HMS ''Exeter'' was the second and last
heavy cruiser
The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range and high speed, armed generally with naval guns of roughly 203 mm (8 inches) in caliber, whose design parameters were dictated by the Washington Naval ...
built for the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...
during the late 1920s. Aside from a temporary deployment with the
Mediterranean Fleet
The British Mediterranean Fleet, also known as the Mediterranean Station, was a formation of the Royal Navy. The Fleet was one of the most prestigious commands in the navy for the majority of its history, defending the vital sea link between t ...
during the
Abyssinia Crisis
The Abyssinia Crisis (; ) was an international crisis in 1935 that originated in what was called the Walwal incident during the ongoing conflict between the Kingdom of Italy and the Empire of Ethiopia (then commonly known as "Abyssinia"). The Le ...
of 1935–36, she spent the bulk of the 1930s assigned to the
Atlantic Fleet or the
North America and West Indies Station
The North America and West Indies Station was a formation or command of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy stationed in North American waters from 1745 to 1956. The North American Station was separate from the Jamaica Station until 1830 when th ...
. When
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
began in September 1939, the cruiser was assigned to patrol
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...
n waters against German
commerce raider
Commerce raiding (french: guerre de course, "war of the chase"; german: Handelskrieg, "trade war") is a form of naval warfare used to destroy or disrupt logistics of the enemy on the open sea by attacking its merchant shipping, rather than eng ...
s. ''Exeter'' was one of three British
cruisers that fought the German
pocket battleship, the , later that year in the
Battle of the River Plate
The Battle of the River Plate was fought in the South Atlantic on 13 December 1939 as the first naval battle of the Second World War. The Kriegsmarine heavy cruiser , commanded by Captain Hans Langsdorff, engaged a Royal Navy squadron, command ...
. She was severely damaged during the battle, and she was in the
shipyard
A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance ...
for over a year.
After her repairs were completed, the ship spent most of 1941 on convoy escort duties before she was transferred to the
Far East
The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.
The te ...
after the start of the
Pacific War in December. ''Exeter'' was generally assigned to escorting convoys to and from
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
during the
Malayan Campaign, and she continued on those duties in early February 1942 as the Japanese prepared to
invade the Dutch East Indies. Later that month, she was assigned to the Striking Force of the joint
American-British-Dutch-Australian Command
The American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) Command, or ABDACOM, was a short-lived, supreme command for all Allied forces in South East Asia in early 1942, during the Pacific War in World War II. The command consists of the forces of Austr ...
(ABDACOM), and she took on a more active role in the defence of the
Dutch East Indies. The culmination of this was her engagement in the
Battle of the Java Sea
The Battle of the Java Sea ( id, Pertempuran Laut Jawa, ja, スラバヤ沖海戦, Surabaya oki kaisen, Surabaya open-sea battle, Javanese : ꦥꦼꦫꦁꦱꦼꦒꦫꦗꦮ, romanized: ''Perang Segara Jawa'') was a decisive naval battle o ...
later in the month as the Allies attempted to intercept several
Imperial Japanese Navy
The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...
invasion convoys. ''Exeter'' was crippled early in the battle, and she did not play much of a role as she withdrew. Two days later, she attempted to escape approaching Japanese forces, but she was intercepted and sunk by Japanese ships at the beginning of March in the
Second Battle of the Java Sea.
Most of her crewmen survived the sinking and were rescued by the Japanese. About a quarter of them died during Japanese captivity. Her wreck was discovered in early 2007, and it was declared a war grave, but by 2016 her remains had been destroyed by illegal
salvagers.
Design and description

''Exeter'' was ordered two years after her
sister ship
A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...
and her design incorporated improvements in light of experience with the latter. Her
beam was increased by to compensate for increases in topweight, and her boiler uptakes were trunked backwards from the boiler rooms, allowing for straight
funnel
A funnel is a tube or pipe that is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, used for guiding liquid or powder into a small opening.
