The Hr. Ms. Evertsen was commissioned in 1928 and it was soon afterwards sent to the former Dutch East Indies.

Immediately after the Battle of the Java Sea, the Evertsen was sent to the Sunda Strait to support the allied cruisers Perth and Houston.

The Battle of Sunda Strait

In the night of February 28th to March 1st, 1942, the Australian light cruiser HMAS Perth and the American heavy cruiser USS Houston stumbled upon a large fleet squadron of the Japanese Imperial Navy in the strait between Java and Sumatra. After a naval battle of several hours, both allied ships sank, together with three Japanese ships (a minesweeper and two transport ships), the last due to friendly fire. On the allied side, 1071 people died. The Japanese only lost 10 men. This battle became known as the Battle of Sunda Strait.

The naval battle was still in full swing when the Evertsen arrived on the scene. She tried to avoid the battle by proceeding unseen through the Sunda Strait. At first, the ship was able to escape by creating a smoke screen. Yet the Evertsen was een by two Japanese destroyers that opened fire on the ship. A fire broke out on board, causing the crew to beach the ship on the island of Sebuku near the south coast of Sumatra. The crew left the ship and a few hours later, the fire reached the aft ammunition depot and the rear of the ship exploded.

Of the 149 crewmen, three died. The rest was taken prisoner after nine days and transported to internment camps. Commander Walburg Marius de Vries died on March 25th, 1942 in the POW camp of Tanjung Karang (on Sumatra).

Yard: Burgerhout's Machinefabriek en Scheepswerf NV, Rotterdam

Class: Admiralenklasse

Armament:

4 x 1 120 mm cannon (Bofors No. 5), 
2 x 75 mm cannon
4 x .50 inch machine gun (Browning)

The ship was laid down on August 5th, 1925, it was launched on September 29th, 1926 and commissioned on April 12th, 1928.

Koninklijke marine

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  Nederlandse-Torpedobootjager-Hr-Ms-Evertsen.