Battle of Arafura Sea

By:
1. Arli Marlino
2. Herdiansyah
3. M. Zain
4. Rasyad M
5. Talitha Aurelia
The History
The Battle of Arafura Sea also known as the Battle of Vlakke Hoek, was a
naval battle in the Vlakke Hoek Bay (Etna Bay) of the Arafura Sea in
Western Guinea on January 15, 1962 between Indonesia and the
Netherlands.

The battle stopped an attempt by the Indonesian Navy to drop off 150
soldiers in Kaimana in Dutch New Guinea for sabotage and to incite the
local population against the Dutch government. Commodore Yos
Sudarso was in charge of the operation at sea, while colonel Murshid
commanded the infiltrators. Three Indonesian torpedo boats left the Aru
Island in the middle of the night but were intercepted near the New
Guinea coast by a Dutch Neptune reconnaissance plane, as the Dutch had
anticipated the action for weeks. The torpedo boats responded to the flares
sent off by the plane by shooting at it. The
Dutch destroyer HNLMS Evertsen then joined the scene and sank the
KRI Matjan Tutul, commanded by Sudarso. Commodore Yos Sudarso said,
“Kobarkan semangat pertempuran!”.
Do you know who’s Yos Sudarso?
Yos Sudarso
Yos Sudarso was an Indonesian naval officer killed at
the Battle of Arafura Sea. At the time of his death, Yos
Sudarso was deputy chief of staff of the Indonesian
Navy and in charge of an action to infiltrate Dutch New
Guinea.

The action itself was an abject failure and

General Nasution even refused to relay the bad news
to Sukarno, forcing colonel Murshid to do this in
person. However, the small battle was partially
responsible for the subsequent involvement of the
Soviet Union and United States in the case of Dutch
New Guinea, and it is honored in Indonesia by "Sea
Sacrifice Day," an annual nationwide day of
remembrance. Twelve years after his death, Yos Sudarso
was officially added to the register of Indonesian heroes
of the Revolution. Indonesia issued a special postage
stamp to commemorate his service to his country, while
the KRI Harimau was made into a monument in Taman
Mini Indonesia Indah.
Operation Trikora
On 15 January 1962 the infiltration phase of Operation
Trikora began when four Indonesia Navy motor torpedo
boats attempted to land a unit of 150 marines on the south
coast of New Guinea near Vlakke Hoek. The force was
detected by a Dutch Lockheed P2V-7B Neptune and the
Indonesian boats were intercepted by three Dutch
destroyers. During the subsequent Battle of Arafura Sea,
Dutch Lockheed one Indonesian boat was sunk and two others were badly
P2V-7B damaged and forced to retreat. Thus, this planned
Indonesian amphibious landing ended disastrously with
many crew members and marines being killed, among
them Commodore Yos Sudarso, the Deputy Chief of the
Indonesian Navy Staff. Over the next eight months, the
Indonesian forces managed to insert 562 troops by sea and
1154 by air drops. The inserted Indonesian troops
conducted guerrilla operations throughout Western New
Guinea from April 1962 onwards, but they were largely
militarily ineffective. Over 94 Indonesian soldiers were
killed and 73 were wounded during the hostilities.
 3 Jaguar-class fast attack craft

KRI Matjan Tutul KRI Matjan Kumbang

KRI Harimau