Ships
- HNLMS Sumatra (40) Captain from 29 January 1941 · Relieved on 27 January 1942
Henri Jan Bueninck had Sumatra from 29 January 1941 until 27 January 1942. He was in command on 7 December 1941, while she was laid up at Soerabaja. Uboat.net lists him as kapitein ter zee, which it glosses as captain. The English rank Captain is that gloss.
Uboat.net records that he was born on 1 April 1890 at Padang, on Sumatra, in the Netherlands East Indies, and that he died on 22 May 1962 at The Hague. The page spells the death place Den Haag.
The rank table lists luitenant ter zee der 2e klasse, glossed lieutenant, on 23 August 1913; luitenant ter zee der 1e klasse, glossed lieutenant-commander, on 1 August 1921; kapitein-luitenant ter zee, glossed commander, on 1 April 1934; and kapitein ter zee, glossed captain, on 1 September 1938. He retired on 1 December 1945. The page says it has no career narrative. Events on the same page place him in De Ruyter on 12 July 1940, flying the flag of Rear-Admiral K. W. F. M. Doorman, and in a short refit at Surabaya from 15 July 1940. Those lines are not a command dated on the Sumatra list.
He took Sumatra on 29 January 1941, after she had been decommissioned at Soerabaja on 16 October 1940 for a long overhaul. The Dutch history does not record her at sea again until Willinge recommissioned her on 27 January 1942, the day Bueninck left. She was not ready for battle. The pages do not describe what he did ashore, if he was ashore, during the laying-up.
He retired on 1 December 1945. He died at The Hague on 22 May 1962.