, comprising five cruisers and nine destroyers from four nations, moved to intercept the Japanese forces off Java. Contact was made in the mid-afternoon, and the two fleets engaged at long range. The distance made accurate gunnery difficult: Java's salvos all missed and she was likewise not hit herself.[8]:83–84,[80]
About 20 minutes into the battle, the Japanese fleet launched a large salvo of Type 93 torpedoes and hoped the Allied fleet would not expect such an attack from such an extreme range. The only hit was to the destroyer Kortenaer, which promptly sank. The gunnery duel continued: HMS Exeter was struck in her boiler room, which cut her speed to 11 knots (20km/h; 13mph). As Exeter turned to withdraw and avoid colliding with the ships behind her, Java and the trailing cruisers followed suit and mistakenly believed an order to do so had been given by De Ruyter. Doorman then desperately had his now-isolated cruiser reform the battle line and ordered several destroyers to make torpedo attacks as cover.[8]:84, 86
Once reunited, he then broke off from the engagement and circled around the Japanese to intercept the transports somewhere in the north.[8]:89 The force was now reduced to the cruisers De Ruyter, Java, Houston, and Perth. The destroyers had either been sunk, severely damaged, tasked with escorting the crippled Exeter, or forced to break off due to lack of fuel and torpedoes.[8]:89, 92, 96
Sinking
Japanese heavy cruiser Nachi (pictured) torpedoed Java with devastating effect
The cruisers were temporarily followed by Japanese floatplanes, which gave the enemy an understanding of the fleet's route. Unaware, the Allied cruisers passed near the invasion force but were ambushed by the Japanese heavy cruisersHaguro and Nachi. Under cover of darkness, the Japanese closed to 9,000 yards (8,200m) undetected and fired a spread of torpedoes followed by a renewed gun duel. Java's crew, exhausted and low on ammunition, did not shoot back at such a long range. When the torpedoes were detected, the fleet took evasive action. Java, at the end of the battle line, did not turn in time and was struck by a torpedo from Nachi near her magazine. The older ship, which lacked modern protections, redundancies, and had a centralized magazine, was obliterated in the following explosion. The rear-most gun and 100 feet (30m) of her stern was blown off in an explosion so large that it was felt onboard other ships in formation. Damage control was hopeless and the engine room began to flood. The order to abandon ship was given. Crews were initially calm, but they struggled to access the ship's life vests that were all kept locked in a single compartment that had only one hatch, which lead to a mob trying to access the vests. The ship sank in 15 minutes, which left little time to deploy lifeboats. Sailors jumped ship independently and clung onto anything thrown overboard.[5]:314-317
Wreck
Her wreck was discovered by an amateur diver in 2002, but an expedition in 2017 was only able to find an imprint left in the seabed. The wreck's disappearance was part of a trend where shallow World War II-era shipwrecks were blown apart and salvaged by groups posing as fishermen. The Dutch government launched an investigation, offended at the mass disturbance of war graves.[9] The vessel believed to be responsible, the Chinese dredgerChuan Hong 68, was detained by Malaysian authorities in 2024 and accused of dismantling the wrecks for either low-background steel or scrap metal.[10][11] In 2018, The Guardian reported that the bones from Java and other warships were removed from their respective wrecks during scrapping and dumped in several mass graves. The Dutch and Indonesian governments collaborated in the investigation, exhumed suspected graves, and laid out plans to prevent further damage to the shipwrecks.[12][13][14]
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Noppen, Ryan K. (2020). The Royal Netherlands Navy of World War II. New Vanguard Series. Paul Wright (1sted.). London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. ISBN978-1-4728-4191-9.
↑ van Oosten, F. C. (1 January 1974). Warship Profile 40: Her Netherlands Majesty's Ship De Ruyter. Profile Publications. ASINB0007C1ABY. ISBN9780853830627.
1 2 3 4 Stille, Mark (26 November 2019). Java Sea 1942: Japan's conquest of the Netherlands East Indies (Onlineed.). Osprey Publishing. ISBN978-1472831613.
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