These French are Free and at Sea and Fighting for Thee in the Java Sea
0800 hours. The wind was a Force 5 Southerly at 20 knots. The sky was overcast, and max visibility was 12,000 yards. No sea haze but there three squalls scattered about that reduced visibility into or through them by 1,000 yards.
Force X under VAdm Godroy was steaming at 25 knots on a heading of 45 degrees into the Java Sea. Godroy was also steaming. To think that a junior VAdm and Dutch at that had the gall to order him to be more aggressive. He had his flag Lieutenant answer the message as he had not trusted himself to make a reply that would maintain their alliance.
Nevertheless, Godroy was ecstatic over the weather and lack of visibility. His cruisers were too poorly protected to engage in a lengthy approach to Japanese heavy cruisers and Glassford’s report made it quite clear that he would probably engage at least 6 of them. Godroy had all his spotter a/c up.
0818 hours. The masthead reported enemy in sight bearing 8 points to port on a heading 165 degrees at max visibility.
Suffren (flag) opened on Kumano who replied with her fore turrets. Duquesne and Tourville opened on Suzuyu and Mikuma who also replied with their fore turrets. Suffren missed as did Kumano. Dequesne hit Suzuya 4 times and Suzuya;’s return fire hit Duquesne once. Tourville hit Mikuma once and Mikuma’s return fire missed. Suzuya lost three turrets, and a port SB. Duquesne took a hull hit that restricted her to 30 knots. Mikuma lost a fore turret.
0824 hours. The French made a 2-point turn to port to close the range, and the Japanese accelerated and turned 2 points to starboard to open up their arcs. Both admirals ordered their destroyers to attack the enemy cruisers. Everybody’s destroyers accelerated and turned towards the enemy cruisers.
The range was now down to 9,000 yards. Suffren fired at Kumano and missed! Kumano’s return fire hit Suffren 6 times. Duquesne hit Suzuya 6 times. Suzuya’s return fire hit Duquesne twice. Tourville hit Mikuma twice and Mikuma’s return fire hit Tourville 6 times. Duguay-Trouin hit Mogami twice and Mogami’s return fire missed. Lamotte-Picquet hit Takao twice and Takao’s return fire hit Picquet thrice. Perth firing rapidly hit Atago thrice and Atago’s return fire missed.
Suffren took a hit to her a/c facilities that started a minor fire, she lost SB secondary, her fore turret, 2 hull hits and a hit to her engineering that reduced her to 20 knots. Suzuya took 2 hits to her a/c facilities that started 2 minor fires, she lost her starboard fore TT and a major fire, 2 hull hits and a hit to her engineering that slowed her to 23 knots. Duquesne lost her fore turret and a critical hit to her engineering that reduced her to 21 knots. Mikuma lost a starboard secondary and another fore turret. Tourville lost a TT, a starboard secondary, a hull hit, damage to a bulkhead and 2 engineering hits that knocked her DIW. Mogami lost a starboard secondary and had a bulkhead damaged. Takao lost a starboard secondary and a hull hit. Atago lost a turret and took 2 hull hits.
0830 hours. Suffren failed to put her fire out and took minor hull damage. Suzuya failed to put out her major fire and took 2 more hull damage from her 3 fires. Duquesne broke her engineering attempt and needs a dockyard to fix now. Tourville failed to fix her bulkhead and took more hull damage as well as remaining DIW. Mogami fixed her bulkhead.
All the cruisers on both sides that could, fired off every TT that could bear at the enemy cruisers.
The Allied destroyers having been able to go to flank speed in one move now fired off every TT at the Japanese cruisers and turned away under smoke.
Suffren fired at Kumano and hit her twice. Kumano fired back and hit Suffren 5 times. Duquesne fired at Suzuya and hit her twice. Suzuya fired back and hit Duquesne once. Mikuma fired unengaged at Tourville and hit her once. Duguay-Trouin fired at Mogami and hit her twice. Mogami fired back and hit Trouin once. Lamotte-Picquet fired at Takao and hit her thrice. Takao fired back and hit Picquet twice. Perth fired rapidly at Atago and hit her once. Atago fired back and missed.
