Christened by Miss Cornelia Anna Clasina den Tex, the ship was launched on 30 September 1914.

[3] Navigation and safety equipment included wireless telegraphy and submarine signals[note 1] and fourteen lifeboats, two powered, enough for all persons aboard.

[8] After being completed in June 1915, Jan Pieterszoon Coen became the new flagship of the Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland, and was also the largest ship ever to be built in the Netherlands at the time.

Everyone became worried at first, but it was soon clear that it was a Dutch submarine that was given orders to guide Jan Pieterszoon Coen back to IJmuiden.

[9] On 11 September 1915 at 3pm, Jan Pieterszoon Coen left Amsterdam, Netherlands for her maiden voyage to Batavia, Dutch East Indies.

[9] Jan Pieterszoon Coen left Batavia for the last time on 28 June 1939 and was stationed in Amsterdam on 29 July 1939 where she was waiting to be scrapped.

However, due to the outbreak of the Second World War, the ship was needed again and she made two short voyages to Lisbon, Portugal, in order to retrieve passengers from the MS Oranje.

The plan was set in motion in the night of 14 May 1940, Captain R. van Rees Vellinga sailed Jan Pieterszoon Coen from Amsterdam to IJmuiden.

As a solution to the problem, The Royal Netherlands Navy ordered the tugboat Atjeh and a minesweeper to tow the ship into place.

Rijkswaterstaat was thinking of salvaging Jan Pieterszoon Coen, since the ship was mostly intact and in shallow waters.

[10] During the remainder of the war, Jan Pieterszoon Coen sank deeper into the sea and her upper decks were severely damaged and deteriorated by the strong waves that constantly pounded her.