Wreck of HNLMS Piet Hein

 Second World War 1939-1945, military, navy, shipwreck, destroyer (ship)

Laid down in August 1925 at the Burgerhout Scheepswerf en Machinefabriek Shipyard as the second member of the Admiralen Class of Destroyers, HNLMS Piet Hein commissioned into service with Royal Netherlands Navy in January 1928. Spending little time in her home waters before standing out for duty with the Netherlands East Indies Squadron, Piet Hein and her crew arrived in their new theatre of operations in 1930 and together with her seven sisters formed the backbone of the Netherlands Navy presence in the expansive Dutch East Indies colony.

Ordered to remain on station following the outbreak of War in Europe in 1939 and the subsequent fall of Holland in May of 1940, Piet Hein and her sisters began convoy escort and combat patrol duties throughout the colony but saw little sign of their German counterparts. Following the outbreak of hostilities with the Empire of Japan in December 1941, Piet Hein joined the rest of the Dutch Navy in the combined Allied American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDA) Sea Force that was hastily assembled to deal with the formidable threat posed by the Imperial Japanese Navy. Engaged primarily as a convoy escort ship during the first months of the war, the steady advance of Japanese forces towards the Dutch East Indies brought Piet Hein and her crew off convoy duty and into their homeport of Surabaya in late January 1942, where they prepared for immediate offensive operations.

Clashing with her new enemy for the first time on February 4th in the Battle of Makassar Strait, Piet Hein and the ABDA formation came under heavy air attack before getting anywhere near their target, and with the majority of the ships lacking capable anti-aircraft weaponry the Japanese pilots were able to turn back the entire ABDA force in defeat. Retiring to Tjilatjap with a sobering lesson on how ill-prepared their own ship was to deal with the very real threat posed by enemy aircraft, Piet Hein and her crew nevertheless clashed once again with Japanese aircraft in the Banka Strait on the 15th while successfully escorting the main body of the ABDA force to Java.

Spending the next several days engaged in regular nighttime-only patrols around Java, Piet Hein and her crew received orders to put into Tjilatjap at once where she joined the Light Cruiser and ABDA Flagship HNLMS De Ruyter, Light Cruisers HNLMS Java, HNLMS Tromp and fellow Destroyers USS Pope (DD-225) and USS John D. Ford (DD-228) in a striking force assembled to disrupt the Japanese Invasion of Bali. Standing out for combat on the evening of the 18th, Piet Hein took the lead of the Destroyer Van as it screened the three Cruisers East towards their destination at 20 knots, with an arrival time at the Southern entrance to the Badung Strait after dark on the 19th.

By the time Piet Hein and the striking force arrived off Bali at 2200hrs, the three Cruisers had taken the lead of the formation as it steamed in a column, with Piet Hein leading the two American Destroyers in a position roughly 5,500 yards Astern of HNLMS Tromp. Increasing speed to 27 knots as the formation completed its turn Northward to enter the Badung Strait, lookouts aboard Piet Hein strained for any sight of the Japanese invasion force against the black backdrop of Bali as her gun and torpedo crews readied their weapons for immediate action. With HNLMS Java opening the battle with a full salvo at 2230hrs after sending a pair of starshells aloft, Piet Hein led the Destroyer van at top speed into the strait in an effort to catch up with the Cruisers as they swapped barely ten minutes of heavy fire with Japanese Destroyers, but by the time she reached the engagement zone all three Cruisers were already in the Lombok Strait and heading North at high speed. Immediately faced with the sight of the Japanese Destroyers HIJMS Asashio and HIJMS Oshio heading straight for her as they began their own turns to retire back to the Bali shoreline, Piet Hein immediately turned hard to Starboard to unmask her full broadside gun and torpedo battery while making smoke to conceal her still-onrushing American comrades. With her gunners sending their first salvo whistling towards the HIJMS Asashio at 2305hrs, Piet Hein became the sole focus for both enemy Destroyers and their gunners, who were equipped with far more capable main guns and had vastly greater night gunnery training and experience.

Obscured from the view of both the USS Ford and USS Pope by her own smokescreen, Piet Hein engaged in a brief gunnery duel with both Japanese Destroyers which saw her struck several times across her length by accurate fire before her Captain ordered a turn to the South to open his range and launch a torpedo salvo. Moments after her fifth and final torpedo splashed into Badung Strait, Piet Hein was struck by an accurate pair of salvoes from HIJMS Asashio that destroyed her searchlight platform and severed her main steam line in the aft engine room. Quickly losing power and slowing at a perilous moment of the running battle, the Piet Hein was immediately pounced on by both Japanese Destroyers and shelled without mercy as both ships closed in for a coup de grâce. Lying directly in the path of no fewer than nine “Long Lance” torpedoes soon churning towards her, HNLMS Piet Hein was broken in half by at least two direct hits and quickly sank at this location at 2316hrs on February 19th, 1942, taking 64 of her crew with her to the bottom.

www.netherlandsnavy.nl/Admiralen.htm
www.netherlandsnavy.nl/battle_balitimor.html