Battle of Badung Strait - Battle

Battle

The first Allied vessels to engage were the submarines USS Seawolf and HMS Truant. Both attacked the Japanese convoy on 18 February, but did no damage and were driven off by depth charges from Japanese destroyers. Later that day, 20 planes of the United States Army Air Forces attacked the convoy but succeeded only in damaging the transport Sagami Maru.

The Japanese were aware that their invasion convoy was likely to be attacked again, so they retreated north as soon as possible. The cruiser Nagara and the destroyers Wakaba, Hatsushimo and Nenohi were well away and took no part in the action. The last ships to leave were the two transports, each escorted by two destroyers. Sasago Maru was escorted by Asashio and Oshio; the heavily damaged Sagami Maru was escorted by Michishio and Arashio.

The first Allied group—consisting of the cruisers HNLMS De Ruyter and Java and the destroyers USS John D. Ford, Pope, and HNLMS Piet Hein—sighted the Japanese in Badung Strait at about 22:00 and opened fire at 22:25 on 19 February. No damage was done in this exchange of fire, and the two Dutch cruisers continued through the strait to the northeast, to give the destroyers a free hand to engage with torpedoes. Then Piet Hein, Pope and John D. Ford came into range. At 22:40, a Long Lance torpedo from Asashio hit Piet Hein, sinking the Dutch destroyer immediately. Asashio and Oshio then exchanged gunfire with Pope and John D. Ford, forcing the two American destroyers to retire to the southeast instead of following the cruisers to the northeast.

In the darkness, Asashio and Oshio mistook each other for enemy ships and fired on each other for several minutes, without any damage.

About three hours later, the second group of ABDA ships—the cruiser HNLMS Tromp and the destroyers USS John D. Edwards, Parrott, Pillsbury, and Stewart—reached Badung Strait. At 01:36, Stewart, Pillsbury and Parrott launched torpedoes but did no damage. Then Oshio and Asashio sortied again and there was another exchange of gunfire. Tromp was hit by eleven 5 in (130 mm) shells from Asashio, severely damaging her and hit both Japanese destroyers, killing four men on Asashio and seven on Oshio. Tromp later had to return to Australia for repairs.

Arashio and Michishio had been ordered by Admiral Kubo to turn back, and at about 02:20 they joined the battle. Michishio was hit by shells from Pillsbury, John D. Edwards and Tromp, killing 13 of her crew and wounding 83. She lost speed and had to be towed after the battle. Both groups of ships turned away, and the engagement was over.