sp2c
03-07-2006, 06:01 PM
Translated from mindef.nl for a buddy of mine and I figured it would fit in here as well but don't bug me about the grammar
Battle in Javasea, end of colonial Empire
GOING DOWN FIGHTING
The sailors on board the ships of Striking Force East, that left the
harbor of Soerabaja on februari 26, 1942 to intercept a japanese convoy
headed for Java, Must have had little illusions about their destiny.
The flag with the red sun had been flying over a large part of Asia for a
while now. Hong Kong had fallen, the supposedly invincible fortress
Singapore had been overwhelmed.
And on Singapore the Americans where getting into more and more problems.
The enemy seemed unstoppable.
The allied squadron consisted of four nationalities: Dutchmen, Brittish, Americans and Australians.
Striking Forced east was a ragtag formation of ships, that had never trained together before, with different tactical doctrines and communications systems.
Additionally the Soerabaja navalbase was heavily besieged; the Japanese executed airattacks on a daily basis. These had ruptured the fuellines to the harbors, which caused problems with refuelling, but what was even worse is that the ships were forced to remain out of port during the day. due to the fact that an enemy landing in the dark was to be expected they were also on standby when and when the hour U finally arrived the crews were exhausted.
That afternoon the commanders had held their last meeting in the naval headquarters of Soerabaja. They appeared at the meeting in white ironed uniforms with shining symbols. Outside the howling sirens announced a new air attack but nobody really cared. At the arrival of Rear admiral Karel W.F. Doorman, who commanded Striking Force East, all stood up and at attention. Doorman nodded kindly and shook hands with the newly arrived Brittish commanders. (their ships had been transverred from Striking Force West in Tandjong Priok, after a Dutch Catalina had spotted the eastern of 2 japanese invasion convoys on the 25th of februari.)
After the greeting the meeting started. "the orders were sort out of neccessity", according to the report of Captain Oliver Gordon, commander of the Brittish heavy cruiser HMS Exeter. He describes Doorman's task as "far from easy" and continues: "I liked him from the beginning and was convinced that he was very capable."
Point of exhaustion.
Vice-admiral Conrad E.L. Helfrich, in this part of the world maritime supreme commander felt the easter fleet, which was closest, posed the bigges threat. She consisted of fourty transportvessels, escorted by a light cruiser and six destroyers, a covergroup of two heavy cruisers, a ligt cruiser and seven destroyers. In an attempt to intercept, the Striking Force East weighed it's achor at around seven o'clock in the evening. The entire night and the following morning she searched the eastcoast of Java, north of Madoera and between the island Bawean for the Japanese. Without succes, she was searching a little too far to the south. The message that American B-17 bombers had allready found and attacked the target did not reach Doorman, who remained unaware of the correct position of the enemy. The Japanese however did have succes.
Around 08.00 on the 27th they caught the US aircraftcarrier Langley, which was on it's to Tjilitjap where it was expected later that day with 32 badly needed P-40 fighters and 33 airmen. Sailing at daylight was risky business, but Helfrich did not see any other choice. Striking Force East did not have aircover for the upcoming battle and every minute counted. Unfortunately the gamble turned out badly and a little after half past two in the afternoon, Japanes aircraft sunk the Langley and it's precious cargo.
After her fruitless seach Striking Force East returned to Soerabaja. While he was still underway, Doorman communicated that the crew had reached the point of exhaustion.
They would however still be tried to the maximum becase at around 13.57 hours a Dutch reconnaiscance aircraft spotted the illusive convoy and this news reached the rear admiral at 14.27 hours. He immedeately turned around and commanded the others to follow.
Enemy sighted
At full speed the allied squadron steamed towards the enemy, divided over three keellines. On starboard sailed a screen of three Brittish destroyers, in the center the cruisers Hr. Ms. De Ruyter with Doorman on board, HMS Exeter, USS Houston (whose aft turret had been destroyed by bombs), HMAS Perth and Hr. Ms. Java. Two Dutch destroyers and four American veterans of the first worldwar, formed the port side line. The Japanese admiral Sokichi Takagi knew, thanks to aerial recon, that the Striking Force East was on it's way. His crew prepared for battle with a visit to the ships altar, and bound prayer scarfs around their heads. At around four o'clock a lookout on the light cruiser Jintsu, the flagship, reported masts at 17 miles to the southeast. Enemy sighted! Ensign Kimura on the heavy cruiser Haguro felt the De Ruyter with it's strange built was a frightening sight. As the Dutch cruiser grew it took the shape of 'a prehistoric monster'.
