sentences:  On 20 January 1942 the ship was part of the covering force at Ratai Bay on the Sunda Strait during the transfer of 3,456 personnel from the liner , considered too valuable to risk within enemy land based air range, to smaller vessels for onward transport to Singapore.On the way back from a convoy assignment on 7 February 1942, "Isabel" was sent to rescue survivors from the Dutch merchant ship "Van Cloon", which had been sunk by torpedoes and gunfire from a Japanese submarine, near Surabaya, Java.As "Isabel" picked up 187 survivors of "Van Cloon", the Japanese submarine which had sunk "Van Cloon", probably "I-55", fired a torpedo at "Isabel" and surfaced nearby.