Battle of the Cirebon Sea

The Cirebon Sea Battle was an attack on a ship led by the Indonesian Navy ( ALRI ) by the Dutch Navy warship, HMS Kortenaer, located in the waters of Cirebon on January 5, 1947.  The incident resulted in the death of one of the Navy officers, Second Lieutenant (posthumous) Samadikun, along with the sinking of the Indonesian warship, KRI Gajah Mada 408. 

 The beginning 
As an effort to improve the readiness and expertise of the troops, Armada Pangkalan III Cirebon conducted joint naval warfare exercises with the Army, police, and a number of troops at the Cirebon Residency from 1-5 January 1947 in the waters of Cirebon Bay.  The warship used by the Indonesian Navy as a training command at that time was a cargo transport coaster type ship purchased from Singapore in October 1946 with a wooden bow and hull, and was only equipped with armaments in the form of one 20 mm Oerlikon automatic cannon and one 12.7 mm Type 1 machine gun . 

The Dutch, who at that time considered that the ALRI, which was conducting sea patrols, had violated the status quo of the Linggarjati negotiations, finally carried out long-distance surveillance during the exercise.  On January 3 at four in the afternoon a Dutch warship approached the coast of Cirebon. The arrival of the ship was seen by the KRI Gajah Mada which was on patrol. On January 4 at nine in the morning, a Dutch hunter-type ship reappeared in Cirebon territorial waters and then dropped anchor 7 miles (11.26 km) from the coast. However, during the patrol, the KRI Gajah Mada division did not experience any gunfire from the Dutch. 

 Shooting incident 
The battle between the KRI Gajah Mada and the Dutch warship Kortenaer took place on January 5 in the waters of Cirebon. On the last day of the exercise, the ALRI Base III Cirebon Leadership Ship under the command of Lieutenant Samadikun led a convoy of Patrol Ship P-8 led by Lieutenant Sukamto, Patrol Ship P-9 led by Lieutenant Supomo, Tugboat Antareja and Tugboat Semar led by Lieutenant Toto PS sailing north. In the middle of the sea they were stopped by the Dutch ship Kortenaer. At a distance of 4 miles (6.44 km) the Dutch ship signaled for the ALRI convoy to immediately stop, but the signal was ignored so the Dutch launched a bombardment attack.  Lieutenant Samadikun then ordered the escort ship to maneuver towards the harbor. Lieutenant Samadikun's strategy was to let the convoy of ships return to the harbor and the KRI Gajah Mada continued to move as a shield so that not all of the ships' convoys were destroyed. KRI Gajah Mada then turned to face the enemy ship and opened fire with heavy machine guns. A gunfight between Samadikun's warship and the Dutch ship was inevitable. A few minutes later, shots from the Dutch managed to hit the starboard hull, damaging the ship's engine. Lieutenant Samadikun ordered his crew to immediately abandon ship, while the KRI Gajah Mada continued to approach the enemy and launch a counterattack using 12.7 mm caliber weapons.  However, several shots later, HMS Kortenaer managed to sink KRI Gajah Mada along with the ship's commander, Lieutenant Samadikun and the remaining crew, Ismail Jait and Sumaryo.  After the incident ended, as a form of respect, Lieutenant Samadikun was promoted to captain. 

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Category:20th century in Indonesia
Battles involving Indonesia
Category:Battles