HNLMS DeRuyter was a Royal Netherlands Navy light cruiser built over the period of 1933-1935 being commissioned on October 3, 1936. She was named after Admiral Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter, who was one of the most skilled admirals in the Dutch Navy during the Second Anglo-Dutch War.

She was set up as a flotilla leader and sent to the Dutch East Indies with two other cruisers. The reasoning behind the triad’s deployment was that with three cruisers in the theater, so far from the home nation, there would always be at least two operational ships to protect the Dutch interests.

When Japan joined the war against the allies, the ship and several other “orphan” ships from other navies all came under the control of ABDA which was the American-British-Dutch-Australian command. Due to being a coalition of countries and languages, there was a lot of confusion as there were no set plans of what needed to be done. The command was basically reactionary in its approach to the fighting. Most of the command staff wanted to pull out of the area as there appeared to be no way to stop the Japanese who seemed to come out of nowhere. The British were focused on Singapore, the Dutch on Java and its colonies, the Australians were preoccupied with their coastline, and the Americans concentrated on the Philippines.

The ships of the ABDA were frequently sent on last minute sorties with little solid intel. If they did venture far they either encountered more Japanese Naval units then they could take on, or met wave after wave of aircraft. The few Allied aircraft available were being held back to try and stop any invasion of the East Indies with no real belief that they could handle the Japanese air forces in combat if they were to become involved. This cacophony of unfortunate events only prolonged the suffering of ships and personnel in the theater.

On February 1, 1942, a reconnaissance aircraft detected that a Japanese invasion force at Balikpapan was getting ready to sail. By February 3 a strike force was formed up and sent out to meet the Japanese invasion force. The force was composed of two Dutch cruisers (De Ruyter and Tromp), two American cruisers (Houston and Marblehead), three Dutch destroyers (Banckert, Piet Hein and Van Ghent), and four American destroyers (Barker, Bulmer, John D. Edwards, and Stewart). Later that day they were spotted by Japanese bombers. Some bombers broke off to monitor the strike force but did not attack.

The next day more aircraft located the strike force and in the ensuing attack managed to damage Marblehead’s ability to maneuverability and rendered Houston’s rear main guns out of commission. Without air cover, Rear Admiral Karel Doorman aboard the De Ruyter, decided to abandon the attack against the invasion force. The two damaged cruisers headed to Tjilatjap for repairs.

By February 18, the Japanese invasion of Bali could not be ignored by the small (some would say hopelessly outgunned) ABDA force. The next day the Allied forces encountered a small force of Japanese ships (two transports escorted by four destroyers) in the Badung Strait and proceeded to attack. In the action that followed, one cruiser was damaged and another destroyer was damaged and eventually scuttled later when the Allies abandoned it at Soerabaia. Though the De Ruyter was not damaged, she ended up retreating to base.

By February 27, 1942, the remaining Allied forces sortied one last time. In what is now know as the Battle of the Java Sea, the few remaining ships of the Allies sallied out to take on an invasion force heading for Java. The force consisted of two heavy cruisers (Exeter and Houston), three light cruisers (De Ruyter, Java and Perth), and nine destroyers. They would meet up with a Japanese force of two heavy cruisers (Nachi and Haguro), two light cruisers (Naka and Jintsū), and fourteen destroyers. The Japanese had better main armament (some of the Allied ships main armament was reduced due to previous battle damage) and the type 93 torpedo sometimes referred to as the “Long Lance” due to the distance it could travel.

Despite hours of battle raining down salvo after salvo of gun fire and a barrage of torpedoes being fired by the Japanese the only casualties that resulted was the cruiser HMS Exeter being hit and having to leave the engagement with a destroyer to escort her and the sinking of a Dutch destroyer. The Allies broke off about 18:00 with several American destroyers leaving the theater due to their torpedoes being expended on a fruitless attack while the strike force was breaking off.

While falling back, HMS Jupiter struck a mine and was sunk. Then while passing the spot where the Dutch destroyer had gone down a British destroyer was detached to pick up survivors. Admiral Doorman turned around again to see if he could get to the Japanese transports. The force was now down to four cruisers and some destroyers when he encountered the Japanese escort force again. This encounter would end very badly for the Allies. The Dutch cruisers De Ruyter and Java were both sunk along with the destroyer HMS Electra.

Though she was only around for about six years, HNLMS DeRuyter took on some impressive forces that did everything they could to sink her. With a better command structure and air support she may have lasted long enough to get to Australia or India for repairs and live to fight another day.

In Seas of Thunder, De Ruyter and the other Dutch cruisers will be a lynchpin of the Pacific patrols from turn 4 through turn 10. Once Japan enters the war on turn 11 their situation will force them to tighten up into more compact groups, possibly of mixed nationalities, or be set upon by the superior Japanese forces and sunk. There are many out-of-the-way Sea Zones to safely patrol but as attrition pares down the Allied forces, the likelihood of De Ruyter coming into contact with superior forces is all too probable. It is very unlikely that De Ruyter’s fate in the game will be much different than that of her historical counterpart. A desperate action, asking more than she can give, against a superior opponent is her probable fate.

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