“The Dutch government cannot blame the Indonesian government because they never asked us to protect those ships. All sank during operations in the Java Sea in 1942, when Japanese forces overpowered Dutch, British, American and Australian sailors. Some 900 Dutch sailors died in the battle, including Rear Admiral Karel Doorman, a war hero in the Netherlands. Exeter had a crew of about 700 men, most of whom were rescued by the Japanese to become prisoners of war. Encounter and Electra both had crews of 145 men, although they were significantly overloaded with sailors rescued from other ships sunk in the Java Sea.

Source: The Guardian November 17, 2016 12:02 UTC