CalendarZ

  1. Home
  2. On This Day
  3. February
  4. 28
  5. Battle of Sunda Strait

Events on February 28 in history

Battle of Sunda Strait
1942Feb, 28

The heavy cruiser USS Houston is sunk in the Battle of Sunda Strait with 693 crew members killed, along with HMAS Perth which lost 375 men.

The Battle of Sunda Strait was a naval battle which occurred during World War II in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java, and Sumatra. On the night of 28 February 1 March 1942, the Australian light cruiser HMAS Perth and the American heavy cruiser USS Houston faced a major Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) task force. After a fierce battle lasting several hours, both Allied ships were sunk. Five Japanese ships were sunk, three of them by friendly fire.

Battle of Sunda StraitBattle of Sunda Strait
USS Houston (CL/CA-30), was a Northampton-class cruiser of the United States Navy. She was the second Navy ship to bear the name "Houston".

She was launched by Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company, Newport News, Virginia, on 7 September 1929, sponsored by Elizabeth Holcombe (daughter of Oscar Holcombe, then-mayor of Houston, Texas), and commissioned on 17 June 1930, Captain Jesse Bishop Gay commanding.The ship was originally classified as a light cruiser (hull number CL-30) because of her thin armor. Houston was redesignated a heavy cruiser (CA-30) on 1 July 1931, as the provisions of the 1930 London Naval Treaty considered ships with 8-inch (20.3 cm) main guns to be heavy cruisers.

References

Choose Another Date

Events on 1942

  • 25Jan

    Thailand

    World War II: Thailand declares war on the United States and United Kingdom.
  • 8Mar

    Myanmar

    World War II: Imperial Japanese Army forces captured Rangoon, Burma from British.
  • 10Jul

    Soviet Union

    Diplomatic relations between the Netherlands and the Soviet Union are established.
  • 13Aug

    Manhattan Project

    Major General Eugene Reybold of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers authorizes the construction of facilities that would house the "Development of Substitute Materials" project, better known as the Manhattan Project.
  • 25Sep

    Holocaust

    World War II: Swiss Police instruction dictates that "Under current practice ... refugees on the grounds of race alone are not political refugees", effectively denying entry to Jews trying to flee occupied Europe during the Holocaust.