Houston had a Problem

The USS Houston had a problem long before James Lovell uttered similar words, albeit with a much different twist, on Apollo 13. It was on this date, in 1942 that the lives of the men on the Houston would be forever altered, as Dutch Admiral Doorman gave orders for a small Allied fleet to meet the incoming Japanese armada. On February 28, 1942 the USS Houston, which was a  US Navy Cruiser first launched in September 1929, entered battle with Japanese naval forces in what is known as the Battle of Sunda Strait.  This ship hosted President Franklin Roosevelt and became the flagship for the Asiatic fleet under the command of US Admiral Tommy Hart.

FDR on Houston

Unfortunately for Admiral Hart in the two months following Pearl Harbor he was kept in the dark about US plans for the Asia Pacific Fleet, and  he was fighting more than the Japanese.  The British, holding not uncommon somewhat racist view and thinking that they are the best at everything, undermined Admiral Hart.* (The United States had to come to the aid of Britain in the Great War, and would do so again in WWII so why the British acted so superior is probably a cultural hangover of their imperial dynasty.)  In particular, British Field Marshal Wavell's complaints about Hart reached the highest levels of British command.  He complained that Hart in particular, and Americans in general had "exaggerated ideas of Japanese efficiency." (Hornfischer,  p. 41)  In the US, during the early months of 1942, blame was being placed for the raid on Pearl Harbor, and combined with the British complaints Hart would become a scapegoat and be relieved of command.  The Brits got what they wanted when PM of England Winston Churchill complained to President Franklin Roosevelt.  Hart was out.  A Dutchman, Admiral Doorman would see the US Asiatic Fleet placed under his command.

Admiral Hart

But, Doorman and the British never fully comprehended the Japanese version of the German Blitzkrieg being used in the Pacific.  They never fully appreciated the efficiency of which the Japanese had quickly controlled such a vast sprawling region.  The Japanese were gaining additional territory each and every day.  As they reached port after an early February convoy shadow, it was realized little was present in port to repair the ships.  Late in February the Houston and its men would face battle, and their lives would be forever altered.  On 26 February when Doorman received word that a Japanese invasion force was approaching Java he decided to meet the enemy force.  Doorman's attack force consisted of six cruisers and ten destroyers. Upon initial engagement the Japanese force had four cruisers and 13 destroyers.  Things did not go well for the Allies, and four ships remained in Doorman's attack fleet as they started to retreat.  At the end of the day, however, two more ships were sunk and the two remaining, the USS Houston and the HMAS Perth (Australian), were ordered to return to Surabaya and Tanjong Priok (Indonesia). An ignominious beginning to Doorman's command.

Field Marshal Wavell

The ships would reach Tanjong Priok on 28 February for resupply, but showing a lack of Dutch and British efficiency, there was a shortage of fuel, and no available ordnance or ammunition.  Not only that, but few Dutch sailor in port to assist in supply.  Even worse of those present some refused to help the USS Houston.  The two ships, with a Dutch destroyer were then ordered to sail to Tjilatjap, which contained the only Java port of any significance on the Ocean.  The Dutch ship would be delayed so the Houston and Perth made their way to that Java port city alone.  Here they would be surrounded and engaged by Japanese forces in what would become known as the Battle of Sunda Strait.  The two ships had some initial success evading Japanese torpedoes and even sinking some of the Japanese fleet, but they were well out-manned and out-gunned.  In trying to run Sunda Stait they came to face to face with a group of Japanese destroyers. (A first person account of the Battles of Java and Sunda Strait can be read here.)

USS Houston arriving in Port after Battle of Java Sea and
before Battle of Sunda Strait. 
Crew were lost in Battle of Java, so the flag is at half mast

The Houston was struck by a torpedo shortly after midnight and was taking on water.  An abandon ship message was relayed, but later rescinded, and issued again.   The Captain of the Houston, Albert Rooks, was hit and killed by a bursting shell at 12:30 am and the ship would come to a stop as the counter forces of Japanese fire power, and listing became too great for the most notable cruiser in the US fleet.  The Japanese came in for the kill, and a few minutes later the USS Houston would go down to the bottom of the sea in the darkness of the early hours on that first day of March 1942.  Many who survived the sinking were killed in the water. Most survivors made it to land (a few were picked out of the water), only to be captured.  A small group of Americans thought they had reached safety when they came upon some Dutch nationals, only to see the traitorous nature of those Dutch as they turned the Americans in to the Japanese occupation force.  Native populations also did not take kindly to the mainly white men, who brought thoughts of colonialism, so revealed their hiding spots to the Japanese.  Hindsight being 20/20, I suspect the treatment the natives were to receive by the Japanese invasion forces would have altered their opinion.

Japanese Propaganda on Sinking of the Houston 

What we do know is that, just as with the prisoners of Bataan, the Japanese thought it cowardly of a man to surrender.  The USS Houston is often referred to as the ship of ghosts, because it would be nine months before its fate as having been sunk was realized, and it would take until the end of the war when the POW's were released for a full accounting of the battle and the trials and tribulations of the remaining crew to receive at least some mention.  Apparently, a cruiser ship was an easy thing to lose in the early days of WWII.  Of the 1,061 men on board the ship only 368 would survive.  This number included 24 of 74 in a Marine detachment being transported on the ship.  Those few hundred US Naval and Marine survivors would be taken prisoner by the Japanese. Of the 368 prisoners of war from the USS Houston an astonishing 21%, or 77 men, would die in captivity. By comparison, only about 1% of Allied POW's held by Germany died.  The 21% is under the overall 27% of Allied POW's who died in Japanese hands.

Captain Rooks, kia, of US Houston

If the survivors thought that what they had experienced in the sinking of the Houston was hell on earth, that was only a small blip in the hell that would be thrust upon them as prisoners of war by the Japanese. Showing that racism is not only a European trait, the Japanese would turn out to be just as, if not more so racist, than the opinions held by Field Marshal Wavell and other Brits in the command structure.  In the end, the survivors of the Perth and Houston would show how wrong British Field Marshal Wavell was about the thinking of Admiral Hart and other Americans on the efficiency of the Japanese.  It turns out the Japanese were brutally efficient, with the emphasis on brutally.  That is another story for a future Tom's Tales.

Source: Hornfischer, James D. Ship of Ghosts, 2006 Bantam Books, NY NY.

* The United States had its own prejudices regarding race, and like the Brits, religion. It was common knowledge that to be a higher ranking US Naval officer one had to be an Episcopalian.

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