A bill was sent to the Dutch Parliament in which was proposed to increase the so-called Credietwet (law dealing with the national credits) with ƒ 2.862.884 added to the naval budget for 1920. According to the explanation it was necessary to decided as soon as possible what to do with the two cruisers Hr.Ms. Java and Sumatra and which were still standing on stocks.(1) It was all ready known that the a possible sell of the hulls was not a reality in case it was decided to stop the completion. The half completed boilers or engine parts could only be sold for scrap. Just the eight all ready delivered guns were of any value, they could be used for instance for the coastal defence or to arm fortress. If the building was stopped at once there were two options. One stop building, make sure the hulls were as good as watertight and transport these to the scrap yard or complete the hulls to the waterline with the hope that they could be used as lighters or salvage vessels. The minister of navy thought that ending the contracts minus the value of the hulls and used iron, copper etc. another ƒ 18.500.000 were required. From the sell were the all ready delivered guns and ammunition for which ƒ 1.500.000 was paid excluded and which was still worth ƒ 750.000. The result was that stopping the building caused a pure loss of ƒ 17.750.000 of which all ready ƒ 9.000.000 was spent (for the half out of the so-called Dutch East Indies budget). Another ƒ 9.500.000 was yet still to be paid, again one half out of the so-called Dutch East Indies budget. The original costs of the cruisers was completely fitted out ƒ 8.700.000 each. Later it was decided to change the contracts into a open account and it was now calculated that that both cruisers completed, fitted out and armed demanded a budget of ƒ 36.200.000. If the completion was continued with some haste than it would be possible with another budget of ƒ 18.750.000 added to the ƒ 17.750.000 to posses within 3 years two complete new ships of modern construction.
Note
1. The building of the third cruiser to be named Celebes is never realized. The Java and the Sumatra were indeed finally completed although not of modern construction as what was written in 1920. The design came from the German Germaniawerft at Kiel and was an answer to the Japanese Chikuma-cruiser class. At that moment these Dutch light cruisers could be considered as big, fast and with 10-15cm guns well armed. Both ships were lost during the Second World war. The Sumatra was scuttled as a breakwater, the Java was lost during the battle in the Java Sea when part of an Allied squadron commanded by the Dutch rear admiral Karel Doorman against Japanese forces.