Funnels are usually made of stainless steel, aluminium, glass, or plastic. The material used in its construc ...
s further removed from the
bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...
rather than the raked funnels on ''York'' to ensure adequate dispersal of the flue gases. As the
gun turret
A gun turret (or simply turret) is a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility and ability to turn and aim. A modern gun turret is generally a rotatable weapon mount that houses the crew or mechani ...
s had proved not strong enough to accommodate the
aircraft catapult
An aircraft catapult is a device used to allow aircraft to take off from a very limited amount of space, such as the deck of a vessel, but can also be installed on land-based runways in rare cases. It is now most commonly used on aircraft carrier ...
originally intended, ''Exeter'' was given a pair of fixed catapults angled out from amidships in a "V" shape, with the associated
crane
Crane or cranes may refer to:
Common meanings
* Crane (bird), a large, long-necked bird
* Crane (machine), industrial machinery for lifting
** Crane (rail), a crane suited for use on railroads
People and fictional characters
* Crane (surname) ...
placed to starboard. Consequently, the bridge was lowered (that of ''York'' being tall to give a view over the intended aircraft), and was of a
streamlined, enclosed design that was incorporated into later cruisers.
''Exeter'' was slightly lighter than expected and displaced at
standard load and at
deep load
The displacement or displacement tonnage of a ship is its weight. As the term indicates, it is measured indirectly, using Archimedes' principle, by first calculating the volume of water displaced by the ship, then converting that value into we ...
. The ship had an
overall length of , a beam of and a
draught of at
deep load
The displacement or displacement tonnage of a ship is its weight. As the term indicates, it is measured indirectly, using Archimedes' principle, by first calculating the volume of water displaced by the ship, then converting that value into we ...
. She was powered by four
Parsons
Parsons may refer to:
Places
In the United States:
* Parsons, Kansas, a city
* Parsons, Missouri, an unincorporated community
* Parsons, Tennessee, a city
* Parsons, West Virginia, a town
* Camp Parsons, a Boy Scout camp in the state of Washingto ...
geared
steam turbine
A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turb ...
sets, each driving one shaft, using provided by eight
Admiralty 3-drum boiler
Three-drum boilers are a class of water-tube boiler used to generate steam, typically to power Steamship, ships. They are compact and of high evaporative power, factors that encourage this use. Other boiler designs may be more efficient, although ...
s. The turbines developed a total of and gave a maximum speed of . The ship could carry of
fuel oil
Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil, marine fuel oil (MFO), bu ...
which gave her a range of at . The ship's complement was 628 officers and
ratings.
[
The main armament of the ''York''-class ships consisted of six BL Mk VIII guns in three twin-]gun turret
A gun turret (or simply turret) is a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility and ability to turn and aim. A modern gun turret is generally a rotatable weapon mount that houses the crew or mechani ...
s, designated "A", "B", and "Y" from fore to aft. "A" and "B" were superfiring
Superfiring armament is a naval military building technique in which two (or more) turrets are located in a line, one behind the other, with the second turret located above ("super") the one in front so that the second turret can fire over the ...
forward of the superstructure and "Y" was aft of it. Defence against aircraft was provided by four QF Mk V anti-aircraft (AA) guns in single mounts amidships
This glossary of nautical terms is an alphabetical listing of terms and expressions connected with ships, shipping, seamanship and navigation on water (mostly though not necessarily on the sea). Some remain current, while many date from the 17th ...
and a pair of two-pounder () light AA guns ("pom-poms") in single mounts. The ships also fitted with two triple torpedo tube
A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes.
There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed abo ...
above-water mounts for torpedoes.[Raven & Roberts, p. 414]
The cruisers lacked a full-length waterline
The waterline is the line where the hull of a ship meets the surface of the water. Specifically, it is also the name of a special marking, also known as an international load line, Plimsoll line and water line (positioned amidships), that ind ...
armour belt
Belt armor is a layer of heavy metal armor plated onto or within the outer hulls of warships, typically on battleships, battlecruisers and cruisers, and aircraft carriers.
The belt armor is designed to prevent projectiles from penetrating t ...
. The sides of ''Exeter''s boiler and engine rooms and the sides of the magazines were protected by of armour. The transverse bulkheads at the end of her propulsion machinery rooms were thick. The top of the magazines were protected by of armour and their ends were thick. The lower deck over the machinery spaces and steering gear had a thickness of .[
]
Modifications
In 1932 ''Exeter'' had her side plating extended to enclose her open main deck as far back as the fore funnel.[Raven & Roberts, p. 266.] During that same refit, her pair of fixed catapults were finally installed for her Fairey IIIF floatplane
A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, ...
s. In 1934–1935, two quadruple mounts for Vickers
Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public in 18 ...
antiaircraft
Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based ...
machineguns replaced the pair of two-pounder "pom-poms" originally installed.
