[5] On 29 July 1929, De Ruyter, her sister Evertsen, the cruiser Java, and the submarines K II and K VII, left Surabaya, and steamed to Tanjung Priok.

On 31 August, she participates in a fleet review at Tanjung Priok, held in honor of the Dutch Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, who was born that day.

[9] When war broke out in the Pacific in December 1941, Van Ghent was serving in the Netherlands East Indies as part of Rear Admiral Karel Doorman's command.

De Ruyter, along with several Dutch and U.S. cruisers and destroyers, took part in an unsuccessful attempt to attack a Japanese invasion convoy reportedly bound for Surabaya (which in actuality was heading to Makassar) on 3–4 February 1942.

Doorman's forces attempted another sortie against another Japanese invasion convoy on 15 February 1942, and to locate them this time took his ships northwest through the Gaspar Strait, to the east of Bangka Island.