Lieutenant Admiral Lieutenant admiral () is a senior naval military rank in the Royal Netherlands Navy. The rank is a four-star rank, senior to a vice-admiral () and equivalent to admiral in most foreign navies. It is used whenever the Dutch Chief of Defence is fro ...

Conrad Emil Lambert Helfrich (11 October 1886 – 20 September 1962) of the

Royal Netherlands Navy The Royal Netherlands Navy ( nl, Koninklijke Marine, links=no) is the naval force of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. During the 17th century, the navy of the Dutch Republic (1581–1795) was one of the most powerful naval forces in the world an ...

was a leading Dutch naval figure of World War II. He was born in Semarang.

World War II

Helfrich was appointed overall commander of all forces in the

Netherlands East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised Factory (trading post), trading posts o ...

in October 1939. At the outbreak of the war in the Pacific he gave instructions to wage war aggressively. His small force of

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

s sank more Japanese ships in the first weeks of the war than the entire British and US navies together, an exploit which earned him the nickname "Ship-a-day Helfrich". Admiral Helfrich worked tirelessly to establish co-operation with the Allied navies in the area since he knew that the Dutch could not hope to protect the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, whic ...

by themselves.

Java Sea

When a combined command (

ABDA The American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) Command, or ABDACOM, was a short-lived, supreme command for all Allied forces in South East Asia in early 1942, during the Pacific War in World War II. The command consists of the forces of Austra ...

) was finally created in January 1942, he was bypassed for the post of commander of the navy, in favour of Admiral

Thomas C. Hart Thomas Charles Hart (June 12, 1877July 4, 1971) was an admiral in the United States Navy, whose service extended from the Spanish–American War through World War II. Following his retirement from the navy, he served briefly as a United States S ...

of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

. Helfrich's mission to defend

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...

at all costs clashed with Hart's desire to conserve as many naval units as possible. On 12 February 1942, Helfrich succeeded Hart as commander of the American–British–Dutch–Australian naval forces in the Pacific and immediately went on the offensive. Unfortunately, the courage of the "Striking Force" was to no avail in the face of the overwhelming superiority of the Japanese navy and after the disastrous

Battle of the Java Sea The Battle of the Java Sea ( id, Pertempuran Laut Jawa, ja, スラバヤ沖海戦, Surabaya oki kaisen, Surabaya open-sea battle, Javanese : ꦥꦼꦫꦁꦱꦼꦒꦫꦗꦮ, romanized: ''Perang Segara Jawa'') was a decisive naval battle o ...

, most of the ABDA ships under his command had been put out of action and ABDA itself was dismantled. Helfrich spent the remainder of the war in

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

preparing the return of Dutch administration to the Dutch East Indies.

Japanese surrender

In 1945, he was given command of all Dutch naval forces and promoted to lieutenant admiral. On 2 September 1945, he signed the

Japanese Instrument of Surrender The Japanese Instrument of Surrender was the written agreement that formalized the surrender of the Empire of Japan, marking the end of hostilities in World War II. It was signed by representatives from the Empire of Japan and from the Allied ...

aboard the battleship on behalf of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Helfrich returned to the Dutch East Indies on 1 October 1945, where he commanded the Dutch forces in the Dutch East Indies until 24 January 1946 when the post of commander of the armed forces in the East was abolished. During that time, Commander Helfrich had to deal with the Indonesian struggle for independence. He was a fierce opponent of compromising with

Sukarno Sukarno). (; born Koesno Sosrodihardjo, ; 6 June 1901 – 21 June 1970) was an Indonesian statesman, orator, revolutionary, and nationalist who was the first president of Indonesia, serving from 1945 to 1967. Sukarno was the leader of ...

and, supported by Chief of the General Staff Hendrik Johan Kruls, he objected to the

Linggarjati Agreement The Linggardjati Agreement (''Linggarjati'' in modern Indonesian spelling) was a political accord concluded on 15 November 1946 by the Dutch administration and the unilaterally declared Republic of Indonesia in the village of Linggarjati, Kuni ...

of 15 December 1946, but without effect. He remained in command until his retirement from the navy on 1 January 1949. He wrote his memoirs which were published in 1950 and he died in The Hague, on 20 September 1962.

Honours and awards

For his services during the World War, Helfrich received several awards. He was Commander of the

Order of Orange-Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau ( nl, Orde van Oranje-Nassau, links=no) is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has ...

with Swords, Knight Grand Cross of the

Order of the Netherlands Lion The Order of the Netherlands Lion, also known as the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands ( nl, De Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw, french: L'Ordre du Lion Néerlandais) is a Dutch order of chivalry founded by King William I of the Netherlands on ...

, Honorary

Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

(UK) and awarded the Silver Cross (5th grade) of the

Virtuti Militari The War Order of Virtuti Militari ( Latin: ''"For Military Virtue"'', pl, Order Wojenny Virtuti Militari) is Poland's highest military decoration for heroism and courage in the face of the enemy at war. It was created in 1792 by Polish King S ...

(Poland). He had also received the

Expedition Cross The Expedition Cross ( nl, Expeditiekruis) officially known as the Cross for Important Military Operations ( nl, Ereteken voor Belangrijke Krijgsbedrijven) was a military decoration of Kingdom of the Netherlands. Created by royal decree on 19 Febr ...

Notes

References

External links

"World Battlefronts: Home Is The Sailor"
'' Time (magazine), Time''. March 9, 1942. {{DEFAULTSORT:Helfrich, Conrad Emil Lambert 1886 births 1962 deaths People from Semarang Royal Netherlands Navy admirals Admirals of World War II Commanders of the Royal Netherlands Navy Royal Netherlands Navy personnel of World War II Commanders of the Order of Orange-Nassau Honorary Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Recipients of the Silver Cross of the Virtuti Militari Dutch people of the Indonesian National Revolution Dutch people of the Dutch East Indies