Battle of Badung Strait The Battle of Badung Strait was a naval battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II , fought on the night of 19 / 20 February 1942 in Badung Strait ( not to be confused with the West Java city of Bandung ) between the American - British - Dutch - Australian Command ( ABDA ) and the Imperial Japan ese Navy . In the engagement , the four Japanese destroyer s defeated an Allied force that outnumbered and outgunned them , escorting two transports to safety and sinking the Dutch destroyer . The battle demonstrated the Japanese Navy ' s considerable superiority over the Allies in night fighting which lasted until the Battle of Cape St . George . Background . A battalion of the 48th Infantry Division of the Imperial Japanese Army landed on Bali on 18 February 1942 . Dutch Admiral Karel Doorman ' s naval forces were scattered around Indonesia , but the invasion of Bali could not be ignored — it would give the Japanese an airbase within range of the ABDA naval base at Surabaya — so he sent in all available ships . The short notice gave no time to concentrate his ships ; accordingly , several Allied forces were to attack the Japanese . Battle . The first Allied vessels to engage were the submarines and . Both attacked the Japanese convoy on 18 February , but did no damage and were driven off by depth charge s from Japanese destroyers . Later that day , 20 planes of the United States Army Air Forces attacked the convoy but succeeded only in damaging the transport " Sagami Maru " . The Japanese were aware that their invasion convoy was likely to be attacked again , so they retreated north as soon as possible . The cruiser and the destroyers , and were well away and took no part in the action . The last ships to leave were the two transports , each escorted by two destroyers . " Sasago Maru " was escorted by and ; the heavily damaged " Sagami Maru " was escorted by and . The first Allied group — consisting of the cruisers and and the destroyers , , and — sighted the Japanese in Badung Strait at about 22 : 00 and opened fire at 22 : 25 on 19 February . No damage was done in this exchange of fire , and the two Dutch cruisers continued through the strait to the northeast , to give the destroyers a free hand to engage with torpedoes . Then " Piet Hein " , " Pope " and " John D . Ford " came into range . At 22 : 40 , a Long Lance torpedo from " Asashio " hit " Piet Hein " , sinking the Dutch destroyer immediately . " Asashio " and " Oshio " then exchanged gunfire with " Pope " and " John D . Ford " , forcing the two American destroyers to retire to the southeast instead of following the cruisers to the northeast . In the darkness , " Asashio " and " Oshio " mistook each other for enemy ships and fired on each other for several minutes , without any damage . About three hours later , the second group of ABDA ships — the cruiser and the destroyers , , , and — reached Badung Strait . At 01 : 36 , " Stewart " , " Pillsbury " and " Parrott " launched torpedoes but did no damage . Then " Oshio " and " Asashio " sortied again and there was another exchange of gunfire . " Tromp " was hit by eleven shells from " Asashio " , severely damaging her and hit both Japanese destroyers , killing four men on " Asashio " and seven on " Oshio " . " Tromp " later had to return to Australia for repairs . " Arashio " and " Michishio " had been ordered by Admiral Kubo to turn back , and at about 02 : 20 they joined the battle . " Michishio " was hit by shells from " Pillsbury " , " John D . Edwards " and " Tromp " , killing 13 of her crew and wounding 83 . She lost speed and had to be towed after the battle . Both groups of ships turned away , and the engagement was over . Aftermath . The third ABDA group — seven torpedo boat s — arrived in Badung Strait at about 06 : 00 but did not encounter any Japanese ships . The battle was a significant victory for the Japanese . Lieutenant Commander Gorō Yoshii of " Asashio " and Commander Kiyoshi Kikkawa of " Oshio " had shown great bravery and skill . They had driven off a much larger Allied force , sunk the destroyer " Piet Hein " and severely damaged the cruiser " Tromp " , had sustained little damage themselves , and had protected their transport ships . Bali ' s garrison of 600 Indonesian militia offered no resistance to the Japanese , and its airfield was captured intact . The Japanese continued their conquest of the Dutch East Indies with the capture of Timor from 20 – 23 February . The ABDA forces engaged at Badung Strait were decisively defeated in the Battle of the Java Sea on 1 March 1942 , in which the Dutch cruisers " Java " and " De Ruyter " were sunk and Admiral Doorman was killed . " Tromp " evaded this fate , for she was withdrawn to Australia to repair damage suffered at Badung Strait . The destroyer " Stewart " was repaired in Soerabaia , where she was next captured by the Japanese and put to their service as the patrol vessel P - 102 .