"The Galloping Ghost's Last Stand" — USS Houston, HMAS Perth vs. 56 Japanese Ships

February 1942: Japanese radio had already "sunk" USS Houston four times. She was still afloat — until the night she and Australia's HMAS Perth ran straight into 56 Japanese transport ships carrying 35,000 invasion troops in the Sunda Strait. Outnumbered and low on ammunition, both cruisers attacked anyway. Perth sank first, then Houston fought on alone until she too went down. Of roughly 1,700 combined crew, fewer than 700 survived — and most of them spent the next three years as POWs on the Thai-Burma "Death Railway." This is the last stand of the Galloping Ghost of the Java Coast, and the Australian cruiser that fought beside her to the end. 🔔 Subscribe for more untold WWII naval history. 👍 Like if these crews deserve to be remembered.