The Hr.MS. Sirius was a steam ship, commissioned by the Gouvernements Marine (the Navy of the Dutch East Indies) in 1923. The ship was originally stationed in Tandjong Priok. In the '30's, the Sirius was stationed in Makassar. In this period, the Indonesian engineer Pieter Octavianus Putuhena worked on the ship.

Natural science expedition

In 1928-1929, Leopold II, then the crown prince of Belgium, traveled along with a scientific expedition through the Dutch East Indies on the Sirius. He collected many natural artefacts, amongst other things butterflies, that he donated to the Museum van Van Straelen (the present-day Museum for Natural Sciences). Experts studied the large collection and devoted a special series of treatises to it (Van Straelen 1933).

STIWOT

The Hr.Ms. Sirius steaming, photographer and date unknown. Ships of the Gouvernement were usually painted white.

WWII

From the militarisation in 1939 onward, the Sirius, commanded by C. Hokke, was replaced by the Hr. Ms. Gemma. After this, the Sirius was added to the Hr. Ms. Bellatrix to guard the Sunda Strait. The two ships patrolled in turn so the were stationed in Tjandong Priok half of the time. On February 26th, 1940, the Sirius got a 7.7 mm machine gun for air defence. On February 19th, 1942, the West-Java Guard Service saw the light and the Sirius formed a part of this.

Demise

Yard: IJsselyart, Gorinchem (the Netherlands)

Crew: 8 Dutch and 47 Indonesian crewmembers

Nationaal Archief

Sheet 1 of the building plans of the Sirius class.

• Gouvernements Marine overzicht 1939.
  Regerings-almanak voor Nederlandsch-Indië, 1939.
• tracesofwar.nl.
  Hr. Ms. Sirius.
• pp 1.
  Nationaal Archief.
  4.MST Inventaris van de bouwtekeningen van schepen van de Nederlandse Marine, 1683-1996.
  4.MST/5230.
• Straelen, V. van (1930).
  Résultats Scientifiques du Voyage aux Indes Orientales Néerlandaises de LL.AA.RR. le Prince et la Princess Léopold de Belgique. Vol.I-IV.