The Battle of the Java Sea was a major naval battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II. Allied ships suffered a disastrous defeat at the hand of the Imperial Japanese Navy, in action over several days in February-March 1942. The action included the smaller but also significant Battle of Sunda Strait.

Background

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 C. 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 Japanese First Air Fleet , under Admiral Chuichi 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 main action

The Japanese amphibious forces now gathered to strike at Java, and on 27 February 1942, a combined American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) naval force, under Doorman, sailed northeast from Surabaya to intercept a convoy approaching from the Makassar Strait. The ABDA force consisted of two heavy (HMS Exeter, USS Houston) and three light cruisers (HNLMS De Ruyter, HNLMS Java, HMAS Perth), and nine destroyers (HMS Electra , HMS Encounter , HMS Jupiter, HNLMS Kortenaer, HNLMS Witte de With , USS Alden, USS John D. Edwards, USS John D. Ford, USS Pope and USS Paul Jones. A flagship of Rear Admiral Doorman was De Ryuter.

The Japanese convoy was escorted by two heavy (Nachi, Haguro ) and two light cruisers (Naka , Jintsu ) and fourteen destroyers (Yudachi , Samidare , Murasame , Harusame , Minegumo , Asagumo , Yukikaze, Tokitsukaze , Amatsukaze , Hatsukaze , Yamakaze , Kawakaze , Sazanami , and Ushio) under the command of Rear Admiral Shoji Nishimura. The Japanese heavy cruisers were much more powerful, armed with ten 8-in (203 mm) guns each and superb torpedoes. The allied heavy cruisers were armed only with 6 guns each (USS Houston having the aft turret damaged). The ABDA force engaged the Japanese in the Java Sea, and battle 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 Dutch cruisers and a number of destroyers were sunk, mostly by long lance torpedoes. Exeter was heavily damaged and limped back to Sunda strait with an escort of two destroyers. The four American destroyers were detached to refuel.

Battle of Sunda Strait

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. Overall the ABDA was totally destroyed, they lost 10 ships and approx. 2173 sailors, plus 77 POWs taken by the Japanese from USS Houston.

Consequences

The battle of the Java Sea ended significant Allied naval operations in South East Asia and the Japanese forces landed on Java on 28 February 1942 quickly overran the island. The remnants of the ABDA land forces surrendered on March 9.