HNLMS Willem van der Zaan (ML-2/N82/F824/A880) was a minelayer of the Royal Netherlands Navy that was commissioned only days before the start of World War II in September 1939.

The ship was laid down by the Nederlandse Droogdok Maatschappij ("Dutch Drydock Company") at Amsterdam, on 18 January 1938, and launched on 15 December 1938.

On 13 May she sailed from Den Helder for the UK, arriving at Portsmouth on the 14th, carrying 10 torpedoes and other equipment for the cruiser Sumatra, and four Luftwaffe prisoners from a downed aircraft.

[2] On 13 November Willem van der Zaan left Britain for the Netherlands East Indies.

From there she sailed to Freetown, then to Cape Town, Durban and Port Louis, arriving at Tanjung Priok, Batavia, on 14 January 1941.

After an overhaul Willem van der Zaan was stationed in the Riouw Archipelago near Singapore, from early April.

On 1 March 1942, as the military situation on Java rapidly deteriorated, Willem van der Zaan escaped to Colombo, arriving on the 9th and joining the British Royal Navy's East Indies Station.

She then took part in "Operation Buttermilk", intended to close British coastal waters to German submarines.

The next day she sailed to Rotterdam, remaining there until 6 August, when she returned to Shadwell, to be prepared for detachment to the Netherlands East Indies.