The Last Stand of Perth and Houston

Captain Hector Waller commands HMAS Perth during the darkest hours of the Pacific War. After the destruction of the ABDA force at the Battle of the Java Sea, he finds himself leading the only 2 cruisers still seaworthy: his own ship and the USS Houston under Commander Arthur Rooks. Ammunition lockers are nearly empty, crews are spent, but the course is set for Australia through the Sunda Strait.

In the darkness of 28 February, as the ships enter Banten Bay, Waller and Rooks discover the unthinkable: an entire Japanese invasion fleet, dozens of transports and escorts, pouring troops ashore on the beaches of Java. No radar has warned the 2 vessels. The surprise is total — but it cuts both ways.

3 choices face Waller in the seconds that follow: press through by charging the transports, guns blazing, to sow confusion and punch a hole in the screen; cut speed and hug the shoreline in darkness, attempting to slip through the strait without firing a shot; or reverse course immediately and search south of Java for another route to open water. Every option stakes hundreds of lives, and Japanese searchlights already sweep the surface of the bay.