HNLMS Krakatau

Krakatau was laid down on 3 February 1923 and launched on 2 February 1924 at the Marine Etablissement te Soerabaja (MES).^[2][3] The ship was designed by the Dutch engineer R. O. Leegstra.^[4] After passing its sea trials in October 1924 Krakatau was commissioned on 11 December 1924.^[2][5][6] While the ship passed its sea trials, it did share a common flaw with other ships built at the MES at the time, namely stability problems.^[7] To counter this problem permanent ballast was added to the Krakatau, however, it did not manage to completely fix the stability problem of the ship.^[8]

On 11 October 1932 Krakatau capsized in the Oostervaarwater near Soerabaja.^[9][10] At the time the ship was doing a speed related exercise when it began taking water.^[11] It was theorized that this was the result of leaving the mine doors at the rear of the ship open.^[7][8] The increasing speed during the exercise would have led to high waves that would land on the rear of the ship, which could pour inside through the open doors.^[8][11] Eventually the water inside the ship gathered at one side of the ship and it slowly capsized.^[7] On 4 December 1932 Krakatau was re-floated and towed to the MES.^[12] There it was determined that the ship had taken minimal damage and would be fully repaired.^[13] The next year, on 4 September 1933, Krakatau was taken back into service.^[14]

Between 19 and 20 February 1942 Krakatau acted as a motor torpedo boat tender for a division of motor torpedo boats and took part in the Battle of Badung Strait.^[9] Shortly after the battle the ship provided gasoline to motor torpedo boats in the Pangpang Baai.^[15] During this time it managed to stay hidden and unharmed, even when Japanese scouts and bombers flew over, as a result of its carefully applied camouflage.^[15]

On 8 March 1942 Krakatau was scuttled by its crew 500 meters from the dock^[a] of the Pyrotechnische Werkplaatsen in the Westervaarwater near Batoe Porron in Madoera.^[9][14] The ship was scuttled because there was not enough oil to make the journey to an Allied port and it was determined that it had not much fighting value as a warship.^[16] Afterwards the crew of the ship left for Kamal to continue the battle on land against the Japanese.^[7]

• Bosscher, Ph.M. (1986). De Koninklijke Marine in de Tweede Wereldoorlog (in Dutch). Vol. 2: Indië tot en met 8 maart 1942. Wever. ISBN 90-6135-372-6.
• Mark, Chris (1997). Schepen van de Koninklijke Marine in W.O. II (in Dutch). De Alk. ISBN 90-6013-522-9.
• von Münching, L.L. (1978). Schepen van de Koninklijke Marine in de Tweede Wereldoorlog (in Dutch). Alk. ISBN 90-6013-903-8.
• Roetering, B., ed. (1997). Mijnendienst 1907-1997 90 jaar: feiten, verhalen en anekdotes uit het negentigjarig bestaan van de Mijnendienst van de Koninklijke Marine (in Dutch). ISBN 90-90-10528-X.
• Raven, G.J.A., ed. (1988). De kroon op het anker: 175 jaar Koninklijke Marine (in Dutch). De Bataafsche Leeuw. ISBN 90-6707-200-1.
• Roberts, John (1980). "The Netherlands". In Chesneau, Roger (ed.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. Conway Maritime Press. pp. 385–396. ISBN 0-85177-146-7.