Evening star., 1942-03-19
survivors saw f1otilla OF destroyers
speeding straight toward them.
JAMS Missed Men on Raft.

speeding straight toward them.
Japs Missed Men on Raft.
Suddenly a sailor on the nearest
raft saw they had only single fun
mel and yelled: "Japs!" He dived
under the sticky, black waves and
others followed. The Jap column,
stretching itself out to nine, went
foaming by half a mile away 1t was
5:45 o'clock and the shadow of the
coming night protected the SWIM
ming sailors who thought themselves
lost.
But surprise struck the Japs, too,
for as the line passed the destroyer
Immediately following the leader
suddenly blew up before the SWIM
mers' eyes.
There was just a big cloud of
smoke, very dense and black and.
nothing more" 1t. Benjamin Reiche,
one Of the survivors told your cor
respondent. AL hands must have
been lost because, although we were
very near, we never saw or heard
any survivors And the following
seven destroyers neither stopped nor
made any attempt at rescue that we
could see; they simply went speed
ing past the wreckage."
Since the Allied ships we're already
far away it is probably that the Jap
hit a spent torpedo, as possibly did
the Kortenaer itself. Apparently,
the Japs launched an attack on the
Electra, which was reported sighting
three heavy Jap destroyers at ap-
proximately 5:45 O'Clock on opposite
courses at 5000 yards range, and
scored hits on the leader with four
salvos. But the Electra was hit in
the engine room, stopped and listed
to portward.
A single Jap destroyer closed in
for the kill on the wounded ship,
silencing its guns with raking salvos,
eventually using pompoms at short
range. The Electra sank shortly
after sunset and 54 survivors re-
manned in the water until 3:15 Sat-
urday morning February 28 when
they were picked up by an American
submarine which reached Soerabaja
on Sunday morning March - after
undergoing II depth-charge attacks
by Jap destroyers.
Japs Seen Returning.
After the Electra's sinking, the
Kortenaer survivors saw the same
flotilla Of Japs returning from the
engagement at about 6:15 O'Clock.
There were two more missing, re-
ducing the original total from nine
to six.
The crippled Exeter by now had
turned back toward Soerabaja. With
the Kortenaer, which had been ar
ranged as an escort for the first dis
abled cruiser already sunk, her task
was taken over by the other Dutch
destroyer, the Witte de With. Ex-
cept for the 1,690-ton Jupiter and
the 1,375-ton Encounter, Admiral
Deoorman's four cruisers were now
virtually without destroyer protec-
tion because small group of lesser
armed, 1,2O0-ton Americans we're in
adequate to the task of scout-escort-
submarine duty.
Should thus exposed cruisers, with
weary crews, continue to attempt to
pierce throug hthe heavy Jap fleet in
the mercilessly bright moonlight,
without destroyers?
Somewhere beyond was the Jap
transport convoy, still intact. The
original plan had been to initiate the
technique the American destroyers
used with such success against over
whelming Jap forces at Balikpapan,
when they ran directly through the
middle of the clustered transports
and fired torpedoes from both port
and starboard like f1recrackers,
creating complete disorder and
havoc.
Admiral Deoorman, furthermore,
knew that his cruisers now virtually
stood alone and the likelihood of
reinforcements in port remote. He
gave to his little fleet the signal,
which he repeated twice more be-
fore the two Dutch cruisers, De
Ruyte and Java, went to their doom:
Il am attacking, follow me-"
Deoorman Offense-minded.
Admiral Deoorman was the most
offensive-minded of the entire med
dlesome Indies fleet, the antitheSis
of the Anglo-American school Of
withdrawal. But about $50 the
biggest remaining destroyer, the
Jupiter, received a portside torpedo
and began to sink. Its location must
have been close to shore between
Soerabaja and Rembang because the
few survivors on the Carley float
managed to paddle ashore, attain
ing the beach shortly before mid
night Saturday after 26 hours in the
water.
The British Encounter was now
the only first-line destroyer left to
Admiral Deoorman, but the Dutch
admiral was soon to lose even her,
though not through enemy action.
The plan was to make a final at
tempt to penetrate the Japs, then
all ships were to scatter and proceed
separately to Tansong Prick, the
port Of Batavia in Western Java.
SPECIAL NOTICES.