Building up to the Battle of the Java Sea; simple beginnings

First of all, my apologies for the lack of posts recently. There simply hasn't been anything on my workbench worthy of a post and I've hardly played any games as well.

However, I do have some things in the pipeline.
There will probably be a battle report for a double-blind game of Axis and Allies Naval Miniatures I refereed soon, once I've got all my notes from that in order.
In addition to that, there will probably be a fair amount of FoW coming up as we'll be having a local tournament soon.

Today's feature is something a bit different; an overview of a long-term project I'm working on.

Specifically, to assemble the full order of battle for the Battle of the Java Sea in 1/1800 scale.

First, a bit of history for those of you unfamiliar with this battle:

Early in 1943, the Japanese forces were night unstoppable in the Pacific. They had set their eyes upon the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia) with its wealth of resources and would attempt to grasp most other colonial properties in the region as well.
Opposing them was a desperate alliance of the major powers in the region; ABDA (American, British, Dutch, Australian). Unfortunately, ABDA suffered from a convoluted command structure and political issues. In the end, many forces were withdrawn since the situation seemed untenable. The Dutch did not withdraw, though, desperate to hold on to their colonies now that the homeland back in Europe had been conquered by Germany.

As the Japanese moved to capture Java, one of the most important islands of the region, there was still a considerable force available to oppose them. Many of the ships were fairly old, some even of WW1 vintage, but ABDA managed to collect 2 heavy cruisers, 3 light cruisers and 9 destroyers into a naval task force which would be commanded by Dutch Rear-Admiral Karel Doorman.

The Japanese invasion force they were meant to stop had a strong escort, though. The Imperial Japanese Navy had assigned a task force with 2 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers and 13 destroyers to protect the troop ships.
This fleet was more modern and not plagued by having to integrate three different command and communication structures either.

Daytime attacks proved unfeasible, even with limited air support from ABDA airbases on the unoccupied isles.

So, on the late afternoon of February 27, as night started to fall, the ABDA fleet spotted the Japanese invasion fleet and tried to break through the escort screen for most of the evening and night. The first exchanges were fairly ineffective, but as the battle continued more decisive damage would be dealt.

By the end of the night, the ABDA force had lost two of their light cruisers and three of their destroyers, with several other ships damaged, without breaking through or sinking even a single Japanese warship.
The remaining foces withdrew and would end up trying to reach safe waters in several smaller groups.
The Japanese invasion had been delayed by a only single day, and at a great cost.

Wargaming this battle

This is an interesting battle for wargamers; the ABDA force is clearly at a disadvantage, but not such a massive one that their mission is entirely hopeless.
With clever play, especially in some kind of double-blind situation, the Allies could get some things done.
It also offers some interesting naval forces, clearly different from the ones you usually see for Pacific naval battles.

It's a battle I've been interested in for some time, and putting both forces for it together is an interesting long-term project.

Let's take a look at the orders of battle for both sides of the battle.

ABDA forces:

Type	Ship	Class
CA	HMS Exeter	York
CA	USS Houston	Northampton
CL	HNLMS De Ruyter	De Ruyter
CL	HNLMS Java	Java
CL	HMAS Perth	modified Leander
DD	HMS Electra	E
DD	HMS Encounter	E
DD	HMS Jupiter	J
DD	HNLMS Kortenaer	Admiralen
DD	HNLMS Witte de With	Admiralen
DD	USS Alden	Clemson
DD	USS John D. Edwards	Clemson
DD	USS John D. Ford	Clemson
DD	USS Paul Jones	Clemson

Out of this, I've currently only got Java and a single Clemson-class destroyer.
I've also got a model for the LEander, but the modified vessels like the Perth were clearly different, with an additional smokestack among other changes.
Plenty left to collect, in other words.
There's a fair bit of variation here, with the colour schemes for four different nations to paint as well.

 IJN forces:

Type	Ship	Class
CA	Nachi	Myoko
CA	Haguro	Myoko
CL	Naka	Sendai
CL	Jintsu	Sendai
DD	Yudachi	Shiratsuyu
DD	Samidare	Shiratsuyu
DD	Murasame	Shiratsuyu
DD	Harusame	Shiratsuyu
DD	Yamakaze	Shiratsuyu
DD	Kawakaze	Shiratsuyu
DD	Minegumo	Asashio
DD	Asagumo	Asashio
DD	Yukikaze	Kagero
DD	Amatsukaze	Kagero
DD	Hatsukaze	Kagero
DD	Sazanami	Fubuki
DD	Ushio	Fubuki

For this, I've got both Myoko-class heavy cruisers and a single Shiratsuyu-class destroyer.

A bit more, in other words, but still plenty to collect here as well.

I'll probably focus on getting at least some of the destroyers first, although that might change if I can get some nice deals on certain other ships.

Shapeways will probably be a main source of models in this project; many of the classes I need models for have them available in 1/1800 over there and for reasonable prices.
All of the IJN models I need end up at less than US$ 60, for example. Although I don't think I'll be getting everything at once.

Some ships will have to come from different places, though.