Surabaya is on Madura Strait at the mouth of the Kali Mas river.

In the mid 1830s the Dutch Navy decided to locate her main base in the Indies at Surabaya.

In the 1840 this led to the construction of the Maritime Establishment (Dutch: Maritiem Etablissement) just east of the river.

The facilities in the port of Tanjung Priok functioned rather well, but tended to be pricey.

CEO was A.C. Zeeman, former chief inspector of shipping in the Dutch East Indies.

The supervisory board was formed by W. Fenenga, of Amsterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij; J. Muysken, of Nederlandsche Fabriek van Werktuigen en Spoorwegmaterieel; J.B.A.

Actual lift capacity was 3,560 tons, and ships with a draught of up to 18 feet could use it.

[3] On 6 July 1912 Surabaya Dock of 3,500 tons left Greenock towed by the ocean tug Thames of Smit International.

On 30 October 1912 the ships arrived in Sabang, Aceh, the first harbor in the Dutch East Indies.

The voyage of 9,000 sea miles set a distance record for towing a dry dock with one tug.

Therefore, the dry dock company did not send the machines for the planned repair shipyard (estimated at 250,000 guilders) to Surabaya.

Some foreign ships even visited Surabaya just for docking,[10] something unimaginable before WW I.

[16] World War II was an extremely busy time for all shipyards in allied territory.

This was also true for the dry dock company Surabaya, which built a lot of ships, and was engaged in the desperate attempts to build up the defense of the Dutch East Indies.

In March 1942 the Dutch attempted to destroy the naval facilities in Surabaya.

In September 1959 the dry dock company in Indonesia was officially nationalized by the Indonesian government, with start date 3 December 1957.