The Battle of Badung Strait was a naval battle in which the Japanese Navy showed their might by defeating a greater force of American-British-Dutch-Australian(ABDA) Command vessels as an attempt to lay the groundwork for conquest of Java.

Fresh from their victories to conquer Borneo and Celebes, the Japanese were eager to begin the next phase of their conquest. The first step in the plan to conquer Java was to secure the flanks of Java. To achieve this, the Japanese started by landing on Sumatra on February 14th. Bali was next.

With scattered and damaged forces, and little warning, Dutch Admiral Karel Doorman knew that an invasion of Bali could not be ignored as it would give the Japanese an airbase within striking distance of an important allied naval base at Surabaya.

Using what forces he could call upon, Admiral Doorman came up with a plan to attack the Japanese in three waves. The first wave consisted of two light cruisers, and four destroyers. The second group was supposed to be one light cruiser, and four light cruisers. The final group, which was supposed to attack at the same time as the second group contained nine torpedo boats.

On February 18th the Japanese successfully managed to land on Bali. Initially, they had sent a group of two transports, one light cruiser, and 8 destroyers to complete the mission. The Japanese were well aware that their position was exposed to enemy attack, so they hurried the landing. By the time the first ABDA strike group arrived, the cruiser, and three of the destroyers were far enough away that they could play no further part in the battle.

The first wave of the ABDA assault didn’t do nearly as much damage as Admiral Doorman had hoped, the cruisers having left after only a few minutes of fighting. The Japanese managed to sink the Destroyer Piet Hein.

The second wave of the fight occurred three hours after the first. The allies failed to inflict any serious harm on the Japanese until, during their retreat, they blindly blundered into two of the Japanese destroyers. The allies managed to inflict serious enough damage that one of the two destroyers had to be towed away. The Japanese on the other hand managed to severely damage one of the Dutch cruisers.

Having been ordered to finally leave, the Japanese departed with due haste, their foothold on Bali established. Thus, by the time the third wave of the ABDA assault arrived, no Japanese ships remained for them to engage.

Bali’s garrison was unable to fight off the invading Japanese forces, which resulted in the capture of its airfield. This allowed the Japanese forces to continue their conquest of the Dutch East Indies, ultimately winning the series of engagements later on at the Battle of the Java Sea, in which Admiral Doorman himself would be killed.