Battle of Sunda Strait

Battle of Sunda Strait
Part of World War II, Pacific War
An oil painting, HMAS Perth fights to the last, 28th February, 1942, by official war artist Murray Griffin. It was painted circa 1942-43 at Changi Prison, Singapore, where Perth survivors and Griffin were held as POWs.
Date February 28 – March 1, 1942 Location Sunda Strait, Netherlands East Indies Result Japanese victory
Belligerents
Australia  United States	Empire of Japan
Commanders
Hector Waller  † Albert H. Rooks  †	Kenzaburo Hara Takeo Kurita
Strength
1 heavy cruiser 1 light cruiser	1 light carrier 1 seaplane carrier 5 cruisers 12 destroyers 58 troopships
Casualties and losses
Both cruisers sunk 1071 killed 675 saved[1]	4 troopships, 1 minesweeper sunk (friendly fire)[1] 2 destroyers, 1 cruiser damaged 10 killed, 37 wounded[2]

The Battle of Sunda Strait was a naval battle which occurred during World War II. On the night of February 28 – March 1, 1942, the United States cruiser USS Houston and the Australian cruiser HMAS Perth faced a major Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) task force. After a fierce battle of several hours duration, both Allied ships were sunk. Five Japanese ships were sunk by friendly fire, of which two were refloated.

Background

In late February 1942, Japanese amphibious forces were preparing to invade Java, in the Netherlands East Indies.

On February 27, the main American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDACOM) naval force, under Admiral Karel Doorman, sailed northeast from Surabaya to intercept a Japanese invasion fleet. The ABDA force consisted of two heavy cruisers, including USS Houston (under Captain Albert H. Rooks), three light cruisers including HMAS Perth (Captain Hector Waller), and nine destroyers. Only six of the nine 8-inch guns on Houston were operable, since her aft turret had been knocked out in an earlier air attack.

The ABDA force engaged the Japanese force in the Java Sea. The Allied ships were all sunk or dispersed. Houston and Perth both retreated to Tanjung Priok, Java, the main port of Batavia (later Jakarta), where they arrived at 13:30 on February 28.

Battle

Later on February 28, Houston and Perth received orders to sail through Sunda Strait to Tjilatjap, on the south coast of Java. The Dutch destroyer HNLMS Evertsen, which was to accompanied them, was not ready and remained in Tanjung Priok. Houston and Perth left at 19:00, while Evertsen followed an hour later. Waller, who had seniority over Rooks, was in command. The only ships they expected to encounter were Australian corvettes on patrol in and around the strait.

By chance, just after 22:00, the IJA 16th Army's Western Java Invasion Convoy — over 50 transports,and including the Army's commander, Lt Gen. Hitoshi Imamura — was entering Bantam Bay, near the northwest tip of Java. The Japanese troop transports were escorted by the 5th Destroyer Flotilla, led by Rear Admiral Kenzaburo Hara and the 7th Cruiser Squadron, under R. Adm. Takeo Kurita. Hara's light cruiser Natori, with the destroyers Harukaze, Hatakaze, Asakaze, Fubuki, Hatsuyuki, Shirayuki, Shirakumo, and Murakumo were closest to the convoy. To the north was V. Adm. Takeo Kurita's 7th Cruiser Squadron; its 2nd Division, the cruisers Mogami and Mikuma, with the destroyer Shikinami flanked the bay to the north.

Slightly further north, though not involved in the action, was the aircraft carrier Ryūjō, with the 1st Division of the 7th Cruiser Squadron — Suzuya and Kumano — along with the seaplane carrier Chiyoda, and the destroyers Isonami, Shikinami and Uranami.

Some time around 23:00, the Allied ships were sighted by the patrolling Fubuki, which followed them surreptitiously. At 23:06, when they were about half-way across the mouth of Bantam Bay, Perth sighted a ship about eight kilometres (five mi) ahead, near Sint Nicolaas Point. It was thought at first that the ship was an Australian corvette, but when challenged, she made an unintelligible reply, with a lamp which was the wrong colour, and then turned away, making smoke. The ship was soon identified as a Japanese destroyer (probably Harukaze). Waller reported the contact and ordered his forward turrets to open fire.

