Piet Hein was an Admiralen-class destroyer, named for the seventeenth-century admiral Piet Pieterszoon Hein. Burgerhout's yard at Rotterdam laid her down on 16 August 1925. She was launched on 30 June 1927, the date given by the wartime ship list and by the Zeeuws Archief. Other lists print 2 April 1927. The navy commissioned her on 25 January 1929. Her pennant was PH. Like the rest of the class she could lay mines, and she spent her service in the Netherlands East Indies.
Jan Marie Lodewijk Ignatius Chömpff had her from 23 December 1940. On the evening of 18 February 1942 she left Tjilatjap with De Ruyter, Java, and the American destroyers John D. Ford and Pope. Kortenaer grounded on the way out and did not sail with them.
They came into Badung Strait, off Bali, about half past nine on the night of the 19th. The Dutch cruisers led. Piet Hein led the two American destroyers. Asashio and Oshio were there with the transport Sasago Maru. Gunfire cut Piet Hein's steam and set her on fire, and torpedoes from the two Japanese destroyers finished her. She sank before midnight. Sixty-four of her crew were lost. Some accounts give the torpedo to Asashio alone. The loss is not credited to one ship.