12. From the Dutch Navy to the Australian Navy, and Back to the Dutch Navy Again
Once in Australia, the Crijnssen underwent a refit, which included the installation of underwater detection equipment. In September 1942, she was commissioned into the Australian Navy as HMAS Abraham Crijnssen, an anti-submarine convoy escort. She also served as a submarine tender – a depot ship that supplies and supports underwater vessels – for Dutch submarines. Her complement was beefed up with the survivors of the British destroyer HMS Jupiter, sunk in the Battle of the Java Sea, plus Australian personnel. Commanded by an Australian lieutenant, the ship and its mixed crew made it to war’s end.
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.
