| Royal Netherlands Navy Light Cruiser De Ruyter, commissioned in 1935, at sea. Due to budgetary constraints of the Great Depression, light cruiser HNLMS De Ruyter was the only ship of her class. She was in need of an overhaul at the time of the outbreak of the Pacific War. Lack of unified training, difference in languages, and deficiencies in command and control plagued the American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) Command in the 1st months of the Pacific War as they failed to check the Japanese advance through the Java Sea. De Ruyter participated in the Battle of Makassar Strait (February 4, 1942) and the Battle of Badung Strait (February 20, 1942) before she was sunk in the Battle of the Java Sea on February 26. 344 officers and men, including Royal Netherlands Navy Admiral Karel Doorman (April 23, 1889 – February 28, 1942) and De Ruyter’s Captain, Eugène Lacomblé (October 26, 1896 – February 28, 1942). The ship was illegally broken up for scrap in the 2010s. The crews’ remains, if recovered, were removed and disposed of without ceremony. | |
| Image Filename | wwii2202.jpg |
| Image Size | 757.15 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2534 x 1842 |
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| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | January 1, 1939 |
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| Country | Netherlands East Indies |
| Archive | Nationaal Archief |
| Record Number | 934-9813 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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