In a ferocious night action that ended after midnight, the two Allied cruisers were sunk. Two Japanese transports and a minesweeper were sunk by torpedoes from the Fubuki. Two other transports— one of which was the Ryujo Maru, on which Lt. Gen. Hitoshi Imamura was aboard— were also sunk but later refloated. After Imamura's ship was fatally hit and sank, he had to jump overboard. However a small boat rescued and brought him ashore.^[3]

Aftermath

Commemorative plaque for the HMAS Perth and the USS Houston at Rockingham Naval Memorial Park

696 men onboard the Houston were killed, while 368 others were saved. Perth lost 375 men, with 307 others saved. The captains of both cruisers were also killed.

The cruiser Mikuma lost six men and eleven wounded as a result of damage caused by Houston.^[4] The destroyer Shirayuki suffered a direct shell hit to her bridge, killing one crewman and injuring eleven others, while the Harukaze suffered hits to her bridge, engine room and rudder, killing three crewmen and over fifteen injured.^[5]

Both Houston and Perth were still engaging the Japanese convoy by the time the Dutch destroyer HNLMS Evertsen arrived. She was trying to catch up with the two cruisers when she saw tracers and intense shellfire ahead. In an attempt to avoid the battle, Evertsen sailed around them and through Sunda Strait. All went well until she encountered the destroyers Murakumo and Shirakumo protecting the southern flank of Bantam Bay, and immediately fired on her. Evertsen altered course and managed to escape, but after re-entering Sunda Strait, she encountered them again. She again managed to escape under a smokescreen, but by then her stern was on fire. Still taking fire from the destroyers, the decision was made to beach the destroyer on a coastal reef. Firing all her torpedoes, the crew escaped before the fire reached the aft magazine, causing an explosion which blew off most of the stern. Majority of the crew from the Evertsen were taken prisoner on March 9-10, 1942.^[6]

References

• D'Albas, Andrieu (1965). Death of a Navy: Japanese Naval Action in World War II. Devin-Adair Pub. ISBN 0-8159-5302-X. 
• Dull, Paul S. (1978). A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1941-1945. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-097-1. 
• Hornfischer, James D. (2006). Ship of Ghosts: The Story of the USS Houston, FDR's Legendary Lost Cruiser, and the Epic Saga of Her Survivors. Bantam. ISBN 0-553-80390-5. 
• Lacroix, Eric; Linton Wells (1997). Japanese Cruisers of the Pacific War. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-311-3. 
• Morison, Samuel Eliot (1958 (reissue 2001)). The Rising Sun in the Pacific 1931 - April 1942, vol. 3 of History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. Castle Books. ISBN 0785813047. 
• Schultz, Duane (1985). The Last Battle Station: The Story of the USS Houston. St Martins Press. ISBN 0-312-46973-X. 
• Skeels, Fred (2008). Java Rabble: A story of a ship, slavery and survival. Victoria Park: Hesperian Press. ISBN 978-0-85905-419-5. 
• van Oosten, F. C. (1976). The Battle of the Java Sea (Sea battles in close-up; 15). Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-911-1. 
• Spector, Ronald (1985). "The Short, Unhappy Life of ABDACOM". Eagle Against the Sun : The American War With Japan. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-394-74101-3. 
• Whiting, Brendan (1995). Ship of Courage: The Epic Story of HMAS Perth and Her Crew. Australia: Allen & Unwin Pty., Limited. ISBN 1-86373-653-0. 
• Winslow, Walter G. (1984). The Ghost that Died at Sunda Strait. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-218-4. - Firsthand account of the battle by a survivor from USS Houston
• Winslow, Walter G. (1994). The Fleet the Gods Forgot: The U.S. Asiatic Fleet in World War II. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-928-X. 

External links

• Naval History (no date), "1942 03 01 0100 Surface Action Battle Of Sunda Strait"
• G. Hermon Gill, 1957, Official Histories – Second World War Volume I – Royal Australian Navy, 1939–1942 (1st ed,) Ch. 16 "Defeat in ABDA"
• "US Navy report of the battle from 1943.". http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/USN-CN-Java/index.html. Retrieved 2006-05-17. 
• United States Strategic Bombing Survey (Pacific) - Naval Analysis Division (1946). "Chapter 3: The Japanese Invasion of the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies, and Southeast Asia". The Campaigns of the Pacific War. United States Government Printing Office. http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/USSBS/PTO-Campaigns/USSBS-PTO-3.html. Retrieved 2006-11-20. 
• Muir, Dan Order of Battle - The Battle of the Sunda Strait 1942
• L., Klemen, 1999-2000, The Netherlands East Indies 1941-42, "The conquest of Java Island, March 1942" (http://www.geocities.com/dutcheastindies/java.html, the Geocities link can only be added by an established user)