On February 27, 1942, the Battle of the Java Sea erupted as Allied forces, led by Dutch Rear-Admiral Karel Doorman, made a last-ditch attempt to stop the Japanese invasion of Java.

- Rear Admiral Karel Doorman (Dutch), Fleet Order, 22 February 1942 On 26 February 1942 the Allies received reports of a large Japanese fleet approaching Java, the principal island of the ...

HNLMS De Ruyter with 345 men on board was the flagship of Dutch Rear-Admiral Karel Doorman Three Dutch World War Two ships considered war graves have vanished from the bottom of the Java Sea, the ...