JAVA SEA MEMORIAL

JAVA SEA MEMORIAL

The Battle of the Java Sea Feb / March 1942

This site dedicated to My Mother

who died this year 28th January 2006

E-MAIL ME AT THIS ADDRESS

Tripcony@aol.com

AFTER THE ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR AND THE 85 DAYS THAT FOLLOWED. IT WAS A CASE OF RE-GROUPING AND TAKING STOCK OF THE JAPANESE ONSLAUGHT. BUT FOR THE ALLIED ASIATIC FLEET THERE WAS NO TIME. OVERWHELMINGLY OUTNUMBERED AND OUT GUNNED, AND WITH NO SUPPORT FROM AIR OR SEA, THEY TRIED TO STEM THE JAPANESE OFFENSIVE. ORDERS WERE TO DEFEND JAVA TO THE LAST. THIS WAS LITERALLY CARRIED OUT TO THE WORD. AS AFTER THE FIRST WEEK OF MARCH ONLY 3 DESTROYERS MADE IT OUT THROUGH THE BALI STRAIT TO FIGHT ANOTHER DAY. THE REST WERE ALL SUNK WHILE BOTTLED UP IN THE JAVA SEA. ONE SHIP CARRIED A 19YR OLD SIGNALMAN, MY FATHER, INTO THE THICK OF THE ACTION. HMS EXETER A BRITISH HEAVY CRUISER WAS SUNK ON 1ST MARCH 1942 IN THE APPROACH TO THE SUNDA STRAIT. ALONG WITH 2 DESTROYERS, USS POPE AND HMS ENCOUNTER.

4 HEAVY JAPANESE CRUISERS AND 14 DESTROYERS OPENED UP ON THE 3 ALLIED SHIPS, HMS ENCOUNTER QUICKLY ATTACKED BUT WAS SUNK BY 3 TORPEDOES AND SANK. USS POPE AN AGEING WW1 DESTROYER, WAS MAKING SMOKE FOR HMS EXETER, AS THE CRUISER HAD BEEN DAMAGED ON 27TH FEB ACTION AND WAS RUNNING ON HALF POWER. THEY INFLICTED AS MUCH DAMAGE ON THE ENEMY AS THEY COULD BEFORE HMS EXETER WAS HIT BY SHELLS AND TORPEDOES, USS POPE MADE A RUN FOR COVER IN A TROPICAL SQUALL BUT WAS CAUGHT LATER AND SUNK. USS POPE MEN SPENT 56 HOURS IN THE WATER.

HMS EXETER IN ACTION FEB 1942

IN THE END THE ALLIED FLEET ONLY MANAGED TO DELAY THE INVASION OF JAVA BY 1 DAY, JAVA WAS SURRENDERED WITHOUT A FIGHT.

INTELLIGENCE SOURCES HAD VASTLY UNDERESTIMATED THE JAPANESE CAPABILITIES, IN PARTICULAR IT WAS SAID THAT THE JAPANESE COULD NOT MAKE A TORPEDO.

FOR THE MEN THAT MANNED THIS ALLIED FLEET, SOME WERE KILLED IN ACTION, SOME MET THEIR END IN THE JAVA SEA. BUT FOR THE MEN THAT WERE PICKED UP BY THE JAPANESE THEY HAD A FAR WORSE FATE. BEATEN DAILY, STARVED, TORTURED, OR SIMPLY WORKED TO DEATH. AS FOR THE SURVIVORS OF 3 YEARS OF HELL, THE SCARS REMAIN TO THIS DAY. UNABLE TO LIVE A NORMAL LIFE, MENTALLY OR PHYSICALLY.