33. Getting Back Into the Fight
The Abraham Crijnssen was the last Allied vessel to successfully escape the disastrous defeat in the Java Sea and the Dutch East Indies, and the only ship of her class to survive the debacle. Once in Australia, she underwent a refit, which included the installation of underwater detection equipment. In September, 1942, she was commissioned into the Australian Navy as an anti-submarine escort, and served in that capacity, with a mixed Dutch and Australian crew, for the remainder of WWII.
At the end of WWII, the Crijnssen was returned to the Royal Netherlands Navy, and patrolled the Dutch East Indies until they gained their independence. She then returned to Europe, and continued in service with the RNN until she was decommissioned in 1960. Over the next few decades, she served as a training ship, then as a storage hull, before she was finally donated to the Dutch Navy Museum in 1995. She was restored to her WWII configuration, and can be visited today at anchor in Den Helder, in Northern Holland.