The Dutch Navy in WW2

Buy my book here: https://a.co/d/0fIpWMfH Support my channel on Patreon:   / hiddenhistoryyt   Thanks for watching, remember to like & subscribe! The Royal Netherlands Navy in 1939 was a small modern force built around the new flagship cruiser De Ruyter, the older cruisers Java and Sumatra, eight destroyers, and an unusually capable submarine arm. After the German invasion of the Netherlands in May 1940, the surviving home-water units escaped to Britain and continued the war in exile. The main fight was thousands of miles away in the Dutch East Indies. The colonial fleet became part of the short-lived ABDA Command in early 1942 under Dutch Vice Admiral Karel Doorman. On the night of February 27, 1942, Doorman led an Allied squadron at the Battle of the Java Sea against a Japanese invasion force, lost most of his ships to torpedoes and gunfire, and went down with De Ruyter. Java was sunk in the same action. HNLMS Tromp, Evertsen, and other ships were lost soon after at Sunda Strait. Dutch submarines fared better, sinking more Japanese tonnage than any other Allied submarine arm of the early Pacific war. The navy in exile fought on with the Royal Navy until 1945. If you feel that this content in some way infringes on your own content please reach out to [email protected] #navy