Kumano took 2 hull hits. Suffren lost all her turrets and took a critical hit to her bridge that killed Godroy. Suzuya had a bulkhead damaged and took a hit her engineering that slowed her to 23 knots. Duquesne lost a TT. Tourville took a hit to her a/c facilities that started a minor fire. Mogami lost another turret and took a hull hit. Trouin took a hull hit. Takao lost a TT with a major fire, lost another turret and a hit to her engineering that slowed her to 23 knots. Picquet lost a TT and secondary. Atago took a hull hit.
The flag captain obeyed Helfrich’s order to engage to the last (he rolled a 1).
0836 hours. Suffren failed to put her fire out and took minor hull damage. Suzuya failed to put her fire out and with her 3 fires unchecked as well as a bulkhead took 3 more hull and slowed to 11 knots. Tourville repaired her bulkhead but remained DIW. Takao put out a major fire.
The 8 Japanese destroyers fired off their torpedoes at the Allied cruisers.
Both cruiser lines were in disarray and continued on course while they attempted to sort out their problems. The torpedoes from both sides’ cruisers and the Allied destroyers arrived; all were in their second range band.
Suffren had targeted Mogami with 2 tripple TT in the which Mogami failed to evade and took 1 hit. Mogami had targeted Suffren with 2 triple TT and Suffren unable to turn could not evade and took 2 hits. Duquesne and Tourville had targeted Mikuma with a triple TT each which Mikuma failed to evade but both missed. Mikuma targeted Duquesne with 2 triple TT and Duquesne evaded 1 and took 1 hit. Trouin targeted Suzuya with 2 triple TT which she failed to evade and took 1 hit. Suzuya targeted Tourville with 2 triple TT which Tourville being DIW could not evade took 1 hit. Picquet targeted Kumano with 2 tripple TT that Kumano failed to evade but both missed. Kumano targeted Trouin with 2 triple TT that Trouin failed to evade and took 2 hits. Atago targeted Picquet with 2 quad TT that Picquet failed to evade and took a hit. Perth targeted Atago with a quad TT that Atago failed to evade but missed. Takao targeted Perth with a quad TT that Perth failed to evade and took a hit. Napier targeted Mogami with a quin TT that Mogami failed to evade and took 2 hits. Nestor targeted Mikuma with a quin TT that Mikuma failed to evade and took a hit. Nizam targeted Suzuya with a quin TT that Suzuya failed to evade and missed. Le Terrible targeted Kumano with 2 triple TT that Kumano failed to evade and took 3 hits. Basque targeted Atago with 2 triple TT that Atago failed to evade and missed. Forbin and Fortune targeted Takao with 2 triple TT each that Takao failed to evade and took 2 hits.
Mogami took 11 hull and sank. Suffren took 8 hull and sank. Mikuma took 2 hull and sank. Duquesne took 4 hull and sank. Suzuya took a hull hit and lost a turret but remained afloat. Tourville took 4 hull and sank. Kumano took 7 hull and sank taking RAdm Kurita with her. Trouin took 11 hull and sank. Takao took 8 hull and sank taking VAdm Kondo with her. Perth took 4 hull and an engineering hit.
Commodore Collins (RAN) ordered a withdrawal (he failed his morale and to hell with Helfrich). But the captain of the barely afloat Atago decided to carry on (he made his morale).
The action ended because Force X had withdrawn. Perth would fix her engineering hit and survive. The invasion of Surabaya was still on, but the 16 destroyers would have to carry the entire burden now and half of them had expended their torpedoes. Now it was RAdm Palliser’s turn with his Brit/Dutch light cruisers and destroyers; but that is another story.
WMC
