The Combined Historical Scenario has paid particular attention to the forces in the Netherlands East Indies - largely due to the availability of excellent data sources on these forces. The Dutch Navy and especially Dutch merchant shipping have been expanded and refined – with a total of almost 250 ships included in the OOB.

Naval forces

The Dutch warships in the NEI were divided into three general groups:

1. The Royal Netherlands Navy, East Indies Squadron with a cruiser-destroyer force and a submarine force, plus tenders.
2. The Netherlands East Indies Colonial Navy - locally deployed naval units including minesweepers, Motor Torpedo Boats and minelayers.
3. The Colonial Shipping Service - with patrol craft, survey ships, etcetera. It filled a role roughly equivalent to that of the U.S. Coast Guard.

There was some legal differences in the organization and funding of these three groups but, taken together, they constituted the Dutch Navy in the NEI. To these could be added two general groups of Dutch merchant ships: local shipping in the Netherlands East Indies; and large ocean-going vessels that were spread across the world. Most of these were in the Netherlands East Indies at the beginning of the war and the remainder arrived later.

There was, of course, no new Dutch construction as all Dutch shipyards had been captured. A few allied ships were transferred to the Dutch to utilize there trained crews and many of these served in the Pacific and are represented.

The Dutch had ordered three small light cruisers for Colonial service during World War I. Two of these were completed during the 1920s as Java and Sumatra. The third (to have been named Celebes) was delayed and eventually cancelled and replaced by a more modern design - the De Ruyter. All three of these ships were between six and seven thousand tons and armed with 6-inch guns - slightly smaller than the U.S. Omaha and British "E" class cruisers.

There was also the new Tromp, a small cruiser of the type generally known as destroyer leader. Her sister, Jacob Van Heemskerck, was incomplete when Germany overran the Netherlands but was towed to England where she was armed with British 4-inch guns and became an Anti-Aircraft Cruiser. Two other cruisers under construction were not yet launched and were lost.

Van Heemskerck was in the Atlantic but the other four were in the Netherlands East Indies on December 7th, 1941. Sumatra was out of commission at Soerabaja and, historically, was never put back into commission. She was towed to Australia and then back to Europe and eventually became a breakwater at Normandy. In our scenario (and Scenario 15) she rests at Soerabaja with 33% system damage - although the idea of raising this to 50% might be a good one. Java, De Ruyter, and Tromp were all in commission and Jacob Van Heemskerck was transferred from the Atlantic in February, 1942.

All seven surviving Admiralen class destroyers were in the NEI, with one undergoing refit at Soerabaja.

Four more-modern destroyers had been under construction in the Netherlands when war began. Three were lost on the stocks but one of them was towed incomplete to England. Isaac Sweers, like Jacob Van Heemskerck, was completed with a British AA armament and was transferred from the Atlantic just a little too late to help defend the NEI (they both joined the British Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean).

There were also two British “N” class destroyers which had been transferred to the Dutch Navy in the Atlantic – these also arrive in early 1942. Note: in our scenario the “N” class is combined with the very-similar "J" class so these two ships are designated as "J" class.

"The Dutch had originally designated their submarines in two series – the "K" (Kolonien) boats for East Indies Service and the "O" (Onderzeeboot) boats for home service. The practice was abandoned in 1937 and all submarines adopted the "O" prefix, with the boats ordered as K.XIX and K.XX being renamed as O.19 and O.20.

These two, the immediately preceding O.16, and a dozen "K" boats of varying ages comprised the NEI submarine force at the beginning of the war. The four oldest "K" boats were under repair or refit at Soerabaja and were of limited usefulness in any regard. Most of the rest were on patrol when war began.

Five additional Dutch submarines arrived after war began – three new "O" class that had escaped to England and two British "T" class that were transferred to the Dutch later in the war.

The only large gunboat in the NEI was the Soemba – a destroyer sized ship with 6-inch guns. In the Combined Historical Scenario we have also added the old armoured coast defense ship Soerabaja (ex De Zeven Provincen), classed as a gunboat. About the size of a small cruiser and built before World War I, this ship carried 11-inch guns and was used as a convoy escort and transport before being scuttled when Soerabaja fell.

There were also a number of Patrol Craft that belonged to various departments of the Gouvernementsmarine. These ships performed Coast Guard functions and doubled as Survey Ships, Revenue Cutters, even the Governor’s yacht during peacetime. Five of the larger vessels had been equipped to tend the small seaplane flights that the Dutch Navy used for advance reconnaissance (GVT units). The remainder performed normal patrol and ASW duties (until lost).

The Dutch had also purchased six small submarine chasers built by Higgins and slightly larger than a PT boat. These arrived in pairs immediately after the war broke out. The first four, in December, will probably make it. The last two, in February, probably will not.

The Dutch had a fairly large group of minelayers and a mine depot at Soerabaja. They primarily used British mines acquired from the British mine depot at Singapore. The inability to simulate these two mine depots in WITP is a major constraint on proper operation of the Dutch Minelayers.

Largest and best of the minelayers was William van der Zaan – a large and well-armed purpose built vessel with frigate-like characteristics. The seven other minelayers were a mixture of purpose-built and converted ships that were smaller and slower and designed for defensive minelaying. One was still undergoing conversion (completes in mid-January, 1942 if the NEI lasts that long) while two additional ships that were under construction but not completed have been omitted from the OOB.

The best of the minesweepers were four modern units of the Jan van Amstel class. There were also a large number of coastal minesweepers of various classes – both in service and under construction. We have (somewhat arbitrarily) selected one class of these – the Aroe class with seven units – for inclusion. Not too sure how this will work with the minesweeper regeneration rule and we’ve marked this area for possible re-examination.

The Dutch were building a group of steel-hulled PT boats in the NEI. Twelve of the first group (TM-4 thru TM-15) were completed when the war broke out (or soon there-after). Some additional units, TM-16 thru TM-21, were still incomplete when Java fell and have been omitted from the OOB.

The Dutch operated a number of tenders of various sizes and types. Many of these ships were multi-purpose and there was some decision-making required to class them as single-purpose vessels. In addition to the five seaplane tenders above, we came up with:

• Four small repair ships, two in commission and two more still under conversion.
• Two small PT-tenders (one an obsolete sloop and the other a part-time light house tender).
• Three submarine tenders, two originally in Java and a third arriving in 1942 (was based at Columbo).

The Dutch had a large merchant fleet that fell into two general categories: local shipping in the NEI and larger, ocean-going vessels. Many of the larger Dutch ships came under the control of the allied navies and were used as transports. The smaller Dutch ships from the Netherlands East Indies gave excellent service, both in the NEI and later in the waters New Guinea.

There are about 60 larger Dutch Transports and Cargo ships in the OOB. Most of these ships are initially located in the NEI – except for those that we were able to definitely identify at some other location or time of arrival. Many of these were taken over as U.S. Army Transports, which gives us some glimpse of their history. A quick read through a detailed history of the Java and South Pacific campaigns will show many of their names.

Another 60 ships were used for local traffic in and around the NEI. These included the famous KPM (Koninkilje Pakavaart Maatchapijj = Royal Dutch Packet Navigation Company) ships that later performed so well in New Guinea. There are two classes of coastal cargo ship, two of KMP or inter-island steamers, and some ships in the original Scenario 15 "Small Transport" class that we were not able to place in other classes.

There are about 30 Dutch Tankers in the OOB – not surprising considering the extensive oilfields in the NEI. About two-thirds of these were smaller ships for local traffic in the NEI and surrounding areas. The remainder were larger, ocean going ships – including a few left in the original Scenario 15 Small Tanker/Large Tanker classes.