At 16.16 the Japanese opened fire followed a minute later by the allies. Doorman was quickly forced to change course to to prevent the enemy from cruising past his stern, in which case he could only employ his forward guns, while they threw all their guns into the battle. A manouvre the Brittish called crossing the T.
Soon the fleets sailed opposite of eachother, during which it rained shells back and forth. On board the Australian Perth Lieutenant Pol Owen followed the trail of projectiles heading for his ships. Moments before they would hit the water they would transform for a fraction of a second in to a black statue. A fenomenon few men witnissed.
The Japanese also experienced plenty of nerve wrecking moments. The Houston for instance used red paint to see where her grenades hit and the huge, bloodred fountains that rose from the sea caused some panic on the heavy cruiser Nachi.
Deciding moment
The airsupport that Doorman had repeatedly requested remained denied to him. It must have stung when three A-24 Dauntless divebombers with fighter escort arrived over the battleground, under strict orders only to attack the invasionconvoy. This they did but it had no effect. Had they instead picked the Takagi's three waterplanes out of the sky and led the fire of Striking Force East then the battle might have turned out differently. After several torpedoattacks failed and the allies neared the convoy, the Japanese layed down a smokescreen. This blinded Doorman completely but Takagi could see over it thanks to his aircraft. Yet the artillery duel continued. Every seabattle however has a deciding moment and in the Javasea it came at eight minutes past five, when a grenade exploded in kettelroom B of the Exeter. The Brittish cruiser, with her speed halved, turned sharply to port to give the upcoming Houston room to manouver. After an identical reaction of the American the other commanders - the primitive communication system had by now completely collapsed - thought that Doorman had ordered to evade torpedo's and performed a similar manouvre. Only the De Ruyter retained it's course untill Doorman realised what was going on. To make things worse Hr. Ms. Kortenaer was split in to by a torpedo. Around the same time the Brittish destroyer Electra went down in an attempt to get the attention of the Exeter. Escorted by the Witte de With the damaged Brittish cruiser managed to reach Soerabaja.
Endgame
After the departure of the Exeter Doorman continued the fight with grim determination. He kept aproaching the enemy, despite the fact that his fleet was severely weakened and his men had long since passed their point of exhaustion. A japanese torpedostrike was repaid by the Americans and at around half passed six both fleets lossed contact. But while Doorman had to guess at the position of his enemy, the enemy kept following him by aerial recon. The japanese planes would drop flares on a regular basis.
At around nine o' clock the American destroyers left the squadron to take up fuel in Soerabaja. Shortly afterwards HMS Jupiter ran on a min. The endgame began at eleven o' clock when both fleets clashed again. The De Ruyter fired the first salvo. Around a half hour later both Dutch cruisers were hit by long lance torpedo's. They sank fast and took hundreds of men including Doorman with them. For a moment it was silent then the men on the Houston heard the survivors of the Java in the water cheer Hurray for the queen three times...
Afther this disaster Perth and Houston broke contact and managed to escape to Tandjong Prok. During an escape attempt on the 1st of march they would, allong witht he Exeter and escort, fall prey to Japanese squadrons. The drama had ended and with it the Dutch colonial Empire.
I'll have pictures tomorrow or you can click on the defensiekrant in question (PDF, in Dutch though) and see for yourself
http://www.mindef.nl/binaries/LRDK09_tcm15-60835.pdf
Striking Force East
Heavy cruisers
HMS Exeter (20 cm guns)
USS Houston
Light cruisers
Hr.Ms. De Ruyter (15 cm guns)
Hr.Ms. Java
HMAS Perth
Destroyers
Hr.Ms. Witte de With
Hr.Ms. Kortenaer
HMS Electra
HMS Jupiter
HMS Encounter
USS J.D. Edwards
USS Paul Jones
USS Alden
USS John D. Ford
Battle in Javasea, end of colonial Empire
GOING DOWN FIGHTING
The sailors on board the ships of Striking Force East, that left the
harbor of Soerabaja on februari 26, 1942 to intercept a japanese convoy
headed for Java, Must have had little illusions about their destiny.
