Encyclopedia > Karel Doorman

  Article Content

Karel Doorman

Karel Willem Frederik Marie Doorman (1889-1942) was a Dutch Admiral (Dutch:schout-bij-nacht) during World War II.

Karel Doorman commanded a Combined Strike Force of Dutch, American, British en Australian ships that operated around the Dutch East Indies. This fleet consisted of cruisers and destroyers.

In February 1942 a battle was fought between the Combined Strike Force and a much stronger Japanese task force in the Java Sea[?]. This battle proved a disastre for the Allies. He became a Dutch maritime icon, after transmitting his last words to the fleet: "I am attacking, all ships follow me!" ("Ik val aan, alle schepen volg mij!"). Karel Doorman died when his flagship De Ruyter (named after the famous Dutch Admiral Michiel de Ruyter) was struck by a torpedo and went under. There was time to escape the sinking flagship, but Doorman chose to go under, according to old naval tradition.

In his honour the only Dutch carrier ever was named Hr.Ms. Karel Doorman. This ship was commisioned in 1945 by the British service as the HMS Venerable. It was sold to the Dutch 1948, who again sold it to Argentina in 1968.



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
Northwest Harbor, New York

... is spread out with 25.2% under the age of 18, 4.8% from 18 to 24, 27.3% from 25 to 44, 28.7% from 45 to 64, and 13.9% who are 65 years of age or older. The median ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 28.1 ms