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HMAS Perth |
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PERTH and HOUSTON returned to Tanjong Priok at 2.30pm on Saturday
28th February, 1942. There they received orders to escape through
Sunda Strait , which runs between Java and Sumatra, and make for Tjilitap
on the south coast of Java. PERTH's sister ship HOBART had already
entered the Strait at 6.10am that morning and by 9am had slipped out
into the Indian Ocean. Both ships were short of fuel
and ammunition and only a small amount of fuel was available in the
port. Plans to leave at 6pm were thwarted by an air attack
and it was 9pm before both ships cleared the protective mine-field
off Tanjong Priok.
The sea was calm and there was a clear sky and full moon as both ships
raced for the entrance of Sunda Strait. Allied intelligence
had reported the strait clear of enemy vessels and the nearest Japanese
were reported to be 50 miles northwest and moving away.
Unfortunately both reports were incorrect and our ships sped on not
knowing that the Japanese invasion fleet was already at Java and lay
directly across their escape route.
At 10.30pm PERTH and HOUSTON was sighted by the destroyer FUBUKI which
quietly shadowed them for the next half hour. At 11.06 PERTH lookouts
sighted HARUKAZE about 5 miles ahead just of the entrance to
the strait. When challenged she made an unrecognized reply and
then sped off making smoke to cover the Jap transports. PERTH immediately
turned to starboard and opened fire. A few minutes later PERTH
sighted FUBUKI and, illuminating her, opened fire. FUBUKI
fired her torpedoes at PERTH and HOUSTON but missed, instead hitting
the Jap transports.
Destroyers of the 5th and 11th Destroyer Squadron now made torpedo
attacks on the allied cruisers and an urgent call was sent to the
8" cruisers MOGAMI and MIKUMA to assist. PERTH exchanged fire
with HATAKAZE as the other destroyers continued to attack. The
light cruiser NATORI and her destroyers now joined in the attack
but the fire from PERTH and HOUSTON was so intense that the Japanese
were forced to break off under a smokescreen.
By now MOGAMI and MIKUMA had commenced firing at our ships.
Another attempt was made by the Jap destroyers to mount a torpedo
attack but they were driven off by the sheer ferocity of the gunfire
from PERTH and HOUSTON. At 11.50pm PERTH was hit by a shell
from HARUKAZE which did little damage. Our cruisers were
still exchanging fire with the enemy cruisers and HOUSTON scored hits
on MIKUMA causing her to lose electrical power. This was soon
restored.
By now PERTH and HOUSTON were running very low on ammunition. PERTH
was low on 6" and the 4"AA were firing star shells and practice
rounds to make it look like they had plenty of ammunition left.
On HOUSTON the forward turrets were getting low and 8" shells
were being passed by hand from the disabled rear turret to the forward
turrets.
There were so many targets that our ships were unable to fire on them
all and some Jap destroyers were able to get in close and rake our
cruisers' decks with machine gun fire while others lit up the allied
cruisers with searchlights. At 11.55pm PERTH started to turn
to make a run for Sunda Strait. At the same time MURAKUMO, HARUKAZE
and HATAKAZE all fired torpedoes toward her. PERTH was hit by four
torpedoes over the next 15 minutes and at 0025 on 1st March 1942,
she finally sank a few miles north of St Nicholas Point at the entrance
to Sunda Strait. HOUSTON now received all the attention and sank at
0045, not far from PERTH. In all, the Japanese had fired over 90 torpedoes
at our ships. |
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