Albertus Samuel "Ab" Pinke (14 October 1894 – 8 July 1966) was a

vice admiral Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral. Australia In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of Vice ...

in the

Royal Netherlands Navy The Royal Netherlands Navy (, ) is the Navy, maritime service branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. It traces its history to 8 January 1488, making it the List of navies, third-oldest navy in the world. During the 17th and early 18th centurie ...

(RNLN). Between 25 January 1946 and 30 September 1949 he was commander of the naval forces in the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...

, during the

Indonesian War of Independence The Indonesian National Revolution (), also known as the Indonesian War of Independence (, ), was an armed conflict and diplomatic struggle between the Republic of Indonesia and the Dutch Empire and an internal social revolution during ...

Early life

Albertus Samuel Pinke was born on 14 October 1894 in

Heerde Heerde () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a town in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Gelderland, in the eastern Netherlands. Compared to the rest of the Netherlands, Heerde is fairly religious, as are many of t ...

, the Netherlands, as son of Frederik Pinke and Johanna Maria Willemina Carpentier Alting. Frederik Pinke was a naval officer in the

who served between 1 May 1912 and 1 February 1914 as commander of the naval forces in the

Military career

Interwar Period

In 1928 Pinke was part of a supervisory committee that observed the testing of a new bubble capture system that Inkavos had developed to eliminate bubbles when firing torpedoes from torpedo tubes.Bosscher and Busssemaker (2007), p. 31. During his time on the committee he observed the trials aboard the HNLMS ''O 6'' and contributed to the final report in which it was concluded that the system did not meet expectations.

Indonesian War of Independence

On 25 January 1946 Pinke was appointed commander of the naval forces in the

as replacement for Conrad Helfrich. As commander naval forces Dutch East Indies he repeatably urged the Dutch government to strengthen the presence of the Royal Netherlands Navy in the Dutch East Indies during the

. In particular he wanted the RNLN to perform patrol tasks to stop the smuggling of weapons and infiltration by Republican forces. He also firmly opposed transferring these patrol tasks to the Dienst van Scheepsvaart. Furthermore, he warned of the dangers that a foreign country could potentially start supporting the Republican forces with equipment if the fight dragged on too long, which might shift the power balance.Schoonoord (2012), p. 34.

References

Bibliography

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External links

Archive of A.S. Pinke at the National Archives of the Netherlands
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pinke, Albertus Samuel Royal Netherlands Navy admirals Royal Netherlands Navy submarine commanders Dutch military personnel of the Indonesian National Revolution 1894 births 1966 deaths