1942-03-01
Battle of Sunda Strait
Bantam Bay, at the eastern entrance of Sunda Strait
On the night of 28 February 1942 Perth and Houston tried to get through Sunda Strait and ran into the Japanese landing force in Bantam Bay. Cruisers and destroyers sank both of them. The sinking is not pinned to one Japanese ship. Mogami, north of the bay with Mikuma, fired torpedoes at Houston from about 11,200 meters. They missed her and ran on into the Japanese anchorage. Natori was Rear Admiral Kenzaburo Hara's flagship, with the escort destroyers in the bay and to the north. After the cruisers were gone, Murakumo and Shirakumo caught the Dutch destroyer Evertsen off Dwars in den Weg. She was hit, beached, and lost. Sakura Maru, Ryujo Maru, Horai Maru, Tatsuno Maru, and the minesweeper W-2 sank in the shallows. That loss is not credited to one ship. The map is the Australian official-history chart of that night in Bantam Bay. The red arrow and the five sunk marks on it were added.
Sunk in this fight
8 ships.
Bantam Bay, night of 28 February 1942. Chart in the Australian official history, Royal Australian Navy 1939-1942. North is up. Perth and Houston are drawn in from the east. The sheet marks Harukaze sighted at 11.6 p.m. Their track loops across the mouth of the bay. At midnight the course is marked for Toppers Island. Perth is marked sunk at 12.5 a.m. on 1 March, and Houston sunk beside her. The sheet does not name the ship that sank either of them. Mogami, Mikuma, and Shikinami are drawn to the north. Fubuki is off Babi Island. Natori is grouped with Yura and destroyers off St. Nicholas Point. Yura is not on this page. Harukaze is also drawn in the bay. The invasion convoy is marked in Bantam Bay, about fifty ships. The red arrow was added. It is the torpedoes Mogami fired from the north at Houston, from about 11,200 meters. They missed her and ran on into the anchorage. The sheet does not draw that run. The red sunk marks were added for Sakura Maru, Ryujo Maru, Horai Maru, Tatsuno Maru, and the minesweeper W-2. They sank in the shallows. The sheet does not show which of the drawn ships they were, so the marks sit in the open water beside the anchorage and are not pinned to five of the ovals. Ryujo Maru and Tatsuno Maru were later raised. That loss is not credited to one ship. Evertsen is not on this sheet. Murakumo and Shirakumo caught her later, off Dwars in den Weg.