The flag with the red sun had been flying over a large part of Asia for a
while now. Hong Kong had fallen, the supposedly invincible fortress
Singapore had been overwhelmed.
And on Singapore the Americans where getting into more and more problems.
The enemy seemed unstoppable.
The allied squadron consisted of four nationalities: Dutchmen, Brittish, Americans and Australians.
Striking Forced east was a ragtag formation of ships, that had never trained together before, with different tactical doctrines and communications systems.
Additionally the Soerabaja navalbase was heavily besieged; the Japanese executed airattacks on a daily basis. These had ruptured the fuellines to the harbors, which caused problems with refuelling, but what was even worse is that the ships were forced to remain out of port during the day. due to the fact that an enemy landing in the dark was to be expected they were also on standby when and when the hour U finally arrived the crews were exhausted.
That afternoon the commanders had held their last meeting in the naval headquarters of Soerabaja. They appeared at the meeting in white ironed uniforms with shining symbols. Outside the howling sirens announced a new air attack but nobody really cared. At the arrival of Rear admiral Karel W.F. Doorman, who commanded Striking Force East, all stood up and at attention. Doorman nodded kindly and shook hands with the newly arrived Brittish commanders. (their ships had been transverred from Striking Force West in Tandjong Priok, after a Dutch Catalina had spotted the eastern of 2 japanese invasion convoys on the 25th of februari.)
After the greeting the meeting started. "the orders were sort out of neccessity", according to the report of Captain Oliver Gordon, commander of the Brittish heavy cruiser HMS Exeter. He describes Doorman's task as "far from easy" and continues: "I liked him from the beginning and was convinced that he was very capable."
Point of exhaustion.
Vice-admiral Conrad E.L. Helfrich, in this part of the world maritime supreme commander felt the easter fleet, which was closest, posed the bigges threat. She consisted of fourty transportvessels, escorted by a light cruiser and six destroyers, a covergroup of two heavy cruisers, a ligt cruiser and seven destroyers. In an attempt to intercept, the Striking Force East weighed it's achor at around seven o'clock in the evening. The entire night and the following morning she searched the eastcoast of Java, north of Madoera and between the island Bawean for the Japanese. Without succes, she was searching a little too far to the south. The message that American B-17 bombers had allready found and attacked the target did not reach Doorman, who remained unaware of the correct position of the enemy. The Japanese however did have succes.
Around 08.00 on the 27th they caught the US aircraftcarrier Langley, which was on it's to Tjilitjap where it was expected later that day with 32 badly needed P-40 fighters and 33 airmen. Sailing at daylight was risky business, but Helfrich did not see any other choice. Striking Force East did not have aircover for the upcoming battle and every minute counted. Unfortunately the gamble turned out badly and a little after half past two in the afternoon, Japanes aircraft sunk the Langley and it's precious cargo.
After her fruitless seach Striking Force East returned to Soerabaja. While he was still underway, Doorman communicated that the crew had reached the point of exhaustion.
They would however still be tried to the maximum becase at around 13.57 hours a Dutch reconnaiscance aircraft spotted the illusive convoy and this news reached the rear admiral at 14.27 hours. He immedeately turned around and commanded the others to follow.
Enemy sighted
At full speed the allied squadron steamed towards the enemy, divided over three keellines. On starboard sailed a screen of three Brittish destroyers, in the center the cruisers Hr. Ms. De Ruyter with Doorman on board, HMS Exeter, USS Houston (whose aft turret had been destroyed by bombs), HMAS Perth and Hr. Ms. Java. Two Dutch destroyers and four American veterans of the first worldwar, formed the port side line. The Japanese admiral Sokichi Takagi knew, thanks to aerial recon, that the Striking Force East was on it's way. His crew prepared for battle with a visit to the ships altar, and bound prayer scarfs around their heads. At around four o'clock a lookout on the light cruiser Jintsu, the flagship, reported masts at 17 miles to the southeast. Enemy sighted! Ensign Kimura on the heavy cruiser Haguro felt the De Ruyter with it's strange built was a frightening sight. As the Dutch cruiser grew it took the shape of 'a prehistoric monster'.
