Due to the increased demand the admiralty in the Dutch East Indies wanted to have a third, bigger floating dock.

[1] The wooden dock at Surabaya handled the Groningen-class corvettes of 1,780 tons with great difficulty.

The wooden dock at Onrust was longer, but still not long enough, and was not capable to receive loaded ships.

[2] Due to the known condition of the grounds at the naval base Onrust near Batavia, and the experience gained in the attempt to construct a fixed dry dock at Onrust, the East Indies Authorities decided that a floating dry dock was required.

Rennie and Sons in London had made an iron dry dock for the Spanish navy.

[2] The authorities in the Dutch East Indies sent a design of the floating dry dock it required to the Netherlands.

They decided that August Elize Tromp and J. Strootman (who wrote the article in the reference section) would make a revised plan.

In mid-December 1862 the tender for the dry dock was announced by the minister of the navy Willem Huyssen van Kattendijke.

Most of the iron was delivered by Société des hauts-fourneaux, usines et charbonnages de Marcinelle et Couillet.

[11] On 9 June 1864 some members of the Royal Institute of Engineers visited the floating dock after attending their annual meeting.

[12] It would take over four years before the pontoon left the dock pit and entered the basin (the harbor of Surabaya).

It represents one-half of two-thirds of the length, complete with steam engine, pumps, piping, sluices and valves.

It is a piece of high-quality workmanship, executed in great detail, with sections of walls that open and shut to reveal the interior.

The entire construction has been followed accurately: all the frames and bulkheads have been fitted, even in the parts that do not open and are inaccessible to the eye.

The model likely approaches the condition of the dock when it was temporarily assembled in Amsterdam rather than the finished product in the East Indies.

The famous writer Vice Admiral Edmond Pâris thought the Dutch section the most interesting of those of the maritime nations after that of the United Kingdom and France.

The model of Onrust Dock of 3,000 tons was the largest piece of the Dutch section, but was only briefly mentioned by him.

[2] The weight of the dock was 2,126,472 kg The water would be pumped out of the pontoon by two steam engines situated at the height of the second walkway.

[24] According to the plan Onrust Dock of 3,000 tons would be able to lift a fully loaded screw frigate, weighing 3,000 tonnes.

On 27 October 1869 Onrust Dock of 3,000 tons finally left Surabaya harbor towed by Timor and two tugboats.

[37] On their return voyage these ships would tow a new dry dock of 5,000 tons from Surabaya to Onrust.

[39] By mid-February the repairs were reported ready, and dredging work was started to get the dry dock from the 'Geul' to the basin of Surabaya.

[44] From April 1886 till October 1891 Onrust Dock of 3,000 tons regularly served in Surabaya.

In June 1890 the government came to an agreement with David Croll to create a repair shipyard and docking facility at Tanjung Priok.

[53] After having been repaired Onrust Dock of 3,000 tons served in Surabaya from 14 February 1898 - 18 March 1898, servicing 8 vessels for 65 days.

However, the designated military use of the dry dock was not to service these warships meant to defend the East Indies against external enemies.

One of the primary reasons to establish the harbor of Sabang was that it could service the many ships involved in the Aceh War,[56] and these were much smaller.

The cost of these warships being based in Padang or traveling about 2,500 km from Aceh to Batavia to get inspected in a dry dock was prohibitive.

[57] From 1 August 1900 the drydock was leased to the company Zeehaven en Kolenstation Sabang N.V.[58] In 1910 the dock was destined to be broken up.

In return this company had to keep the drydock operational till 1 December 1910, and to offer free docking to ships of the East Indies government.