While under repair in 1940–1941 after her battle with the ''Admiral Graf Spee'', the Royal Navy decided to upgrade her armament and fire-control systems. The bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...
was rebuilt and enlarged to accommodate a second High-Angle Control System
High Angle Control System (HACS) was a British anti-aircraft fire-control system employed by the Royal Navy from 1931 and used widely during World War II. HACS calculated the necessary deflection required to place an explosive shell in the loca ...
aft of the Director-Control Tower (DCT) on top of the bridge, her single four-inch AA guns were replaced with twin-gun mounts for Mark XVI guns of the same calibre and a pair of octuple mounts for two-pounder "pom-poms" were added abreast her aft superstructure
A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships.
Aboard ships and large boats
On water craft, the superstruct ...
. Enclosures ("tubs") for single Oerlikon guns were added to the roof of both 'B' and 'Y' turrets,[Whitley, p. 95] but these weapons were never installed, because of shortages in production, and lighter tripod-mounted machine guns were substituted. The pole mast
Mast, MAST or MASt may refer to:
Engineering
* Mast (sailing), a vertical spar on a sailing ship
* Flagmast, a pole for flying a flag
* Guyed mast, a structure supported by guy-wires
* Mooring mast, a structure for docking an airship
* Radio mast ...
s were replaced by stronger tripod mast
The tripod mast is a type of mast used on warships from the Edwardian era onwards, replacing the pole mast. Tripod masts are distinctive using two large (usually cylindrical) support columns spread out at angles to brace another (usually vertical ...
s because the Type 279 early-warning radar had separate transmitting and receiving aerials, one at each masthead. In addition, a Type 284 fire-control radar
A fire-control radar (FCR) is a radar that is designed specifically to provide information (mainly target azimuth, elevation, range and range rate) to a fire-control system in order to direct weapons such that they hit a target. They are somet ...
was fitted to the DCT.
Construction and career
''Exeter'', the fourth ship of her name to serve in the Royal Navy, was laid down
Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship.
Keel laying is one ...
on 1 August 1928, launched on 18 July 1929 and completed on 27 July 1931. The ship was then assigned to the 2nd Cruiser Squadron
The 2nd Cruiser Squadron was a formation of cruisers of the British Royal Navy from 1904 to 1919 and from 1921 to 1941 and again from 1946 to 1952.
History
First formation
The 2nd Cruiser Squadron was first formed in December, 1904 then placed ...
of the Atlantic Fleet, where she served between 1931 and 1933. In 1934 she was assigned to the America and West Indies Station
The North America and West Indies Station was a formation or command of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy stationed in North American waters from 1745 to 1956. The North American Station was separate from the Jamaica Station until 1830 when the ...
and remained there, aside from a temporary deployment to the Mediterranean during the Abyssinian crisis of 1935–1936, until 1939.
Second World War
Battle of the River Plate
At the outbreak of the Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, she formed part of the South American Division with the heavy cruiser , under Commodore Henry Harwood
Admiral Sir Henry Harwood Harwood, KCB, OBE (19 January 1888 – 9 June 1950), was a British naval officer who won fame in the Battle of the River Plate.
Early life
Following education at Stubbington House School, Harwood entered the Ro ...
. The ship, commanded by Captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
Frederick Bell
Frederick William Bell, VC (3 April 1875 – 28 April 1954) was an Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
Early life and ca ...
, was assigned to Force G to hunt for German commerce raiders off the eastern coast of South America on 6 October 1939. Two months later, Harwood ordered ''Exeter'' and the light cruiser
A light cruiser is a type of small or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck. Prior to thi ...
to rendezvous with his own off the mouth of the Río de la Plata
The Río de la Plata (, "river of silver"), also called the River Plate or La Plata River in English, is the estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River at Punta Gorda. It empties into the Atlantic Ocean and f ...
, while HMS ''Cumberland'' was refitting in the Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubou ...
