South Pacific

1200 position. 145 degrees 45 seconds West, 38 degrees 30 seconds South.

Had quite an argument concerning the Dutch. The consensus of opinion seemed to be that their one redeeming feature is their stubbornness to admit defeat. Otherwise they are smug, none too intelligent, poor seamen, rotten navigators, and are thoroughly uninterested in any problems but their own.

The conduct of the Dutch Fleet, with the exception of the destroyer Tromp, in the battle (night) of the Lombok Strait was most questionable and smacks of either cowardice or magnificent stupidity. The same may be said of a “near” action northwest of Borneo, in which, the Allied fleet, under Dutch command, ran from a comparatively weak Jap convoy – because a stronger convoy was discovered north of Borneo – two days’ steaming distance away (one day for “cans”). When asked why they hadn’t attacked when they were stronger, the Dutch pointed out the northern convoy, and said it was impossible.

In the night action in Lombok Strait the Dutch fleet and three (or four?) American cans went through the strait at night in sections (stupid tactics). This strait, at late afternoon, was reported to be filled with a Jap convoy. The heavy section of the Dutch fleet went through late at night and saw nothing! Dutch motor torpedo boats went through, and saw nothing! The last to go through with the U.S. cans and three Dutch cans. One Dutchman ran aground and  another stayed behind it help it, leaving the Tromp and the U.S. cans, which soon found themselves in a hotbed of ships and Jap destroyers. They loosed their torpedoes and were engaged in a running fight the rest of the way through the straits.

Also – from the news accounts, the Dutch fleet was destroyed after the Java battle by “underwater explosions.” It is an almost unanimous opinion that they ran into one of their own minefields, due to their sloppy navigating.

Also the Dutch several times proposed a sacrifice attack by U.S. “cans” – with only one or two torpedoes between them!