Battle of the Java Sea
1942 CE.
Shown on the map at -5.000°, 111.000°.
The Battle of the Java Sea (Indonesian: Pertempuran Laut Jawa, Japanese: スラバヤ沖海戦, romanized: Surabaya oki kaisen, lit. 'Sea Battle off Surabaya') was a decisive naval battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II. Allied naval forces suffered a decisive defeat at the hands of the Imperial Japanese Navy on 27 February 1942. In secondary actions over successive days, starting when the main Combined Striking Force (CSF) of two heavy cruisers, three light cruisers, and nine destroyers, led by the Striking Force commander (EC, Eskadercommandant or Squadron Commander), Rear-Admiral Karel Doorman of the Royal Netherlands Navy, attempted to intercept a Japanese troop convoy in the Java Sea, only to be intercepted by the convoy's larger escort forces. The battle started as a stalemate, but the heavy cruiser Haguro changed the course of the battle when she crippled the heavy cruiser HMS Exeter with gunfire, then torpedoed and sank the Dutch destroyer Kortenaer, sending Doorman's fleet into temporary disorder as the damaged Exeter withdrew.
Text from the Wikipedia article Battle of the Java Sea, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.