US Destroyers surprise Japanese

24th January 1942: In the Battle of Balikpapan, the first US Navy surface action for 44 years, US destroyers sink transports from the Borneo invasion force

The Japanese were continuing their rolling programme of invasions south and south-west of the Philippines. Now they turned their attention to the island of Borneo, part of the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). The newly formed ABDA (American British Dutch Australian) joint command struggled to find the forces to resist them.

On the 23rd the Japanese beg…