HNLMS Kortenaer was torpedoed by the Japanese cruiser Haguro in the Battle of the Java Sea on February 27, 1942. An eyewitness recorded that ‘Kortenaer, about 700 yards bearing 80° relative, was struck on the starboard quarter by a torpedo, blew up, turned over, and sank at once leaving only a jackknifed bow and stern a few feet above the surface.’

Rindert van Zinderen-Bakker (1944) was principal of the Jan Tin Bergen College in Roosendaal and was interested in model building from an early age. This is his book about the HMCS Haida.