Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Java Sea - Battles

.42-2-27 Battle of the Java Sea - WW2 > .

The Battle of the Java Sea was a decisive naval battle of the Pacific campaign of WW2.

Allied navies suffered a disastrous defeat (2 light cruisers sunk, 3 destroyers sunk, 1 heavy cruiser damaged, 2,300 sailors killed) by the Imperial Japanese Navy, on 27 February 1942, and in secondary actions over successive days. The American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDACOM) Strike Force commander— Dutch Rear-Admiral Karel Doorman—was killed. The aftermath of the battle included several smaller actions around Java, including the smaller but also significant Battle of Sunda Strait. These defeats led to Japanese occupation of the entire Dutch East Indies.


Airplane tender USS Langley (CV-1/AV-3) - scuttled.
The oiler USS Pecos, and destroyer USS Edsall, carrying Langley survivors, were subsequently sunk by Japanese.

Battles of the Java Sea, Sunda Strait, Bali Strait

The Eastern Strike Force, consisted of two heavy cruisers (HMS Exeter sunk 42-3-1 and USS Houston), three light cruisers (Doorman's flagship 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, and USS Paul Jones).

The Japanese task force protecting the convoy, commanded by Rear-Admiral Takeo Takagi, consisted of two heavy (Nachi and Haguro) and two light cruisers (Naka and Jintsū) and 14 destroyers (Yūdachi, Samidare, Murasame, Harusame, Minegumo, Asagumo, Yukikaze, Tokitsukaze, Amatsukaze, Hatsukaze, Yamakaze, Kawakaze, Sazanami, and Ushio) including the 4th Destroyer Squadron under the command of Rear Admiral Shoji Nishimura

The Japanese heavy cruisers were much more powerful, armed with ten 8-inch (203 mm) guns each, and superb torpedoes. By comparison, Exeter was armed only with six 8-inch guns and only six of Houston's nine 8-inch guns remained operable after her aft turret had been knocked out in an earlier air attack.


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