Battle of the Strait of Makassar

Battle of the Strait of Makassar

Part of: World War II , Pacific War

Bomb damage on the USS Marblehead ,
two days after the battle

date	February 4, 1942
place	Makassar Strait / Indonesia
output	Japanese victory

Parties to the conflict
Netherlands United States	Japan
Commander
Karel Doorman	Takeo Takagi
Troop strength
4 cruisers 7 destroyers	50+ fighter planes
losses
2 damaged cruisers 63 dead, 84 injured	4+ destroyed planes

Overview - Pacific War

The Battle of Makassar Strait was a naval battle during the Pacific War in World War II . It was also known as the Battle of Madura Strait , Battle of Lake Flores , or the Battle of North Lombok Strait .

A ship formation of the ABDA fleet under the command of the Dutch Rear Admiral Karel Doorman intended to intercept a Japanese invasion convoy when it was attacked by Japanese bombers and forced to retreat.

prehistory

At the beginning of February 1942 the ship association, consisting of two Dutch and two American cruisers - the Mr. Ms. De Ruyter as the flagship , the Mr. Ms. Tromp , the USS Houston and the USS Marblehead and the Dutch destroyers Hr. Ms. Banckert , Mr. Ms. Piet Hein , Mr. Ms. Van Ghent and the American destroyers USS Barker , USS Bulmer , USS John D. Edwards and USS Stewart , in the Makassar Strait between southeast Borneo and southwest Celebes (Sulawesi). The attempt to intercept a Japanese convoy at Kendari on February 2nd failed because the Japanese had already withdrawn. On February 4, 1942, the ships set out again from Bunda Roads to track down a large Japanese invasion fleet that was reportedly going through the strait. This was under the command of Rear Admiral Takeo Takagi and consisted of three cruisers and 18 destroyers, which escorted troop carriers for an invasion of Makassar and other ships.

The battle

On February 4, 1942 from 9:54 a.m. Japanese naval bombers of the type G3M and G4M attacked the 21st and 23rd Air Flotilla Admiral Doorman's formation. The first three waves of attack did not cause any significant damage, but in the fourth attack the USS Marblehead was hit by two bombs and damaged by a close hit near the bow on the starboard side . 15 seafarers died and 34 were injured. The USS Houston was also badly damaged by a hit next to its aft main turret, killing 48 and injuring 50. The Mr. Ms. De Ruyter suffered only minor damage from close hits. The last Japanese attack scored no hits. The continued Japanese air raids made any further operation at sea impossible for the Allies without risking the loss of the ships. Doorman was forced to return to Tjilatjap to have makeshift repairs done on the damaged cruisers.

consequences

The battle was a heavy defeat for the ABDA forces. Admiral Doorman failed to attack the Japanese ship formation, as the unexpected and extremely violent Japanese air strikes forced his fleet to retreat. The Japanese invasion fleet meanwhile took Balikpapan . None of the allied shipyards in the Dutch East Indies at that time were able to repair the severe damage on the Marblehead or the Houston turret, which had failed due to the bombing . The Marblehead therefore had to return to the USA; Although the Houston remained in the combat area due to a lack of available replacement, it could only fight with six of its nine 8-inch guns. The failure of a light cruiser and the limited combat power on one of only two available heavy cruisers was a heavy loss for the ABDA fleet, which was already severely inferior to the Japanese.

literature

• Samuel Eliot Morison: History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Volume III: The Rising Sun in the Pacific 1931 - April 1942 . Little, Brown and Companie, Boston 1948
• Christopher Shores and Brian Cull with Yasuho Izawa: Bloody Shambles, Volume II: The Defense of Sumatra to the Fall of Burma . Grub Street, London 1993, ISBN 0-948817-67-4

Web links

• American description of the battle of 1943 on ibiblio.org (English)