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.

Aftermath

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. 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.

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.

References

1. (L.,Klemens,1999-2000)
2. Dull. A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy

• - Firsthand account of the battle by a survivor from USS Houston

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"
• 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)