. The two other ships arrived on 12 December, and then the ''Admiral Graf Spee'' spotted the ''Exeter'' during the following morning.
Captain Hans Langsdorff
Hans Wilhelm Langsdorff (20 March 1894 – 20 December 1939) was a German naval officer, most famous for his command of the German pocket battleship ''Admiral Graf Spee'' during the Battle of the River Plate off the coast of Uruguay in 1939. ...
decided to engage the British and closed at full speed. The British doctrine on how to engage ships like the ''Admiral Graf Spee'' had been developed by Harwood in 1936 and specified that the British force act as two divisions. Following this procedure, ''Exeter'' operated as a division on her own while ''Achilles'' and ''Ajax'' formed the other, splitting the fire of the German ship. They were only partially successful as the German ship concentrated her main armament of six guns on ''Exeter'', and her secondary armament of eight guns on the light cruisers. Langsdorff opened fire on ''Exeter'' at 06:18 with high-explosive shells and she returned fire two minutes later at a range of . The German ship straddled the British cruiser with her third salvo
A salvo is the simultaneous discharge of artillery or firearms including the firing of guns either to hit a target or to perform a salute. As a tactic in warfare, the intent is to cripple an enemy in one blow and prevent them from fighting ...
; shrapnel from the near misses killed the crew of the starboard torpedo tubes, started fires amidships and damaged both Supermarine Walrus
The Supermarine Walrus (originally designated the Supermarine Seagull V) was a British single-engine amphibious biplane reconnaissance aircraft designed by R. J. Mitchell and manufactured by Supermarine at Woolston, Southampton.
The Walrus ...
seaplanes. After eight salvos from ''Exeter'', ''Admiral Graf Spee'' scored a direct hit on 'B' turret that knocked it out of action and shrapnel from the hit killed all of the bridge personnel except three. Bell, wounded in the face, transferred to the aft conning position to continue the battle. His ship was hit twice more shortly afterwards, but her powerplant was not damaged and she remained seaworthy, although her aircraft had to be jettisoned.[Stephen, pp. 18–19]
At 06:30, Langsdorff switched his fire to the light cruisers, but only inflicted shrapnel damage on them before some of ''Exeter''s torpedoes forced him to turn away at 06:37 to evade them. Her second torpedo attack at 06:43 was also unsuccessful. In the meanwhile, Langsdorff had switched his main guns back to the heavy cruiser and scored several more hits. They knocked out 'A' turret, started a fire amidships that damaged the ship's fire-control and navigation circuits, and caused a seven-degree list
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby uni ...
with flooding. After "Y" turret had temporarily been disabled, Bell said, "I'm going to ram the --------. It will be the end of us but it will sink him too". The turret was repaired and she remained in action until flooding disabled the machinery for "Y" turret at 07:30. At 11:07, Bell informed Harwood that ''Exeter'' had a single eight-inch and a four-inch gun available in local control, and that she could make . Harwood ordered Bell to head to the Falklands for repair.
The ship was hit by a total of seven 283 mm shells that killed 61 of her crew and wounded another 23. In return, the cruiser had hit ''Admiral Graf Spee'' three times; one shell penetrated her main armour belt and narrowly missed detonating in one of her engine rooms, but the most important of these disabled her oil-purification equipment. Without it, the ship was unlikely to be able to reach Germany. Several days later, unable to be repaired and apparently confronted by powerful Royal Navy reinforcements (including HMS ''Cumberland''), the ''Admiral Graf Spee'' was scuttled by her captain in the harbour of Montevideo
Montevideo () is the capital and largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . Montevideo is situated on the southern ...
.
''Exeter'' made for Port Stanley
Stanley (; also known as Port Stanley) is the capital city of the Falkland Islands. It is located on the island of East Falkland, on a north-facing slope in one of the wettest parts of the islands. At the 2016 census, the city had a popula ...
for emergency repairs which took until January 1940.[ She was repaired and modernised at HM Dockyard, Devonport between 14 February 1940 and 10 March 1941; Captain ]W.N.T. Beckett
Captain Walter Napier Thomason Beckett, MVO, DSC (1893 – 1941) was a noted Royal Navy officer in both the First World War and the Second World War. He was known to most people as "Joe" Beckett, after a famous British boxer of the same ...
was appointed to relieve Bell on 12 December 1940. Then, on 10 March 1941, the very day that ''Exeter'' was due to be recommissioned, Beckett died at Saltash Hospital from complications following exploratory surgery to repair poison gas injuries that he had received earlier in his career. His replacement was Captain Oliver Gordon.
