Darwin, February 1942 - the Battle of Friday the Thirteenth.
As soon as they arrived over the Moluccas and Timor the Allied heavy bomber groups based at Darwin proved to be a thorn in the Japanese side. From the start of the war Japanese plans had envisaged the capture of Darwin, and the bombers' attentions increase the urgency of attaining this objective. The Japanese therefore decide that their opening move in the offensive against the base is to be by naval bombardment.
Japanese plans are complicated by their suspicion (all too well-founded, as it turns out) that Darwin is hosting torpedo and dive bombers capable of doing serious damage to the bombardment force. Moreover, reconnaissance reveals the presence of enemy surface patrols in the vicinity of the base. These are reported as including heavy cruisers, but the staff at Kendari suspect exaggeration on the observers' part and classify the sighted heavies as destroyers.
Nevertheless, the surface units' presence conjure for the Japanese the nightmare of multiple engagements by the bombardment group during its run-in to the target. Not only may this dissipate the bombardment's effect but it may delay timely retirement of the ships involved, leaving them exposed to counter-attack from the air.
To counter this dual threat from sea and air, the plan devised involves the use of two task groups. The first, the Interception Force led by Vice Admiral Hosogaya, consists of a light cruiser-led squadron of seven destroyers. Its task is to enter the approaches to Darwin and destroy the defending surface forces, so clearing the way for Rear Admiral Tanaka's following Bombardment Group, comprising 2 fast battleships, 6 heavy cruisers and 2 light cruisers plus screen. The two task groups will take widely diverging routes towards the objective, that of the Interception Force suggesting that it is heading for Wyndham rather than Darwin.
In the event, things do not go quite according to the Japanese script. Both the observers and the staff at Kendari are wrong: the defending surface forces include 2 Royal Navy 'D' Class light cruisers, Durban and Dragon. Hosogaya's Interception Force lacks the muscle to combat the 'D's', and the defenders suffer only damage and the loss of one minesweeper to a largely ineffective torpedo salvo. Hosogoya's fortunes are mixed in the engagement with the second defending group consisting of three minesweepers. This time the torpedoes strike home, but one of the minesweepers puts a 4" round into Minegumo's aft magazine and she is totally consumed in the resulting explosion.
The knock-on effect of the Interception Force's partial failure is that Tanaka finds himself confronted by the RN light cruisers. For some reason Durban fails to engage, but Dragon is assailed by a rain of shells from the screen which fail to penetrate her armour but comprehensively riddle her upperworks. Tanaka's cruisers wade in with Type 93 launches that catch Dragon, DD Thanet and MSW Deloraine. They sink, and destroyer-minelayer Thracian retires injured. Ominously, however, heavy cruiser Maya is tagged by a Mk VIII torpedo during the engagement and suffers serious damage to her propulsion machinery.
The bombardment now proceeds, but the main effort is concentrated upon the ships in harbour. These suffer severely, but the corollary is that no more than six aircraft are destroyed. Hosogaya and Tanaka then retire northwards at full speed.
Dawn and Allied search aircraft find Maya alone and not far north of Melville Island. Retribution is not far behind as A-24's and Swordfish seek her out. She weathers the first strike with no more than a single hit by an A-24, but the second strike by 12 A-24's and 3 Swordfish secure 4 bomb hits and no less than 2 torpedo strikes.
Now Maya is in serious trouble. Capable of no more than a crawl, with heavy system damage but no more than limited flotation damage at this stage, she limps north to Lautem. As with Mutsu at Kuching, the Japanese mount a major effort to save her over the next few days. A host of ASW craft surround her as she struggles away from the danger area, now under the command of Rear Admiral Yoshida who took credit for the saving of Mutsu. Whether she survives remains to be seen, but it won't be for want of trying.
In Darwin meanwhile they're digging themselves out of the rubble, and aircraft transport Langley will subsequently sink at her moorings. However, the base's air groups are largely intact and the Japanese aims for the bombardment have not been achieved. This looks like continuing to be a hotly contested area for the foreseeable future.
