A fine little fleet in the Dutch East Indies

Although I like your timeline, it's really completely opposite of OTL.

Although the Netherlands were economically/industrially comparable to Czechoslovakia, much of the public opinion was against the military, with much spread pacifism.

An effect of that IRL was that one of the cruisers (Java IIRC?) was equipped with a lighter armament then designed due to public opinion.

A literal example of this is here:
The Fokker monoplane fighter D21, original developted for the East Indian airforce department. was rejected it because of a fixed landing gear and mixed wood cloth and metal constuction, while a retrectable undercariage and all metal was demanded in the specifications. Despite this short commings the LVA ( airforce department of the Dutch army) orders 36 for 3 fighter groups and later a 2nd order for another 36 D21 for 3 other fighter groups. The armamnent was 4x7,9mm MG’s
The D. XXI was designed with a fixed landing gear by Fokker because the Dutch government had stated they found a retractable landing gear too expensive.
Only then did Fokker make the D XXI with a fixed landing gear.

The idea behind the G-I, which was a beautiful heavy fighter/bomber with a very heavy armament for it's time, was that because the Netherlands lacked a modern airdefence/control system they needed aircraft to patrol their borders on top of using interceptors on call.

In the Far East a G-I with a navigator would do very nicely with long range oversea navigation and all.
I don't know if you eventually could modify the G-I to carry a torpedo, but when the continental Netherlands fall, it's over for the G-I regarding parts and all.
Unless you ofcourse make the French order the G-I too and have them build a factory for it which they move to Algeria? ;)
 
Given Dutch resources and lack of losses in WWI it shouldn't be impossible for Holland to embark on a more ambitious program, although one problem is that such a program is more likely to improve the Dutch Army and Air Force before the DEI. A few dozen tanks or modern fighters are a lot cheaper than a battlecruiser.

On the other hand, if even two battleships/battlecruisers can be completed it makes a difference including in Anglo-American attitudes.

Since the DEI fleet couldn't possibly stand up to the IJN OTL there wasn't much point seen by London or Washington in rushing support and the Dutch refusal to retreat ensured the DEI squadron wouldn't be around for long.

Given two battlecruisers means a likely delay in Japanese plans and a diversion of IJN heavy ships so it becomes much more useful to help the Dutch buy more time or even smash one or more Japanese landings.

Note that Japan's entire plan was a chain reaction waiting to crash. Smash ONE landing and an entire series of planned actions are disrupted or worse.

Certainly the British and Americans(and Australian/New Zealand) can scrape up a few more cruisers and destroyers, perhaps a few more land units or aircraft. Far more importantly is that the British in particular would likely plan ahead in a better fashion.

Specifically given two British heavies, Repulse and Prince of Wales, plus two Dutch heavies, does it make sense to operate separately when a united force can smash anything Japan has short of an all-out Japanese effort? Might the US not decide to send two of the remaining battleships over as well given such a squadron's potential? And can Japan continue so many landings when four or more Allied battleships may appear at any moment and a minimum of two or three IJN battleships plus lighter ships are essential to stopping them?

As it is the Australian, New Zealand and DEI existing cruisers and destroyers plus what the British and Americans had in the area should be adequate support although a few more British and American ships are likely to be pushed forward in such a situation and the Dutch surely found time to build a few more light ships as well.

Another historical detail is that the British were supposed to have a carrier at Singapore but events prevented the arrival of one. If a long-planned juncture with the enhanced DEI fleet is on the boards perhaps one is selected earlier and arrives.



And have you all seen this site: http://www.francefightson.org/
 
I think that even without any serious addition to the Dutch fleet the allies had enough ships sent to the area to disrupt the fragile Japanese plan, but these forces were never concentrated. Would a significant addition to the Dutch fleet lead to the earlier creation of ABDA naval command, and the subsequent concentrating of naval forces and their use to destroy IJN force elements, instead of piecemeal attempts to defend single colonies?
 
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