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| Thursday, 1 March 2001 Australians Join With United States, Netherlands And Britain To Commemorate Battle Of The Java Sea Dr Brendan Nelson, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence is to represent the Prime Minister at a Memorial Service and wreathlaying at the Cenotaph in Sydney to commemorate the 59th Anniversary of the Battle of the Java Sea. The Battle of the Java Sea was fought on 27th February 1942. It was the result of an attempt by an Allied Cruiser Task Force to prevent the Japanese seaborne invasion of Java. The Commander of Dutch naval forces in the area, Rear Admiral Karel Doorman, led the Allied Force. Under his command were five cruisers - two Dutch (DE RUYTER and JAVA), one British (HMS EXETER), one American (USS HOUSTON), and one Australian (HMAS PERTH) - and nine destroyers. A slightly superior Japanese force of two heavy cruisers, two light cruisers and 14 destroyers opposed them Dr Nelson will lay a wreath during the service and join the Consuls-General of the United States and the Netherlands, the British Naval Attache, ex-Prisoner of war, and veterans from the 7th AIF Division Java Force and Naval Ship Association, in the commemoration of this tragic event. The Service will be held on 2 March from 11am. A memorial church service will be conducted at the Garden Island Chapel on Sunday 4 March to commemorate the tragic loss of HMAS PERTH and HMAS YARRA. "I am privileged to attend this important event," Dr Nelson said. "It is vital for all Australians that we remember the sacrifices made by these men who served on PERTH and YARRA. During their final hours they ensured that Australia would remain the free nation that it is today." "It is worth remembering that the names PERTH and YARRA have been carried again by ships that served with distinction. Captain Waller, the Commanding Officer of HMAS PERTH, was lost with the ship, but his name and honour lives on in the COLLINS class submarine that proudly bears his name." "Unless we understand and respect our history and the lives of those who made it, we face a diminished future," Dr Nelson said. Editors Note: Media are invited to attend the service at the Cenotaph and should arrive no later than 10.45am. Dr Nelson will be available for interview on completion of Service. The Battle of the Java Sea The battle opened with a long-range gunnery duel between the heavier ships that saw EXETER badly damaged and a destroyer sunk. The antagonists then closed the range, and in the seven-hour melee that followed, DE RUYTER, JAVA and two more destroyers were sunk (with the loss of Rear Admiral Doorman). At this stage the surviving allied ships were forced to withdraw and the Japanese commenced the invasion. Following the battle the Allied units dispersed and PERTH and HOUSTON endeavoured to withdraw to Australia via Sunda Strait. On the night of February 28 they intercepted a second, superior Japanese invasion force. In the battle that followed they sank four large transports and damaged a number of other Japanese ships. So heavy was the fighting that PERTH was reduced to firing star shell (a flare not intended for use as a conventional munition). In the end, both cruisers were overwhelmed and sank. PERTH's Commanding Officer, Captain H. Waller, RAN, went down with his ship. Of PERTH's crew of 681 men, 357 died in action, while another 106 died as Japanese Prisoners of War. The 218 survivors were repatriated to Australia after the surrender of Japan in 1945. HMAS YARRA, commanded by Lieutenant Commander R. Rankin, was sunk shortly afterwards on March 4 as she tried to defend a small merchant convoy against a superior Japanese force that included cruisers. Only thirteen of YARRA's total complement of 151 officers and sailors survived. Rankin's action in pitting his small ship against the vastly superior Japanese force may be judged in hindsight to be little more than 'sacrificial slaughter'. However, he had little option at the time than to put up the best fight possible. The fact that the ship was doomed from the start makes even more remarkable the gallant way in which this outcome was resisted. For many, this action is regarded as the finest moment in Australian naval history. |