[4][9] The islands, which included Java, Sumatra, Borneo and part of New Guinea, were enormously important both politically and strategically to the Dutch, who had lived and traded there for more than three centuries.

Over 500,000 settlers had moved from the Netherlands to this "second homeland",[10] and the East Indies possessed abundant valuable resources, the most important of which were the rubber plantations and oilfields;[11][12] the islands were the fourth-largest exporters of oil in the world, behind the United States, Iran, and Romania.

As this ship was considered to be "of little remaining combat value", three light cruisers (Java, Sumatra and De Ruyter), a few destroyers, and a large submarine fleet were charged with the main naval defense of the islands.

They concluded that the Dutch should have a navy strong enough to force an enemy to "use such a large part of his military potential that there would be an unacceptable weakening of his capabilities in other theaters".

Specific values were given for each aspect of the design's armor, which featured substantial anti-torpedo and mine protection[A 6] and a defense against 28 cm shells and 300 kg bombs.

[17][A 7] As 1913 plans for 24,650-ton dreadnoughts were never brought to fruition due to the First World War,[A 8] the Dutch had no prior experience in building such large ships.

Informal talks had already been held in Berlin on 24–25 April 1939 where the Dutch proposed that, in return for the complete plans for the Scharnhorst-class battleship, they would order all of the necessary equipment for their construction program from Germany.

[A 10] Two months later, talks were held in Bremen and Berlin (on 13 and 31 July, respectively) in which the Germans agreed to release plans and drawings that, although not specifically of the Scharnhorst-class, would reveal their ideas on battlecruiser design.

After further improvements, Nevesbu and two German firms (Germaniawerft was responsible for the turbines and Deschimag for the boilers) began sketching preliminary plans.

Their design was probably based upon a set of plans drawn up by the Ship Construction Office of the German Navy and received in the Netherlands on 31 August.

[26] December also saw real doubts start to creep over the project, as a new Navy Minister had been appointed, and he believed that the Dutch would be better off acquiring a modern version of the old armored cruiser type.

[27] The plan for three battlecruisers was authorized in February 1940; they, along with two light cruisers of the Eendracht class, would be responsible for the main sea defense of the East Indies.

The authorization of large battlecruisers meant that a new 40,000-ton floating dock would be built and many improvements to their planned base in the East Indies, the naval yard in Soerabaya, would begin.

Inexperienced in designing an underwater protection scheme for a ship of this size, the Dutch were forced to turn to Italy for assistance, which allowed a delegation of engineers and naval officers to enter the country in February 1940.

While the Dutch delegation was barred from viewing technical drawings of the under-construction battleship Roma, possibly to ensure that the details of their Pugliese system remained a secret, they were given access to the completed Vittorio Veneto, toured several shipyards, interviewed the Chief Constructor of the Italian Navy, and received additional information on the Scharnhorsts (as the Italians—Germany's ally—knew some details of the ships).

The designers got rid of the previously required central longitudinal bulkhead and attempted to raise the double bottom to provide greater protection against magnetic torpedoes.

[31][32] The table of characteristics provided by Lt. Jurrien S. Noot for the 19 April 1940 design does not give any armament specifics, as these likely remained unaltered from the earlier 16 February 1940 drawing.

[5] Work on the main armament was contracted to Germaniawerft, which based its designs for the turrets, mountings, and guns of the 1047s on the 28 cm SK C/34 used on the Scharnhorst class.

Detailed specifics such as range or rate of fire are also unknown; had the older gun been used it would in any case have been updated (including the use of dual instead of single half-shield mounts), and the more modern version did not see service until 1950, by which time it incorporated improvements from lessons learned during the war.

Arguably the best light anti-aircraft gun of the Second World War,[35] the 40 mm Bofors was used for air defense both on land and at sea by many of the countries involved, including the Americans, British, Dutch, Japanese, and Swedish.

[35][36] Before the Second World War, Hazemeyer, a Dutch subsidiary of the German company Siemens & Halske, had devised "a very advanced triaxial mounting together with a tachymetric control system" for the 40 mm gun.

When the Netherlands fell in 1940, this was brought to the UK aboard the minesweeper Willem van der Zaan, where it was copied and put into service as the British Mark IV twin mount.

The 1047s' guns would have been more effective because they saved needed space and weight on the ships while simplifying logistics by requiring just one size of secondary ammunition.