Ford readied for action at Cavite as a unit of DesDiv 59. Undamaged by the destructive Japanese air raid on Manila Bay 10 December, she sailed southward the same day to patrol the Sulu Sea and Makassar Strait with Task Force 6. She remained in Makassar Strait until 23 December, then she steamed from Balikpapan, Borneo, to Surabaya, Java, arriving the 24th. As the Japanese pressed southward through the Philippines and into Indonesia, the Allies could hardly hope to contain the Japanese offensive in the East Indies. With too few ships and practically no air support they strove to harass the Japanese forces in an attempt to delay their advance, and to prevent the invasion of Australia. Anxious to strike back at the Japanese, Ford departed Surabaya 11 January 1942 for Kupang, Timor, where she arrived on the 18th to join a destroyer striking force. Two days later the force sailed for Balikpapan to conduct a surprise torpedo attack on Japanese shipping. Arriving off Balikpapan during mid watch 24 January, the four destroyers launched a raid through the Japanese transports while Japanese destroyers steamed about Makassar Strait in search of reported American submarines. For over an hour the destroyers fired torpedoes and shells at the astonished enemy. Before retiring from the first surface action in the Pacific war, they sank four Japanese ships; one of them, the IJA transport Kuretake Maru, fell victim to John D. Ford's torpedoes and was lost along with six crewmen and 272 troops. In the darkness, Ford also fired on the Japanese hospital ship Asahi Maru, causing minor damage. The striking force arrived Surabaya 25 January. The Japanese pincer offensive through the Dutch East Indies continued despite Allied harassment. On 3 February the Japanese began air raids on Surabaya, and John D. Ford retired in convoy to Tjilatjap on the southern coast of Java. During mid-February the Japanese tightened their control of islands east and west of Java, and on 18 February they landed troops on Bali, adjacent to the eastern end of the Java. In response John D. Ford, , and other American and Dutch ships steamed to Badoeng Strait in two waves to engage an enemy destroyer-transport force during the night of 19/20 February in what became known as the Battle of Badung Strait. A unit of the first wave, Ford conducted a running engagement with two Japanese destroyers without results. The outcome