USS Langley - CV-1
USS Langley - CV-1
bigpigeon.us webpage  WW II - Japan > Japan Lashes Out > The Dutch Indies Lost, updated by RAC 7 Oct '19.
jAmong Japanese conquests in early 1942 were the Netherlands East Indies, then a Dutch colony and today the nation of Indonesia. A hastily-organized coalition of American, British, Dutch and Australian forces, known as ABDA, attempted to resist but were quickly brushed aside with the loss of some thousands of Allied lives.

The United States contributed most of the remainder of the Asiatic Fleet as well as army air force units and a battalion of ground troops to ABDA operations. Almost all personnel were killed or captured.

Among the Unites States losses was the United State's first aircraft carrier, the USS Langley, ferrying USAAF aircraft and crews for the defense of Java. The Langley was torpedoed south of Tjilatjap, Java on 27 Feb '42 and was then scuttled.
1942 Japanese Capture of the Dutch East Indies
Japanese Capture of the Indies
Sources for the WW II - The Dutch Indies Lost webpage
  • The webpage header photo, USS Langley - CV-1 is courtesy of pinterest.com.
  • The Japanese Capture of the Indies map is courtesy of DeDuijn at wikibooks.org.
Pottawattamie County, Iowa WW II Dead - the Dutch Indies Lost
(taken from the bigpigeon.us WW II Dead webarea)
  • 03-04 - Japan Lashes Out - The Dutch Indies Lost: (four dead, updated 5 Oct ’19)
    † +Christensen, Lester Angus - SN 3166117 - US Navy
    cruiser USS Houston (CA-30); KIA 26 Feb '42 Dutch Indies; ship sunk by destroyer torpedoes, 793 died; Battle of Sunda Strait; BNR
    † Field, John Henry - SN 3165623, US Navy
    destroyer tender USS Black Hawk (AD-9) stationed in the Dutch Indies during Dec ‘41 &  Feb ‘42; DNB 19 Jan ‘42 Darwin, Australia, malaria.
    † Koebel, Kenneth L. - SN O-421117, USAAF
    13th or 33rd Pursuit Sqdn.; KIA 1 Mar ’42, 430 miles south of Java, Dutch East Indies; on old aircraft carrier USS Langley (CV-1), sunk; survivors transferred to destroyer USS Edsall (DD-219), sunk; BNR.
    † + Stranathan, Dale Chester - SN 3162666, US Navy
    destroyer USS Peary (DD-226); KIA 19 Feb '42 Darwin, Australia, ship sunk by Japanese air attack; BNR.