Karel Doorman

This article is about the Dutch admiral. For ships of the same name, see HNLMS Karel Doorman.

Karel Doorman
Karel Doorman Karel Doorman
Allegiance	The Netherlands
Service / branch	Royal Netherlands Navy
Years of service	1906 - 1942
Rank	Schout-bij-nacht
Commands	ABDACOM
Battles / wars	World War II (Battle of the Java Sea)
Awards	Knight of the Military William Order, 3rd class (1942); Knight of the Order of the Dutch Lion; Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau; War Commemorative Cross, 2nd class; Silver Cross of the Virtuti Militari (Poland)

Karel Willem Frederik Marie Doorman (April 23, 1889 - February 28, 1942) was a Dutch Rear admiral who commanded ABDACOM, a hastily-organized multinational naval force formed to defend the East Indies against an overwhelming Imperial Japanese attack. Doorman was killed and the main body of ABDACOM destroyed during the Battle of the Java Sea. In commemoration, the Royal Netherlands Navy named three ships after him: HNLMS Karel Doorman (1946), HNLMS Karel Doorman (1948) and HNLMS Karel Doorman (1991).

Youth, training, active flight period

Doorman, born in Utrecht and raised Catholic, came from a family of professional soldiers. In 1906, he and his brother Lou ACM Doorman were commissioned as midshipmen and in 1910 came his promotion to officer rating. In the latter year he moved on board the cruiser HNLMS Tromp to the Dutch East Indies. During his first three years of duty, from January 1912 to December 1913, he was placed aboard the survey vessels HNLMS van Doorn and HNLMS Lombok, with the primary aim of mapping the coastal waters of New Guinea. Early in 1914 he returned to the Netherlands on board cruiser HNLMS De Ruyter. In March 1914 he made a request to enter the Aviation Service.

From April 1914 he was placed aboard armored cruiser HNLMS Noord Brabant and, just before the first World War broke out, with that ship he was part of a mission to Albania to recover the mortal remains of Major Louis Thomson, who was killed in action there. His request for entry into the Aviation Service was approved in the summer of 1915, after rigorous testing, and he was one of the first naval officers to be awarded his wings.

From 1915 to 1918 he was stationed at the Aviation Service at Soesterberg under command of Captain (later Major) of Engineers H. Walaardt. There he met Albert Plesman, who at first was an observer but later was trained as a pilot in the Army. In 1915 he was awarded a civil pilot licence and in 1916 he was awarded the Naval pilot licence. From 1917 to 1921 he was an instructor, first at Soesterberg Air Base and from October 1918 at the Naval Air Base De Kooy at Den Helder. He commanded this Naval Air Base from 1919 to 1921. Because of his merits as an organizer of the still very young Naval Aviation he was made a Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau) in 1922.

From 1919 to 1934 Doorman was married to Justine A.D. Schermer. In 1928, his son Joop was born. In 1934 he married Isabella J.J.J. Heyligers.

Budget cuts and an arm injury meant that Doorman's active flying career was over. From November 1921 to November 1923 he attended Higher Naval School in The Hague, essential for a career as a naval officer, particularly for staff positions. After he successfully completed this training, in which, among other things, he studied communication between aircraft and naval vessels, he was placed at the Department of the Navy at Batavia in December 1923.

Continued career in the Royal Navy, commands

In 1926, for the first time in eleven years, Doorman landed a longer appointment on board a naval vessel, armoured ship HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën. Until late 1927 he was gunnery officer, later he combined this with the function of first officer. Early in 1928 he returned to the Netherlands and was employed in the Navy Department at The Hague and primarily responsible for the purchase of equipment for Naval Aviation. In 1932 followed his first command of a ship, the minelayer HNLMS Prins van Oranje. In this ship he sailed for the third time in the same year to the Dutch East Indies. In 1932 his command was changed to destroyers, first HNLMS Witte de With and from the end of 1932 HNLMS Evertsen. The latter ship was saw action against the rebels on HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën in February 1933.

In January 1934 Doorman went back to the Netherlands with HNLMS Evertsen. A period of three years as Chief of Staff of the naval commander in Den Helder followed. In 1936 Doorman wrote a request to the Secretary of Defense for a command of a cruiser in the Dutch East Indies. As a result he left in 1937, now a Captain, to the Dutch East Indies as a commander of the cruisers HNLMS Sumatra and HNLMS Java. In August 1938 he was appointed Commander of Naval Aviation in the Dutch East Indies. From his headquarter at Surabaya Morokrembangan Naval Air Station, he made many an inspection tour of the archipelago.

Second World War

On May 16 1940 he was promoted to Rear-Admiral and on June 13, 1940 on board the light cruiser HNLMS De Ruyter, he took command of the squadron of Rear-Admiral GW Stöve at Surabaya. Early 1942 he commanded the Combined Striking Force ABDACOM, American British Dutch Australian Command. Doorman was killed in action when his ship HNLMS De Ruyter was sunk in the Battle of the Java Sea. Part of the crew was rescued, but Doorman, following old navy tradition, chose to go down with his ship. On June 5, 1942 he was posthumously made a Knight 3rd class in the Military William Order. The medal was awarded to the Rear-Admiral's eldest son on May 23, 1947 by Lieutenant-Admiral Conrad Emil Lambert Helfrich, on board HNLMS Karel Doorman, attended by Prince Bernhard.

Between 1946 and 2006 the Royal Dutch Navy named three vessels after Karel Doorman, including a former British Colossus class aircraft carrier, the largest ship the Navy ever commissioned.

"I attack, follow me"

Karel Doorman is often honoured because he is said to have signalled "I attack, follow me" during the Battle of the Java Sea, which was considered very gallant. The real explanation is different.

On February 27, 1942 for approximately four hours in the afternoon the Japanese and the allied squadrons spotted each other. The guns of the two Japanese cruisers had a longer range than the Allied artillery and at about five oclock the British cruiser HMS Exeter was hit. Twenty minutes later the Dutch destroyer HNLMS Kortenaer was torpedoed. The ship exploded and broke in two pieces. In the Allied squadron confusion arose over the way forward, compounded by the fact that HMS Exeter could only sail at half power and wanted to return to port at Tanjung Priok on its own steam.

Remembering instructions issued by High Command, Doorman gave order to attack at the approach of the Japanese fleet. The tactical command "I attack, follow me" as such he did not signal at beginning of this battle in the Java Sea. It is a very free translation of the signal sent by him, "All ships - follow me", to remedy the confusion. The battle on February 27, 1942 which, with interruptions, lasted for over seven hours, ended with the almost complete destruction of Doorman's squadron. The squadron commander was killed aboard the flagship, which sank after about 1 ½ hours.

The Hague Kloosterkerk has a memorial plaque and commemorations for the Battle of the Java Sea are regularly held.