At 16.16 the Japanese opened fire followed a minute later by the allies. Doorman was quickly forced to change course to to prevent the enemy from cruising past his stern, in which case he could only employ his forward guns, while they threw all their guns into the battle. A manouvre the Brittish called crossing the T.
Soon the fleets sailed opposite of eachother, during which it rained shells back and forth. On board the Australian Perth Lieutenant Pol Owen followed the trail of projectiles heading for his ships. Moments before they would hit the water they would transform for a fraction of a second in to a black statue. A fenomenon few men witnissed.
The Japanese also experienced plenty of nerve wrecking moments. The Houston for instance used red paint to see where her grenades hit and the huge, bloodred fountains that rose from the sea caused some panic on the heavy cruiser Nachi.
Deciding moment
The airsupport that Doorman had repeatedly requested remained denied to him. It must have stung when three A-24 Dauntless divebombers with fighter escort arrived over the battleground, under strict orders only to attack the invasionconvoy. This they did but it had no effect. Had they instead picked the Takagi's three waterplanes out of the sky and led the fire of Striking Force East then the battle might have turned out differently. After several torpedoattacks failed and the allies neared the convoy, the Japanese layed down a smokescreen. This blinded Doorman completely but Takagi could see over it thanks to his aircraft. Yet the artillery duel continued. Every seabattle however has a deciding moment and in the Javasea it came at eight minutes past five, when a grenade exploded in kettelroom B of the Exeter. The Brittish cruiser, with her speed halved, turned sharply to port to give the upcoming Houston room to manouver. After an identical reaction of the American the other commanders - the primitive communication system had by now completely collapsed - thought that Doorman had ordered to evade torpedo's and performed a similar manouvre. Only the De Ruyter retained it's course untill Doorman realised what was going on. To make things worse Hr. Ms. Kortenaer was split in to by a torpedo. Around the same time the Brittish destroyer Electra went down in an attempt to get the attention of the Exeter. Escorted by the Witte de With the damaged Brittish cruiser managed to reach Soerabaja.
Endgame
After the departure of the Exeter Doorman continued the fight with grim determination. He kept aproaching the enemy, despite the fact that his fleet was severely weakened and his men had long since passed their point of exhaustion. A japanese torpedostrike was repaid by the Americans and at around half passed six both fleets lossed contact. But while Doorman had to guess at the position of his enemy, the enemy kept following him by aerial recon. The japanese planes would drop flares on a regular basis.
At around nine o' clock the American destroyers left the squadron to take up fuel in Soerabaja. Shortly afterwards HMS Jupiter ran on a min. The endgame began at eleven o' clock when both fleets clashed again. The De Ruyter fired the first salvo. Around a half hour later both Dutch cruisers were hit by long lance torpedo's. They sank fast and took hundreds of men including Doorman with them. For a moment it was silent then the men on the Houston heard the survivors of the Java in the water cheer Hurray for the queen three times...
Afther this disaster Perth and Houston broke contact and managed to escape to Tandjong Prok. During an escape attempt on the 1st of march they would, allong witht he Exeter and escort, fall prey to Japanese squadrons. The drama had ended and with it the Dutch colonial Empire.
I'll have pictures tomorrow or you can click on the defensiekrant in question (PDF, in Dutch though) and see for yourself
http://www.mindef.nl/binaries/LRDK09_tcm15-60835.pdf
Striking Force East
Heavy cruisers
HMS Exeter (20 cm guns)
USS Houston
Light cruisers
Hr.Ms. De Ruyter (15 cm guns)
Hr.Ms. Java
HMAS Perth
Destroyers
Hr.Ms. Witte de With
Hr.Ms. Kortenaer
HMS Electra
HMS Jupiter
HMS Encounter
USS J.D. Edwards
USS Paul Jones
USS Alden
USS John D. Ford