Ships
- HNLMS Jacob van Heemskerck (D20) Commander from 14 May 1940 · Promoted to captain on 16 August 1942 · Relieved on 30 April 1943
Jonkheer Edzard Jacob van Holthe had Jacob van Heemskerck from 14 May 1940 until 30 April 1943. Uboat.net lists him for that whole command as kapitein-luitenant ter zee, which it glosses as commander. The Dutch history calls him Commander, and on 16 August 1942 it says he was promoted to captain. Uboat.net's rank table dates kapitein ter zee, glossed as captain, to the same day. The person rank is Captain, because that is the rank he held through the rest of the Eastern Fleet and Australian commands. The English words come from those two sources.
Uboat.net records that he was born on 29 January 1896 at The Hague and died on 17 July 1967 at Hilversum. The page spells the birthplace Den Haag.
The rank table lists luitenant ter zee der 3e klasse, glossed sub-lieutenant, on 9 October 1916; luitenant ter zee der 2e klasse, glossed lieutenant, on 9 October 1918; luitenant ter zee der 1e klasse, glossed lieutenant-commander, on 5 October 1927; and kapitein-luitenant ter zee, glossed commander, on 1 February 1939. Kapitein ter zee follows on 16 August 1942. The page says it has no career narrative.
The Dutch history says the original captain resumed command on 14 May 1940, after Luitenant-ter-zee A. van Foreest had commissioned the unfinished ship on 10 May and taken her to England. She was formally commissioned on 11 February 1941. He took her out to the East Indies with WS-15 in January 1942, turned her back short of Java, and had her in Force B and then Force A off Ceylon in April. The rudder was found damaged at the Seychelles on 30 April 1942. He was promoted on 16 August, during Operation Stab and before Operation Stream. On 28 November 1942 she fired the warning salvo that preceded the scuttling of Ramses. He was relieved on 30 April 1943 by Willem Harmsen, at Sydney, after Operation Pamphlet. Uboat.net then lists him as schout-bij-nacht, glossed rear-admiral, on 28 December 1945, and as vice-admiraal on 1 September 1947. The page was cut off before any retirement date, so none is given.
The fetched pages do not record an appointment after Jacob van Heemskerck beyond those two flag ranks. He died at Hilversum on 17 July 1967.