Battle of the Java Sea

THE BATTLE OF THE JAVA SEA (27 FEBRUARY-1 MARCH 1942)

The Japanese invasion of the Netherlands East Indies progressed at a rapid pace as they advanced from their Palau Islands colony and captured bases in Sarawak and the southern Philippines. They seized bases in eastern Borneo and in northern Celebes while troop convoys, screened by destroyers and cruisers with air support provided by swarms of fighters operating from captured bases, steamed southward through the Makassar Strait and into the Molucca Sea. To oppose these invading forces was a small force of American and Dutch warships, mostly of World War I vintage, under the command of Admiral Thomas Hart.

On 23 January 1942 a force of four American destroyers attacked a Japanese invasion convoy in Makassar Strait as it approached Balikpapan in Borneo. On 13 February the remaining Dutch and American ships, under the command of Dutch Admiral Karel Doorman, fought a sharp battle against the Japanese in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent the capture of the oil port of Palembang in eastern Sumatra. On 19 February the First Air Fleet of Admiral Nagumo attacked and wrecked the port at Darwin in northern Australia which rendered it useless as a supply and naval base to support operations in the East Indies.

The Japanese amphibious forces now gathered to strike at Java and, on 27 February 1942, the squadron of Admiral Doorman, five cruisers (HMS Exeter, HNMS De Ruyter, HNMS Java, HMAS Perth and USS Houston) and nine destroyers (HMS Electra, HMS Encounter, HMS Jupiter, HNMS Kortenaer, HNMS Witte de With, USS Alden, USS John D. Edwards, USS John D. Ford and USS Paul Jones) of the combined American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) force, sailed northeast from Surabaya to intercept a convoy approaching from the Makassar Strait. The convoy was escorted by four cruisers and fourteen destroyers under the command of Rear Admiral Shoji Nishimura. The ABDA force engaged the Japanese in the disastrous Battle of the Java Sea, which raged intermittently from mid-afternoon to midnight as the ABDA force tried to attack the troop transports, but were repulsed by superior firepower and supporting aircraft. The British and Dutch cruisers and destroyers were sunk, the four American destroyers detached to refuel, and only the cruisers HMAS Perth and USS Houston remained. These two ships arrived at Tandjung Priok on 28 February where they received orders to sail through Sunda Strait to Tjilatjap. By chance they encountered a Japanese amphibious force landing near Batavia and the two cruisers managed to sink four loaded troop transports before being overwhelmed by three Japanese cruisers and ten destroyers and sunk. On the night of 1 March 1942 a force of Japanese aircraft carriers and battleships intercepted the remaining Allied ships as they attempted to escape to Australia and sank two American destroyers.

This ended Allied naval opposition to Japanese operations in the Netherlands East Indies and the forces landed on Java on 28 February quickly overran the island. The remnants of the Dutch force surrendered on 9 March.