HNLMS Van Ghent ( 1926 ) HNLMS " Van Ghent ( ) ( originally named De Ruyter " ) was an built for the Royal Netherlands Navy in the 1920s . The destroyer served in the Netherlands East Indies but was wrecked after running aground in 1942 . Design . In the mid - 1920s , the Netherlands placed orders for four new destroyers to be deployed to the East Indies . They were built in Dutch shipyards to a design by the British Yarrow Shipbuilders , which was based on the destroyer HMS " Ambuscade " , which Yarrow had designed and built for the British Royal Navy . The ship ' s main gun armament was four guns built by the Swedish company Bofors , mounted two forward and two aft , with two anti - aircraft gun s mounted amidships . Four 12 . 7 mm machine guns provided close - in anti - aircraft defence . The ship ' s torpedo armament comprised six torpedo tubes in two triple mounts , while 24 mines could also be carried . To aid search operations , the ship carried a Fokker C . VII - W floatplane on a platform over the aft torpedo tubes , which was lowered to the sea by a crane for flight operations . History . The destroyer " De Ruyter " was laid down on 28 August 1925 at " Koninklijke Maatschappij De Schelde " , Vlissingen , was launched on 13 October 1926 and commissioned on 31 May 1928 . She and her sister left the Netherlands on 27 September 1928 for the Dutch East Indies . On 31 August 1929 she participates in a fleet review at Tanjung Priok . The review was held in honor of the Dutch Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands who was born that day . Other ships that participated in the review where the destroyer " Evertsen " and the cruiser . 29 July that year " De Ruyter " her sister " Evertsen " , the cruiser " Java " and the submarines and left Surabaya and steamed to " Tanjung Priok " . At " Tanjung Priok " the ships waited for the royal yacht " Maha Chakri " of the king of Siam and the destroyer " Phra Ruang " . After this the ships without the submarines visited Bangka , Belitung , Riau , Lingga Islands , Belawan and Deli . On 28 August that year they returned in " Tanjung Priok " . While practicing with the cruiser , her sister " Evertsen " and five submarines the " Sumatra " stranded on a reef near the island " Kebatoe " that was not on the map on 14 May 1931 . " Sumatra " was later pulled lose by and a tugboat . " De Ruyter " was renamed " Van Ghent " in 1 October 1934 . She was renamed because of a newly built light cruiser would take that name . World War II . In 1940 she and her sister guarded five German cargo ships . The ships were relieved by the 26 April 1940 . When war broke out in the Pacific in December 1941 , " Van Ghent " was serving in the Netherlands East Indies as part of Rear Admiral Karel Doorman ' s command . She was involved in the salvage of the . " De Ruyter " , along with several Dutch and American cruisers and destroyers , took part in an unsuccessful attempt to attack on Japanese shipping off Balikpapan on 3 – 4 February , with the Allied force being driven off by Japanese air attacks . Doorman ' s forces attempted another sortie against Japanese invasion shipping on 15 February 1942 , but " Van Ghent " was wrecked when she ran aground in Tjilatjap habour , and was scuttled by the destroyer " Banckert " .