The troops selected comprised two Madras and one Bengal division, and were brigaded as follows:
First Madras Division—Major-General R. R. Gillespie: 25th Light Dragoons (260), Horse Artillery (152), the 14th (West Yorkshire), a wing of the 59th (East Lancashire), the 89th (Royal Irish Fusiliers), and four companies of European Sappers.
Second Madras Division—Colonel Gibbs, of the 59th (East Lancashire): 22nd Light Dragoons (154), Royal Artillery (98), a wing of the 59th (East Lancashire), the 69th (Welsh), and the 78th (Seaforth Highlanders).
The Bengal division was under the command of Major-General J. S. Wood, and consisted of the Governor-General's Bodyguard, the 1st Battalion of the Bengal Native Infantry, and five battalions of sepoys, who had volunteered from the whole of the regiments of the Bengal army, and who were designated as the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Regiments of Bengal Volunteers. On the force being broken up, these men returned to their own regiments, receiving the medal which the Governor-General caused to be struck for the expedition, and so it comes about that, with the exception of the Bodyguard and the Madras Sappers, no native corps bears the distinction "Java" on its colours.
A powerful fleet, under the command of Admiral the Hon. R. Stopford, convoyed the transports. It comprised the following vessels:
Commander-in-Chief: Rear-Admiral the Hon. R. Stopford.
Commodore: W. R. Broughton.
| GUNS | GUNS | GUNS | |||
| Scipio | 74 | Illustrious | 74 | Minden | 74 |
| Lion | 64 | Akbar | 44 | Nisus | 38 |
| Présidente | 38 | Hussar | 38 | Phæton | 38 |
| Leda | 38 | Caroline | 36 | Modeste | 36 |
| Phœbe | 36 | Bucephalus | 36 | Doris | 36 |
| Cornelia | 32 | Psyche | 32 | Drake | 32 |
| Procris | 18 | Barracouta | 18 | Hesper | 18 |
| Harpy | 18 | Hecate | 18 | Dasher | 18 |
| Samarang | 12 | ||||
Honourable East India Company's Cruisers.
| Malabar. | Aurora. | Mornington. |
| Nautilus. | Vestal. | Ariel. |
| Thetis. | Psyche. |