Java Sea, Battle of the, Indonesia, 1942

The Battle of the Java Sea (Indonesian: Pertempuran Laut Jawa, Japanese: スラバヤ沖海戦, romanized: Surabaya oki kaisen, lit. 'Surabaya open-sea battle') was a decisive naval battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II. Allied navies suffered a disastrous defeat at the hand of the Imperial Japanese Navy on 27 February 1942 and in secondary actions over successive days, starting when the main ABDA fleet strike force of 2 heavy cruisers, 3 light cruisers, and 9 destroyers, led by ABDA fleet's main commander, Admiral Karel Doorman, attempted to intercept a Japanese troop convoy in the Java Sea, only to be intercepted by the convoy's better equipped escort force. The battle started off as a stalemate, but the heavy cruiser Haguro changed the course of the battle when she crippled the heavy cruiser HMS Exeter with gunfire, then torpedoed and sank the Dutch destroyer Kortenaer, sending Doorman's fleet into a chaotic frenzy. A gunfight between allied and Japanese destroyers then resulted in the sinking of HMS Electra, before Doorman's force made a false retreat, ending the daylight engagement. However, under the cover of night, Admiral Doorman's ships attempted another attack, during which the destroyer HMS Jupiter accidentally hit a Dutch mine and sank, but the Japanese immediately caught on to their plan, prompting the Haguro and her sistership Nachi to ambush the allied fleet with a stealthy long range torpedo attack. One of Nachi's torpedoes hit the Dutch light cruiser Java, which was instantly blown apart and sank with almost all hands. One of Haguro's torpedoes then hit the allied flagship, the Dutch light cruiser De Ruyter, which sank to progressive flooding over several hours, killing Admiral Doorman. The aftermath of the battle included several smaller actions around Java, including the smaller but also significant Battle of Sunda Strait, which saw the sinking of the heavy cruiser USS Houston, the light cruiser HMAS Perth, and the destroyer HNLMS Evertsen, and the second battle of the Java Sea, where the still crippled Exeter and her escorting destroyers were sunk by a Japanese cruiser destroyer squadron, including Haguro. These defeats led to the dissolution of the ABDA fleet as a whole, the scuttling of the Dutch navy, and the Japanese occupation of the entire Dutch East Indies.