De Ruyter was originally designed as a 5,000 long tons (5,080 t) ship with a lighter armament due to the financial problems of the Great Depression and a pacifist movement in the Netherlands.

De Ruyter was laid down on 16 September 1933 at the Wilton-Fijenoord dockyard in Schiedam and commissioned on 3 October 1936, commanded by Captain A. C. van der Sande Lacoste.

De Ruyter spent her early war career taking part in peacetime patrol and escorting duties, mostly in the waters surrounding the Dutch East Indies.

When the Netherlands was invaded by Nazi Germany in May 1940, she retreated to the Dutch East Indies, where she eventually served as flagship for ABDA Force.

She saw her last action attempting to intercept another Japanese troop convoy at the battle of the Java Sea, but failed to make a single hit while being damaged herself and retreating.

From then on until that October, De Ruyter, alongside several destroyers and both Java class light cruisers vigorously took part in training exercises to ready her crew for battle.

For several years, De Ruyter saw a quiet career operating off Dutch East Indies waters on patrol and escorting duties.

Upon the start of the war, Captain Karel Doorman was given the command of De Ruyter, but would not see combat initially due to the Netherland's neutrality in WW2.

De Ruyter was not damaged, but the light cruiser USS Marblehead was hit by two bombs that forced her back to the US for repairs and out of the ABDA fleet permanently, while the heavy cruiser USS Houston was critically damaged by a bomb hit that disabled her number three main battery turret.

As a result, De Ruyter and the rest of the task force turned back and retreated to the coast of Java, while the Japanese successfully took control of the Makassar Strait.

[7] On February 18, De Ruyter departed the Java coast alongside the light cruiser HNLMS Java and the destroyers USS Pope, USS John D. Ford, and HNLMS Piet Hein in another attempt to disrupt Japanese troop convoys destined to Bali Indonesia consisting of two troop transports escorted by four destroyers of the Asashio class which was spotted by allied submarines.

[6] On February 24, De Ruyter departed as flagship for Admiral Doorman and his flag captain Eugène Lacomblé (who had previously served on board the ship as a lieutenant) for much of what was left of the ABDA fleet, consisting of three light cruisers, De Ruyter, Java and HMAS Perth, the heavy cruisers Houston and HMS Exeter, and nine destroyers, as ABDA fleet's largest effort yet to destroy Japanese troop convoys after a series of blunders and failed attempts.

The first hit the axillary motor room and started a small fire, killing one crewman and injuring six others, while the second over penetrated unarmored portions of the ship without exploding.

To top things off, tragedy struck when at 21:25, the destroyer HMS Jupiter hit a mine that was laid by Dutch forces and sank in a friendly fire incident.

Just before midnight, Haguro and Nachi closed to 16,000 yards undetected by De Ruyter and the other ships and prepared a stealth attack by firing torpedoes only.

[10][13] According to Indonesian journalist Aqwam Hanifan, the remains of Dutch sailors on De Ruyter and the other illegally salvaged ships were dumped in a mass grave in East Java.