In Harm's Way

The Japanese conquest of the southeast Pacific and Dutch East Indies seemed to be unstoppable in the opening weeks of WWII. The invasions of the Philippines, Borneo and Celebes, as well as defeats in Malaya, seemed to bring one disaster after another to the Allied cause. To contest the looming invasion of the Dutch East Indies the Allied high command cobbled together the ABDACOM (Australian, British, Dutch, and American Command) with a fleet of cruisers and destroyers from the various nations' navies that were at hand when the war broke out. The 'fleet' was placed under the command of Admiral Karel Doorman of the Dutch Navy who flew his flag from the HNLMS De Ruyter. Unfortunately for the allies, the ships had never operated as unit before, signals and command relationships still needed to be worked out. There was, however, no shortage of courage or lack of understanding of what needed to be done. on February 27th a Japanese Invasion Fleet, under the command of Admiral Shoji Nishimura, was sighted and the Allied fleet set forth to do battle. It would be the war's greatest fleet action to-date, the largest since Jutland in WWI.