The invasions they had planned went off better than they had hoped.So, they decided to invaded the islands of Borneo and Celebes, in early January 1942, from their island colony of Palau and their newly conquered bases in the Philippines.Their forces were screened by destroyers and cruisers and air cover was provided by swarms of fighters operating from newly captured bases.
The first naval action occured on January 23rd, as a Japanese invasion convoy approached the important oil port of Balikpapan.Under the cover of darkness, four American destroyers surprised the convoy, sinking one small warship and four loaded troopships, and damaged several others.The Battle of Macassar Strait heartened the Allies, but it didn't make any difference.The Japanese just sent more warships and planes down to their advance bases to continue their leapfrog advance down the Macassar Strait and the Molucca Sea.By the beginning of Febuary, the Japanese controlled most of Borneo and Celebes, and had seized the Dutch naval base of Amboina.And on Febuary 4th, a combined American and Dutch squadron was struck by Japanese planes off Madoera Strait.The crusier U.S.S. Houston had one turret knocked out of action and the cruiser U.S.S. Marblehead was damaged so badly, she had to return to America for repairs.On Febuary 13th, the Aliied force, commanded by Dutch Admiral Karel Doorman, fought a sharp battle in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent the capture of Palembang, an oil port in eastern Sumatra.Then Admiral Doorman steamed toward a smaller, but more skillfuly handled, Japanese destroyer squadron, which fought the indisicive Battle of Lombok Strait on Febuary 19th.
The Japanese amphibious assault forces were now gathered to strike the island of Java from the northeast and northwest.On Febuary 27th, Admiral Doorman's squadron sailed northeast from Surabaya to intercept the invasion convoy.This convoy was escorted by four cruisers and fourteen destroyers and was commanded by Rear Admiral Shoji Nishimura.By this time, Doorman's squadron was reduced to two Dutch cruisers, two British crusiers, the American cruiser U.S.S. Houston and nine destroyers; four American,three British,and two Dutch.Constant fighting has brought the Allied crews close to exhaustion.From late afternoon to nearly midnight, the battle raged intermittently.The Allies were repulsed three times by the Japanese squadron and land-based aircraft.By the time the battle was over, both Dutch crusiers were sunk, along with one Dutch and two British destroyers.All the other Allied vessels suffered severely, while the Japanese ships suffered only slight damaged.The following night, most of the remaining Allied ships were attempting to withdraw from the Java Sea area.By chance, they encountered a Japanese amphibious assualt force.They Allies attacked and sunk four fully loaded troop transports before being overwhelmed themselves by two Japanese superheavy crusiers, another crusier, and ten destroyers.The Austrailian crusier was the first to go under.The Houston fought for several hours aganst hopeless odds and was a helpless, burning hulk when she sank.A fleeing Dutch destroyer was caught and also sunk.One night later, a force of Japanese battleships and carriers intercepted the remaining Allied forces trying to escape to Austraila, sinking two destroyers and a gunboat.This ended any naval opposition in the Southwest Pacific.The Japanese quickly overran Java and the remnants of Dutch land forces surrendered on March 9th.