SS Van Imhoff was a Dutch-built cargo-passenger vessel that was constructed at the Fijenoord shipyard, Rotterdam, in 1914.

[1] In January 1942 the ship was sunk by a Japanese warplane while carrying German internees from the Dutch East Indies to Ceylon.

The single remaining lifeboat, some bamboo life rafts and a workboat took some 200 of the internees; the remainder drowned.

The Dutch authorities alerted merchant vessels in the area and despatched a rescue tug from Padang, with a small party of KNIL soldiers to guard any German survivors.

Because of a shortage of fuel, only one Catalina patrol aircraft of the Dutch Naval Air Force at Medan was despatched.