--- title: Three WWII Ships Mysteriously Vanished from the Java Sea description: ree shipwrecks dating from World War II have disappeared from the bottom of the sea bed in the Java Sea, near Indonesia. canonical: https://time.com/4572826/dutch-shipswreck-java-indonesia/ author: Suyin Haynes article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-16T12:49:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:38:42.646Z og:title: Three WWII Ships Mysteriously Vanish from Deep Below the Sea og:description: The sunken remains disappeared off the coast of Indonesia og:url: https://time.com/4572826/dutch-shipswreck-java-indonesia/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta3e4d2a7eb522e95/6988aea22dce0123999eb6fd/1280.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1280 og:image:height: 720 og:image:alt: 1280 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Three WWII Ships Mysteriously Vanish from Deep Below the Sea twitter:description: The sunken remains disappeared off the coast of Indonesia twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta3e4d2a7eb522e95/6988aea22dce0123999eb6fd/1280.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Three WWII Ships Mysteriously Vanish from Deep Below the Sea > Sponsored content. 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There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=891320ed-b6c0-4ea9-83ca-e3cb213b87e6&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) by [Suyin Haynes](https://time.com/author/suyin-haynes/) ## Suyin Haynes Nov 16, 2016 12:49 PM UTC  HNLMS Kortenaer HNLMS Kortenaer Royal Netherlands Navy/Koninklijke Marine by [Suyin Haynes](https://time.com/author/suyin-haynes/) ## Suyin Haynes Nov 16, 2016 12:49 PM UTC Three shipwrecks [dating from World War II](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/16/three-dutch-second-world-war-shipwrecks-vanish-java-sea-indonesia?CMP=twt%5Fgu) have disappeared from the bottom of the sea bed off Indonesia, likely the work of illegal divers salvaging metal from the remains. The remains of the Dutch vessels are from the Battle of the Java Sea, which was fought in 1942 between Allied and Japanese forces. Discovered in 2002 on an amateur diving expedition, the site is recognised as a sacred war grave as over 2,000 people died in the battle. Parts of the wreckage site were discovered to have vanished by divers undertaking preparations for the 75th anniversary of the Battle, which will be commemorated next year. [Dutch News reported](http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2016/11/dutch-wwii-ship-wrecks-disappear-from-java-sea-illegal-salvage-rife-in-region/) that Defence Minister Jeanine Hennis told fellow MPs of the disappearance of the ships from the sea bed in a briefing on Tuesday. “The Battle for Java Sea is part of our collective memory,” the minister said. “The wrecks bear silent witness to the the tragic events and form a backdrop to the many stories about the terrors of war and the comradeship between crew.” According to [the Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/16/three-dutch-second-world-war-shipwrecks-vanish-java-sea-indonesia?CMP=twt%5Fgu), Hennis confirmed that an international investigation will be launched into the disappearance, noting that the majority of two of the ships were missing, while parts of the third had also disappeared. It is not the first time that a mystery involving vanishing shipwrecks has occurred in the region, as illegal divers have [previously stripped other shipwrecks](http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/illegal-divers-strip-ships-sunk-in-wwii-for-scrap) in search for metal to salvage. \[[Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/16/three-dutch-second-world-war-shipwrecks-vanish-java-sea-indonesia?CMP=twt%5Fgu)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4572826/dutch-shipswreck-java-indonesia/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4572826/dutch-shipswreck-java-indonesia/"},"headline":"Three WWII Ships Mysteriously Vanish from Deep Below the Sea","datePublished":"2016-11-16T12:49:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:38:42.646Z","description":"Likely the victim of illegal salvage operations","url":"https://time.com/4572826/dutch-shipswreck-java-indonesia/","keywords":["Newsfeed","indonesia","World","Sea"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta3e4d2a7eb522e95/6988aea22dce0123999eb6fd/1280.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Suyin Haynes","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/suyin-haynes/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta3e4d2a7eb522e95/6988aea22dce0123999eb6fd/1280.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"1280","caption":"HNLMS Kortenaer","creditText":"Royal Netherlands Navy/Koninklijke Marine","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4572826/dutch-shipswreck-java-indonesia/","name":"Three WWII Ships Mysteriously Vanish from Deep Below the Sea"}}]}] ```