On 9 February 1942 Vice Admiral Ozawa set sail with the Japanese Southern Expeditionary Force, to conquer the Netherlands East Indies. In a series of sorties, the ABDA command was whittled down, with several ships and submarines lost or damaged, until the final battle on 27 February in the Java Sea. Admiral Karl Doorman in De Ruyter headed the line, followed by HMS Exeter of River Plate fame, heavy cruiser USS Houston (with her rear turret out of action following Japanese bombing), HMAS Perth whose crew had seen action at Matapan, and light cruiser Java. They were screened by British destroyers Electra, Encounter and Jupiter, by the veteran American flush-deckers John D Edwards, Paul Jones, John D Ford and Alden, and by Dutch destroyers Evertsen, Witte de With and Kortenaer.
Facing them were the Japanese covering force for the forty-one invasion transports, comprising light cruiser Naka and ten destroyers, Jintsu leading four more destroyers, and their eastern covering group, the heavy cruisers Nachi and Haguro.
On paper the two opposing sides appeared relatively evenly matched: two Allied heavy cruisers against two Japanese, three Allied light cruisers against two Japanese, and ten destroyers against fourteen Japanese. However, each Japanese heavy cruiser carried ten 8in guns, to which Exeter and the damaged Houston could only oppose six apiece, the Java and De Ruyter were a close match for light cruisers Naka and Jintsu, and Perth carried a heavier broadside than them all, but apart from the RN Jupiter, the Allied destroyers were smaller and far less powerful than their modern Japanese opponents. And the Japanese were armed with large batteries of the long-range 24in Type 93 ‘Long Lance’ torpedoes.
When battle was joined at 1616, the Japanese ships were about to cross the ‘T’ of the Allied line. Nachi and Haguro opened fire with their twenty 8in guns, at a range where the 6in Allied cruisers could not reply. Only the forward turrets of Exeter and Perth could open fire. The Japanese cruisers were using their floatplanes to spot the fall of shot. It was not until 1629 that Doorman brought his light cruisers into extreme gun range. Some six minutes later, the Naka led seven destroyers into a torpedo attack, and at 16,000yds range (14,600m) they launched forty-three torpedoes. Several exploded before reaching the Allied line, possibly through collision, but which caused confusion in the minds of the Allied crews, and the remainder all missed.
Just after 1700 Jintsu led her destroyers in for a second torpedo attack, this time closing in to just 7000yds (6400m) to launch their sixty-four torpedoes at the Allied line. At that very moment the Exeter was hit by an 8in shell which penetrated her № 1 boiler room and exploded on entering the boiler. The ship immediately lost speed, electrical power to her armament was knocked out, and Captain Gordon realised he could not remain in the line of battle. He ordered a rapid turn to port. Following astern, the Houston turned inside Exeter to avoid her, and Perth and Java, last in line, followed suit. To the Japanese it appeared that the Allied cruisers were executing the standard turn away to comb the torpedoes. All torpedoes missed, except for one which struck the Dutch destroyer Kortenaer at 1715 and broke her in two.
At 1806 the four US flush-deckers were ordered to counter-attack, and Commander Binford led them into a torpedo attack on Nachi and Haguro. By 1822 they were in position and at the long range of 10,000yds (9100m) launched all their twenty-four starboard torpedoes at the Japanese, before executing a 180-degree turn and launching their twenty-four port torpedoes. All missed.
Separated from their remaining destroyers, the four Allied cruisers (Exeter having withdrawn from the battle) zigzagged to the north in search of the invasion transports. They were reacquired by Nachi and Haguro at 2322 and both cruisers launched Type 93 torpedoes, eight from Nachi and four from Haguro at a range of just 8000yds (7300m). The first struck home on De Ruyter some eight minutes later, followed by a second hit on the Java. The results in both cases were devastating. Java pointed her bows skywards and sank, and the blazing De Ruyter followed soon after. The surviving Allied cruisers Perth and Houston retired from the scene, and the disastrous Battle of the Java Sea was over. The end of these two cruisers will be described shortly.
The lesson which can be drawn from the torpedo actions is that the Japanese Type 93 was less effective at its extreme long range. It was deadly when at normal torpedo ranges, due to its high speed and the effects of its large warhead, one hit being sufficient to cripple or even sink a pre-war light cruiser. This was a lesson the Allies would come to learn over and over again in the months to follow.
BATTLE OF THE SUNDA STRAIT
Probably the most dramatic blue-on-blue torpedo incident occurred on 27 February 1942 in the Dutch East Indies. The heavy cruiser USS Houston and light cruiser HMAS Perth were attempting to escape to Ceylon following the disastrous Battle of the Java Sea. Heading for the Sunda Strait, at 2215 they ran straight into the Japanese western force landing troops at Banten Bay. Over thirty transports were unloading close to shore, covered by only three Japanese destroyers, the Harukaze, Hatakaze and Fubuki. Without hesitating the two Allied cruisers attacked the transports and began to score hits. Fubuki radioed the alarm and counter-attacked with a spread of nine 24in torpedoes.
At 2300 light cruiser Natori led her ten destroyers into the fray, followed by heavy cruisers Mogami and Mikuma. At 2327 Mogami launched a spread of six ‘Long Lance’ torpedoes at the Houston, but they all missed and passed into Banten Bay. Eight minutes later, torpedoes struck and sank Japanese minesweeper W 2 (826 tons) and four transports, the Sakura Maru, Horai Maru, Tatsuno Maru and the Shinshu Maru. The last vessel was in fact a 12,000-ton Japanese army special landing ship, carrying the commander of the 16th Army, Lt Gen Hitoshi Imamura. He jumped overboard as Shinshu Maru settled in shallow water and was picked up by a small boat.