Netherlands


The 18th century onwards, however, saw their fortunes take a turn for the worse; the failure to take the Philippines from the Spanish, Macau from the Portuguese, and the Fourth Anglo-Dutch war that ultimately led to the British breaking the back of the Dutch Navy at the Battle of Camperdown. Renamed to the Royal Netherlands Navy (Koninklijke Marine) in 1905, the Great Depression hit Dutch commerce particularly hard, and the resulting budget cuts left the navy severely underfunded and underequipped. While the Netherlands managed to remain neutral in World War I, doing so again in World War II would prove to be futile, with Germany sweeping through the Dutch homeland in a week on 10 May 1940, giving the Kriegsmarine crucial submarine snorkel technology (known as the snuiver). Fortunately, most of the Dutch fleet was located in the Dutch East Indies (present day Indonesia), protecting the resource-rich archipelago, but that would eventually come under attack by the Japanese on 8 December 1941. Although aggressive use of their small flotilla of submarines dealt an initial heavy blow to the Japanese, the Dutch Navy would once again have its back broken in the Battle of the Java Sea on 27 February 1942.
Cruisers
Commanders
Cruisers
These commanders have skills that not only suit cruisers, but will sometimes only have an impact on that class of ship. Cruisers type skills often have an emphasis on long range support, HE fire chance and sonar/hydroacoustic search modifiers. Although these commanders are specialized for Cruisers, they can be utilized on any ship class.