The story of this Dutch destroyer and her courageous crew is inspirational despite its tragic ending. Under construction when the Germans invaded, she was towed to England for completion. She was part of Operation Halberd - a force of 26 allied ships taking 9 desperately needed transports to Malta in September 1941-and later, heading for Alexandria, she and 3 British destroyers put 2 Italian cruisers out of action. Seconded to the East Mediterranean Fleet, she saw a lot of action escorting convoys to Malta; at one point saling into the burning sea around stricken destroyer HMS Gurka (she put her bow close enough to attach a tow) to save all but 10 of the crew. After a spell with the Eastern Fleet, she was back in the Mediterranean for Operation Torch when she met the fate from which she had saved the Gurka. Just after oiling off Oran, she was hit by 2 torpedoes from U-431. Engulfed in flames, she lost more than 110 men out of 190.