Hello, and thank you for listening to The History of World War II podcast, Episode 283,

The Fall of Java Part 2, The Battle of Java Sea, and The Battle of Sondashtraite.

With Bali to the east and Sumatra to the west captured, not to mention Borneo to the north,

the Allied defenders of Java knew they were next.

And as there were no other nearby islands to defend, the Dutch-led Allied forces could

concentrate around their last-maint possession.

Problem was, they didn't have that much to concentrate with in terms of ships, air power,

or men.

The Japanese, on the other hand, were bearing down, comparatively with unlimited numbers of

at least the last two.

The opening phase of this coming battle would be at sea.

Rare Admiral Takedo Takagi in charge of the naval squadron, escorting the 56 troop transports

would be the first to cross swords with the enemy.

Opposing him would be the Dutch-Rare Admiral Karel Dorman, and on paper, at least, the

fleets were almost equal.

Almost.

The Allies had two heavy cruisers, though these were smaller and weaker in firepower and

armor than the enemies two heavy cruisers.

Next Dorman would have three light cruisers to Takagi's two.

And lastly, the Allies only had nine destroyers to the Japanese 14.

But the four American destroyers were of an age as to not be considered anywhere near

equal to the enemies.

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