1942-01-24
Battle of Balikpapan
Balikpapan anchorage, Makassar Strait, east Borneo
On the night of 23-24 January 1942, Destroyer Division 59 went into the Balikpapan anchorage in Makassar Strait. This fight is also called the Battle of Makassar Strait. It was the first United States Navy surface engagement since 1898. Commander Paul H. Talbot's flag was in John D. Ford. He was not her captain. The column, in the order of Pope's report, was Ford, Pope, Parrott, and Paul Jones. They came in about 0300 on 24 January, Java time, fired torpedoes, and then used their guns. Pope's report, signed by her captain Welford C. Blinn and dated 25 January, says she fired twelve torpedoes and nineteen rounds of 4-inch, and that she believed she hit three ships. That is her claim. It is not a settled credit. About 0340 Ford slowed near a suspected minefield. The column broke. Pope, Parrott, and Paul Jones reformed, and Ford rejoined at daylight. None of the four was sunk. Ford's history says gunfire damaged her and she kept going. They met Marblehead that morning. The four destroyers torpedoed and shelled the anchored transports. Several transports and one patrol boat were sunk or wrecked. Many torpedoes ran deep. The sinkings are not credited to one ship. Ford's history names Tsuruga Maru, Sumanoura Maru, Tatsukami Maru, Kuretake Maru, written there as Kuretaki Maru, and Patrol Boat No. 37. Other accounts move those hits among Ford, Pope, Parrott, Paul Jones, and the Dutch submarine K-XVIII. One account gives Tsuruga Maru to K-XVIII earlier that night. K-XVIII has no page here. Aircraft the afternoon before and the morning after sank other ships in the anchorage, including Nana Maru and Yukka Maru. That loss is not credited to one plane. Those ships have no pages. Rear Admiral Shoji Nishimura's flag was in the light cruiser Naka. Naka has no page. With her, hunting the Dutch submarine, were Murasame, Yudachi, Samidare, and Harusame. They did not catch the American destroyers. None of those four was sunk that night. Kawakaze had been detached, with Umikaze and two transports, to another anchorage. She was not in this attack and was not sunk. Minegumo, Natsugumo, Asagumo, and Umikaze are named with the covering force and are not on this page as present. There was no surface gunnery duel. The cruisers did not make the attack. Boise had grounded on an uncharted pinnacle in Sape Strait and turned back with Barker. Marblehead had burned out a turbine and was down to about 15 knots. She was given Bulmer, and she met the destroyers after the fight. Houston was on convoy duty. Glassford was not in the attack. Marblehead, Barker, Bulmer, and Glassford have no pages. Talbot was awarded the Navy Cross. The citation says five or six ships, calls the command Destroyer Squadron Fifty-Nine, and dates the night 24-25 January. The ships' reports date the fight 24 January and call the unit Destroyer Division 59. The charts are the Office of Naval Intelligence plots from The Java Sea Campaign, 1943. The action chart separates Ford and Pope from the division track after the column broke. It marks torpedoes, gunfire, explosions, and hits, and it does not name the transports.
Sunk in this fight
No ship in the catalog was sunk in this fight.
Track of United States destroyers off Balikpapan, 23-24 January 1942. Office of Naval Intelligence, The Java Sea Campaign, 1943. Public domain. The solid line is Destroyer Division 59. The dashed line is Pope. The dotted line is Ford. The sheet marks torpedoes fired, gunfire, explosions, and hits, with the times written on it. It does not name the transports. The narrative printed with this chart assigns several explosions to one destroyer or another, and it also says some of those may be the same explosion seen by two ships. The named transports on this page are not credited to one ship. Pope's own report says her exact movements cannot be accurately plotted. That narrative puts the whole action inside a circle about 4 or 5 miles across, centered about 4 or 5 miles northeast of the Balikpapan lightship. One shell hit Ford on the port side of the after deckhouse. The fire was small and she kept going.
Raid of United States destroyers in Makassar Strait, 23-24 January 1942, shown in relation to Balikpapan. Office of Naval Intelligence, The Java Sea Campaign, 1943. Public domain. North is up. The fight is the set of loops east of the lightship, off Balikpapan Bay. The solid line is Destroyer Division 59, the dashed line is Pope, and the dotted line is Ford. The sheet marks a wreck near those loops. It does not name that wreck. The 5-fathom and 10-fathom curves are inshore of the loops. The column was trying to stay clear of the minefield.
