Jacob van Heemskerck, pennant D 20, was laid down at N.V. Nederlandsche Scheepsbouw Maatschappij in Amsterdam, dockyard number 274, on 31 October 1938, and launched on 16 September 1939. On 10 May 1940 she was still unfinished at her yard. The Dutch history says her machinery had been installed and tried, that six 20 mm guns were put aboard that day, and that her executive officer, Luitenant-ter-zee A. van Foreest, commissioned her prematurely. She left Amsterdam that evening for England. Uboat.net and the Dutch history both date the formal commissioning, after the British anti-aircraft refit, to 11 February 1941, before Queen Wilhelmina. That is the commissioned date used here.
Kapitein-luitenant ter zee Jonkheer Edzard Jacob van Holthe had her from 14 May 1940, when the Dutch history says the original captain resumed command. Uboat.net prints the English rank as commander for that appointment, and the Dutch history calls him Commander. On 12 January 1942 she left Bangor for the Netherlands East Indies with convoy WS-15. She arrived at Colombo on 21 February, and on 25 February she left Trincomalee loaded with 4.7-inch shells for British destroyers in the East Indies. On 28 February she was ordered first toward Tjilatjap and then back to Colombo. She did not reach the Java Sea battle. On 1 March a Japanese reconnaissance aircraft found her about 200 miles southwest of the Sunda Strait, and nine bombers attacked her. She was not hit. She reached Colombo on 6 March and joined the Eastern Fleet on 21 March.
On 30 March she left with Emerald, Hermes and Vampire. The next day she met Admiral James Somerville's Eastern Fleet and was assigned to Force B, with the Dutch destroyer Isaac Sweers. On 5 April the Japanese attacked Colombo. Cornwall and Dorsetshire were sunk. On 9 April the Japanese attacked Trincomalee and sank Hermes and HMAS Vampire. The Dutch history says that on the same day Jacob van Heemskerck became part of Force A, and that she was then in the 4th cruiser squadron under Rear-Admiral Tennant, with Newcastle as flagship and with Emerald and Enterprise. She was at Bombay with Force A until 19 April and then went to Kilindini. On 30 April her rudder was damaged at the Seychelles. Repairs at Simonstown and Cape Town ran into late June. From 29 July to 3 August she was in Operation Stab. On 16 August 1942 the Dutch history says Commander E. J. van Holthe was promoted to captain. Uboat.net dates the rank kapitein ter zee, which it glosses as captain, to the same day. On 6 September she was in Operation Stream, against Madagascar.
On 11 October 1942 she sailed for Fremantle and arrived on 25 October, under the United States Navy in Task Force 71.4. On 28 November, with HMAS Adelaide and the corvettes Toowoomba and Cessnock, she met the blockade runner Ramses, a Hapag ship of 7,983 tons, which was trying to pass as the Norwegian Tai Yang. Jacob van Heemskerck fired a warning salvo. The crew scuttled her. The Dutch history says the survivors, about ninety men, including about ten Norwegian prisoners from Kattegat and Aust, were picked up by Adelaide and landed at Fremantle. In the middle of February 1943 she joined Operation Pamphlet, the liners carrying an Australian infantry division toward Sydney, and she arrived on 27 February. A refit at Sydney, including new 20 mm Oerlikons, lasted until the middle of April. On 30 April 1943 Kapitein ter zee Willem Harmsen relieved van Holthe. The Dutch history calls Harmsen captain, and it says he had commanded Campbeltown and Isaac Sweers. His first job in her was to escort Nieuw Amsterdam to Wellington. She left Australia on 14 December 1943.
She reached Gibraltar on 14 January 1944 and was kept in the Mediterranean as an anti-aircraft escort. On 20 April, with convoy UGS 38, the freighter Paul Hamilton blew up. The Dutch history says 580 men were killed. Jacob van Heemskerck's asdic reported two torpedoes, which missed. USS Lansdale (DD-462) was hit and sank. On 27 May 1944 Kapitein ter zee Willem van den Donker relieved Harmsen. She reached Liverpool on 14 June and went into overhaul at Camell Laird and Company Ltd., the spelling on the Dutch page, for the rest of the war. On 15 September 1944 Kapitein-luitenant ter zee Jonkheer Gustaaf Alexander Berg took command. Uboat.net glosses his rank as commander, and the Dutch history calls him Commander. Trials were run on the Mersey on 16 and 17 July 1945. The refit was finished on 21 July. On 26 July she entered Amsterdam. The Dutch history calls her the first Dutch warship to enter a Dutch port after the war. Berg's uboat.net command runs to 15 October 1945. On 15 September 1945 she left with Van Galen for the Netherlands East Indies. She was decommissioned on 20 November 1969. The Dutch history says she was stricken on 27 February 1970 and sold on 23 June 1970 to Van Castricum and Co. of Rotterdam for 696,700 guilders, and resold to Alicante in July. She was not sunk.
A note on sources. The East Indies passage, Force B and Force A, Ramses, Pamphlet, the Mediterranean convoy and the later disposal follow the ship history on netherlandsnavy.nl, saved as a digitized copy, which cites K. W. L. Bezemer and Ph. M. Bosscher. Uboat.net agrees the launch on 16 September 1939, the formal commissioning on 11 February 1941, pennant D 20, the decommissioning on 20 November 1969 and the sale on 23 June 1970. It does not print the striking on 27 February 1970. The Dutch history's sentence that places Newcastle in the 4th cruiser squadron with her in April 1942 is not supported by Geoffrey Mason's chronology of Newcastle, which says no record can be found of that ship in the Eastern Fleet operations after the attacks on Ceylon. Command dates are the uboat.net list. The promotion on 16 August 1942 is on both the Dutch history and the uboat.net rank table. English ranks in the person records follow the glosses uboat.net prints in parentheses, Commander and Captain, and the words Commander and captain on the Dutch history. The Dutch rank titles in this account are the forms uboat.net prints.