Naval battle in the Strait of Badung
| date | February 18th bis 20th February 1942 |
|---|---|
| place |
Strait of Badung near Bali |
| output | Japanese victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 3 cruisers, 7 destroyers, 7 speedboats, 2 submarines, 20 planes |
4 destroyers, 2 transporters |
| losses | |
|
1 destroyer sunk |
3 destroyers damaged |
.svg){kind=small}
1. Borneo - Manado - Tarakan - Balikpapan - Ambon - Makassar - Sumatra - Palembang - Badung - Timor - USS Langley - 1. Java Sea - Sunda Strait - Java - 2. Java Sea - U 168 - U 537 - U 183 - Ashigara - 2. Borneo
The battle in the Strait of Badung was a naval battle in World War II during the Pacific War , the Australian American-British-Dutch-night of February 19 to February 20, 1942 between the associations ( American-British-Dutch-Australian Command ) and the Imperial Japanese Navy held has been. In the course of the battle, the Japanese destroyers defeated the numerically vastly outnumbered Allied forces, with the Japanese armed forces additionally having to protect two transporters. During the fighting, the Dutch destroyer Piet Hein was sunk by the Japanese naval forces.
background
On February 18, 1942, a battalion of the 48th Infantry Division of the Imperial Japanese Army landed on Bali .
Admiral Doorman's units were stationed around Indonesia . He could not ignore the invasion of Bali, as it provided the Japanese with an airport within range of the ABDA naval base, so all available ships were put on march to Bali.
course
The first Allied forces to arrive were the USS Seawolf and HMS Truant submarines . Both attacked the Japanese convoy, but caused no damage and ended up paying for water bombing turn. Later that day, 20 US Army Air Force aircraft attacked the ships, but could only damage the Sagami Maru transporter .
The Japanese were aware of the danger that the convoy could be attacked again, so they retreated north as quickly as possible. The cruiser Nagara and the destroyers Wakaba , Hatsushimo and Nenohi were too far away and did not take part in the action. The last ships to leave the port were the two transporters, both escorted by two destroyers each.
The first allied group, consisting of the cruisers Mr.Ms. De Ruyter and Mr. Ms. Java and the destroyers USS John D. Ford , USS Pope and Hr.Ms. Piet Hein passed, sighted the Japanese at around 10 p.m. in the street of Badung and opened fire at 10:25 p.m.
This attack caused no damage, and the two Dutch cruisers continued to run northeast to give the destroyers a free hand in the use of torpedoes .
At 10:40 p.m., however, a Japanese torpedo from the Asashio hit the Piet Hein and sank the ship. Asashio and Oshio then attacked the USS Pope and the USS John D. Ford , forcing the two American destroyers to turn southeast instead of following the cruisers northeast.
In the dark, Asashio and Oshio mistook each other for enemy ships and fired at each other for about five minutes without causing damage.
About three hours later, the second group of ABDA ships, the cruiser Hr.Ms. Tromp and the destroyers USS John D. Edwards , USS Parrott , USS Pillsbury and USS Stewart down the Strait of Badung. At 1:36 a.m., the destroyers shot down torpedoes, but did no damage. The two Japanese destroyers then struck back. The tromp was badly damaged and later had to return to Australia for repairs , but could in turn hit the two Japanese ships, killing four sailors on the Asashio and seven on the Oshio . The ships were only slightly damaged.
Admiral Kubo then ordered the Arashio and Michishio to support the two destroyers; At around 2:20 a.m., they intervened in the battle. The Michishio was hit by the Allied destroyers, killing 13 men and injuring 83. The ship lost speed and had to be towed. The two groups of ships turned, ending the battle.
The third ABDA group - seven speedboats - reached the Strait of Badung around 6:00 a.m., but found no more Japanese ships.
Effects
The battle was an important victory for the Japanese. Shosa Gorō Yoshii ( Asashio ) and Chusa Kiyoshi Kikkawa ( Oshio ) had defeated the clearly superior Allied fleet, sunk the destroyer Piet Hein , badly damaged the cruiser Tromp , suffered little damage themselves and successfully defended the two transport ships.
Bali's garrison of around 600 Indonesian militiamen did not offer any resistance to the Japanese and the airfield was taken undamaged. The Japanese continued their war in the Pacific and captured Timor from February 20th to February 23rd .
The ABDA forces involved in the events in the Strait of Badung were defeated in the Battle of the Java Sea , in which the Dutch cruisers Java and De Ruyter were sunk and Admiral Doorman was killed. The Tromp escaped this fate as the ship had been sent to Australia for repairs. The destroyer Stewart was beached in Surabaja , where it was captured by the Japanese and then put into their service.