OPENING ENCOUNTER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 March 1942, Page 3

OPENING ENCOUNTER

The British Admiralty communique states: “Though full information is not yet available, it is now possible to give some account from the particulars which are at present in hand of the events in the Java Sea on February. 27, and subsequent days during- tho •Japanese invasion of Java. “On the afternoon of February 27, an Allied force consisting of tho cruisers H.M.A.S. Perth and H.M.S. Exeter, the United States cruiser Houston, and the Dutch cruisers De Ruyter and Java, were at sea to the north of Surabaya. The Allied cruisers were accompanied by the destroyers H.M.S. Electra, Jupiter, and Encounter, and the Dutch destroyer Kortenaer. This force was under the sea command of Admiral Doorman, whose flag was flying in the De Ruyter, and the whole of the naval force in the area was under the strategical control of Admiral Helfrich, of the Royal Netherlands Navy. “At 4.14 p.m. on February 27, this Allied force made contact with a Japanese force about half-way be- . tween Bawean Island and Surabaya (that is about 40 miles north of Surabaya). The Japanese force consisted of at least two Nati-class cruisers, of ■ 10,000 tons, armed with 10 eight-inch guns, and a number of other cruisers. The Japanese cruisers had with them 13 destroyers organised in two flotillas. “Action was joined at extreme range. Almost at once one of the Japanese destroyer flotillas launched an attack, but this was driven off by the fire of the Allied cruisers, and one of the enemy destroyers was seen to be hit by shells from the Perth. Soon afterward the other Japanese destroyer flotilla delivered a torpedo attack. “While action was being taken to avoid these torpedoes, the Exeter was hit by an eight-inch shell in the boilerroom, and this reduced her speed and forced her to drop out of the line. Only one of the torpedoes launched in this attack took effect; this hit the Dutch destroyer Kortenaer, and she sank.