the surface." The Royal Navy destroyer rescued 113 men from the total of 153, including Lieutenant Commander A. Kroese, and took them to Surabaya. Wreck The wreck of Kortenaer was discovered by specialist wreck divers in August 2004. (The wrecks of and had previously been discovered by the same group in December 2002.) In 2016 it was discovered that the wrecks of De Ruyter and Java, and much of Kortenaer had disappeared from the seabed, although their imprints on the ocean floor remained. Over 100 ships and submarines of various countries sank during the war in the seas around Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia; many are designated as war graves. There is known to be illegal scavenging of these wrecks, often using explosives; the Netherlands Defence Ministry suggested that De Ruyter, Java, and Kortenaer may have been illegally salvaged. In February 2017 a report was issued confirming the salvaging of the three wrecks. References Bibliography Gardiner, Robert and Roger Chesneau. Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. London: Conway Maritime Press 1980. . Whitley, M.J. Destroyers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia. London: Cassell & Co, 2000. . Admiralen-class destroyers Ships built in Rotterdam 1927 ships World War II destroyers of the Netherlands World War II shipwrecks in the Java Sea Maritime incidents in February 1942