Ship History
Built by Wilton Fijenoord Dock in Rotterdam. Laid down August 24, 1925. Launched June 30, 1927 and commissioned September 3, 1928. Named for Kortenaer, an officer in the Dutch Navy.

Sinking History
During the Battle of the Java Sea, on February 27, 1942 was hit by a single torpedo from Japanese heavy cruiser Haguro and sunk with the loss of 60 crew members. 113 survivors were rescued by the HMS Encounter.

Shipwreck
Discovered by divers from MV Empress on August 12th, 2004.

Kevin Denlay, reports:
"We first discovered what we believed to be the forward section of the Dutch destroyer Kortenaer, laying completely upside down on 12th August, 2004. However at the time we could find nothing to positively identify that the wreck was actually Kortenaer, although we did find several old Dutch Bols Gin bottles there on the seabed. And the only indication at the time that it was a even a warship was a very large searchlight laying on the seabed next to the jagged break amidships. The visibility was VERY bad; about 2 to 3 metres and the depth was approximately 52 metres. We did not publicize the discovery at the time, in case it turned out not to be her.

However, while back in the Java Sea several months later, on 5th November 2004 we did another dive on the upside down section, and while several of us were searching for clues to positively identify the wreck, the owner/skipper (Vidar Skoglie) of the dive vessel we operate from (MV Empress), 'swam', with the aid of a diver propulsion vehicle or underwater scooter, about 30 to 40 metres away from the upside down section (again in very poor/ even worse visibility than on our first visit) to a 'lump' that had previously shown up on the side scan sonar. Sure enough, it was the stern section of Kortenaer laying well over on its starboard side, with propellers and rudder visible and one set of triple torpedo tubes also visible amongst the large amounts of fishing net that is draped over the wreckage. This was finally THE positive identification we were looking for as no other warship lost in that area had triple torpedo tubes!

Regretfully, although I was this time prepared to take some photos or video I could/did not as the visibility was even worse than the first time we were there (when I also did not take photos/video), probably only 1 to 2 metres or even less in parts this time, what we refer to as 'braille diving', which is simply hopeless for photography."

References
Thanks to Kevin Denlay for discovery information.

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Last Updated
October 1, 2009