What happens to the Dutch fleet after surrender event?

Save and load as the Dutch to find out. I am not really sure what happens.

Blecky said:

Anyway, I started another game as GER and the Dutch surrendered again within 23 hours. Their fleet and the aerial units are miraculously teleporting (SR) towards Batavia and arriving there the very next day.

I´d rather doubt that the Germans would have let the fleet sail away to fight another day.

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Actually, that's pretty much what happened... The majority of the Dutch fleet was based in the East Indies to start out with. As soon as hostilities broke out, the remainder was re-based to the UK, with the exception of the IJsselmeerflottielje, which consisted of a couple of sloops of war, torpedo boats and minesweepers. Most of those were old or even obsolete. Even several ships that were still under construction, like the light cruiser Jacob van Heemskerck, managed to evacuate to England, to be completed there.

Below is a listing of the Dutch based part of the Royal Dutch Navy of May, 1940 (source):

Destroyed by German strikes:
- Destroyer Van Galen [Rotterdam, by a Stuka attack]
- Destroyer escort Christiaan Cornelis
- Gunboats Johan Maurits and Friso [by Luftwaffe attacks]
- Mine laying vessels Hydra and Bulgia
- Mine sweeper M III

Destroyed by own personnel:
- Submarine O 12
- Destroyer escorts Z3 and G16 [both obsolete]
- Gunboats Brinio, Braga, Helfring and Freyr [all obsolete river and shallow water gunboats]
- Mine-sweepers Abraham van Hulst [after sustaining heavy damage from Luftwaffe attack], Pieter Floriszoon [modern], MI, MII, MIV [last three were recovered and taken into service by Kriegsmarine]
- Battery ship IJmuiden [obsolete vessel, equipped with guns to support fortress IJmuiden]

Escaped to England:
- Light-cruiser Sumatra
- Destroyer escorts [obsolete] Z5, Z6, Z7, Z8, G13, G15
- Modern gunboats Flores and Gruno
- Mine laying vessels Willem van der Zaan, Medusa, Van Maerlant, Douwe Aukes, Nautiles, Jan van Brakel
- Mine Sweeper [modern] Jan van Gelder
- MTB [modern] TM51
- Submarines O9, O10 and O13
- Many auxiliary ships

Escaped to England [under construction but afloat]:
- Light-cruiser Jacob van Heemskerck
- Heavy destroyer Isaac Sweers
- Submarines O21, O22, O23 and O24

Captured by the Germans:
- Obsolete gunboats Tyr and Balder
- Obsolete gunboats [unarmed] Hadda and Thor
- Mine laying vessel Vidar
- Torpedo workship Vidar
- Obsolete submarines O8 and O11
- Obsolete coastal gunboats Gelderland and Hertog Hendrik

Captured by the Germans [under construction]:
- Cruiser De Zeven Provincien [casco not used by Kriegsmarine]
- Cruiser Eendracht [casco not used by Kriegsmarine]
- Heavy destroyer Tjerk Hiddes, Gerard Callenburgh and Philips van Almonde [all damaged but repaired and in commission with Kriegsmarine]
- Submarines O25, O26 and O27 [all in commission with Kriegsmarine]
- 6 Mine-sweepers [all in commission with Kriegsmarine]
- Tanker [in commission with Kriegsmarine]
- 10 MTB's in different phases of construction [all finished and commissioned in the Kriegsmarine as E-Boote, serving in the Mediterranean]

Hagar said:

Actually, that's pretty much what happened... The majority of the Dutch fleet was based in the East Indies to start out with. As soon as hostilities broke out, the remainder was re-based to the UK, with the exception of the IJsselmeerflottielje, which consisted of a couple of sloops of war, torpedo boats and minesweepers. Most of those were old or even obsolete. Even several ships that were still under construction, like the light cruiser Jacob van Heemskerck, managed to evacuate to England, to be completed there...

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Incredibly detailed information, thanks! Were these units given to the Royal Navy to control? Playing as the UK, I can see some sitting there in my ports. I know I can always assume military control of the Netherlands, but an even might add more flavour?

cyberpunkdreams said:

Incredibly detailed information, thanks! Were these units given to the Royal Navy to control? Playing as the UK, I can see some sitting there in my ports. I know I can always assume military control of the Netherlands, but an even might add more flavour?

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In real life you mean? They were incorporated in the British Navy straight away (unlike navies of other combatants). So was the Dutch merchant marine service.

Hagar said:

In real life you mean? They were incorporated in the British Navy straight away (unlike navies of other combatants). So was the Dutch merchant marine service.

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Yes, that's what I thought. There don't seem to be any events to reflect that (at least not in CORE, which is what I'm playing at the moment). Some events would be good for all concerned, perhaps adding a combination of naval assets and convoy escorts.

Must have been odd for the Dutch sailors on those boats - having a family at home which you can't get back to for all those years...

Well there is only so much you can do with scripting, and in real life the chances of the German navy to intercept would be highly dependent on their actual positioning. The North Sea is quite a stretch of water, with ships positioned at Amsterdam, Vlissingen en Den Helder... Though a fleet situated close to Den Helder would have had the most chances of (partial) success. Having said that, I doubt the Germans would even have tried it, as it would have alterted Dutch defences. The May 10th attack was a surprise attack after all, without a declaration of war...

We could include a plausible split at the escort level in the "Victory in ...." events. We already split the merchant fleets between Germany and the Allies, we might also split minor units as escorts. Such event exist for POL, DEN, NOR, HOL and BEL (?).

I'd go for that. The light cruiser and subs could maybe be handled as individual units going to the Royal Navy, in addition to escorts (just a thought).