Conrad Emil Lambert Helfrich

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Conrad Helfrich
Born	October 11, 1886 Semarang, Indonesia
Died	September 20, 1962 The Hague, Netherlands

Conrad E.L. Helfrich

Vice Admiral Conrad Emil Lambert Helfrich (KCB) (Oct 11, 1886, Semarang - Sep 20, 1962, The Hague) of the Royal Netherlands Navy was a leading Dutch naval figure of World War II.

Between 1919 and 1922 Helfrich was in the service of the marine staff in The Hague where he was involved in the creation of a Fleet plan for the Dutch Indies.

At the outbreak of the war in the Pacific Helfrich assumed command of all Dutch naval units in the Dutch East Indies and gave instruction to wage war aggressively. His small force of submarines sank more Japanese ships in the first weeks of the war than the entire British and US navies together. An exploit which earned him the nickname "Ship-a-day Helfrich". Admiral Helfrich worked tirelessly to establish co-operation with the Allied navies in the area since he knew that the Dutch could not hope to protect the Dutch East Indies by themselves. When a combined command (ABDA) was finally created in January 1942, he was bypassed for the post of commander of the navy, in favour of Admiral Thomas C. Hart of the United States Navy. Helfrich's mission to defend Java at all costs clashed with Hart's desire to conserve as many naval units as possible. On February 12, 1942, Helfrich succeeded Hart as commander of the American-British-Dutch-Australian naval forces in the Pacific and immediately went on the offensive. Unfortunately, the courage of the striking force was to no avail in the face of the overwhelming superiority of the Japanese navy and after the disastrous Battle of the Java Sea most of the ABDA ships under his command had been put out of action and ABDA itself was dismantled. Helfrich spent the remainder of the war in Ceylon preparing the return of Dutch administration to the Dutch East Indies.

In 1945, he signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender on behalf of the government of the Netherlands.