DESTROYER HNLMS KORTENAER

Collana monografica a cura di Jantinus Mulder che presenta la carriera operativa della nave trattata con dovizia di informazioni corredate da foto d’archivio, disegni al tratto, spaccati e profili a colori.

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Destroyer HNLMS Kortenaer was an Admiralen-class destroyer of the Royal Netherlands Navy, was commissioned on 3 September 1928. She served mostly in the Netherlands East Indies, and when war broke out in 1941, she was at Surabaya. Took part in Battle of Badung Strait on 18–20 February 1942, where she ran aground on one of the channel shores after temporarily losing rudder control. Kortenaer was sent to Surabaya for repairs.

She was back in action in time for the Battle of the Java Sea on 27 February 1942, where she was torpedoed at 17:14 by the Japanese cruiser Haguro. The commanding officer, of the nearby US destroyer, USS John D. Edwards, recorded that, "Kortenaer, about 700 yards (640 m) bearing 80° relative, was struck on the starboard quarter by a torpedo, blew up, turned over, and sank at once leaving only a jackknifed bow and stern a few feet above the surface." The Royal Navy destroyer HMS Encounter rescued 113 men from the total of 153, including Lieutenant Commander A. Kroese, and took them to Surabaya.

The wreck of Kortenaer was discovered by specialist wreck divers in August 2004. In 2016 it was discovered that much of the wreck had disappeared from the seabed, although their imprints on the ocean floor remained.