To the Far East
Upon returning to the fleet, ''Exeter'' primarily spent time on 'working up' exercises, however she also conducted several patrols in northern waters, one on which she stopped in Iceland to refuel. On 22 May she departed from Britain (for the last time as it would turn out), escorting Convoy WS-8B to Aden (Yemen) via Freetown and Durban, South Africa (the beginning of which occurred at the very same time as the hunt for the . was taking place). ''Exeter'' henceforth became attached to the East Indies Squadron (later redesignated as the Far East Fleet
The Far East Fleet (also called the Far East Station) was a fleet of the Royal Navy which existed between 1952 and 1971.
During the Second World War, the Eastern Fleet included many ships and personnel from other navies, including those of the N ...
).
''Exeter'' then stayed on escort duty in the Indian Ocean (primarily off the coast of Africa) and the northern Arabian Sea (where she visited Bombay, India) until 13 October.[ADM 53/114258] On that day ''Exeter'' departed Aden for Colombo
Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...
, British Ceylon) via Bombay
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the '' de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the sec ...
, British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
arriving on 24 October. ''Exeter'' then spent several days in a graving dock and after undocking (on the 29th) conducted exercises off Colombo and visited the Maldives
The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives,, ) and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is a country and archipelagic state in South Asia in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, about from the A ...
.
Upon return to Trincomalee (Ceylon) from the Maldives on 14 November, ''Exeter'' then departed for Calcutta on the 16th to cover a small two-ship convoy that left Calcutta for Rangoon (Burma) on the 26th and 27th. After the successful completion of that duty she was then tasked to escort another ship from Calcutta to Rangoon on 6 December. However, during that convoy, on 8 December, ''Exeter'' was ordered to urgently proceed to Singapore to reinforce Force Z, as the Pacific War had just begun. ''Exeter'' arrived at Singapore during the afternoon of 10 December, too late to support and as they had both been sunk earlier that day, but some of the survivors from these two ships were treated in ''Exeter''s sick bay
A sick bay is a compartment in a ship, or a section of another organisation, such as a school or college, used for medical purposes.
The sick bay contains the ship's medicine chest, which may be divided into separate cabinets, such as a refriger ...
.[Cox, p. 109]
''Exeter'' thus returned to Colombo the next day (11 December) and spent the next two months – until almost mid-February 1942 – escorting convoys (primarily from Bombay and Colombo) bound for Singapore – which fell to the Japanese on 15 February. During this time, in early 1942, ''Exeter'' was attached to the newly formed ABDA Command, (American-British-Dutch-Australian Command
The American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) Command, or ABDACOM, was a short-lived, supreme command for all Allied forces in South East Asia in early 1942, during the Pacific War in World War II. The command consists of the forces of Austr ...
) which came into being in early January in Singapore, but soon shifted its headquarters to Java in the Dutch East Indies (present day Indonesia).
The Gaspar Strait sortie
On 13 February, Allied reconnaissance aircraft spotted Japanese invasion convoys north of Bangka Island
Bangka is an island lying east of Sumatra, Indonesia. It is administered under the province of the Bangka Belitung Islands, being one of its namesakes alongside the smaller island of Belitung across the Gaspar Strait. The 9th largest island in I ...
and the new commander of ABDA naval forces, Vice Admiral Conrad Helfrich of the Royal Netherlands Navy, was ordered to assemble the Allied Striking Force of ''Exeter'' and three Dutch and one Australian light cruisers at Oosthaven
Bandar Lampung (Lampung: , ''Kutak Bandarlampung'', formerly Dutch: ''Oosthaven'', lit. "Eastern Harbor") is the capital and largest city of the Indonesian province of Lampung. Located on the southern tip of Sumatra, Bandar Lampung was originally ...
on the morning of 14 February. Escorted by six American and three Dutch destroyers, the force departed that afternoon. The Dutch Rear Admiral
Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star " admiral" rank. It is often rega ...
Karel Doorman, commanding the force, took his ships through the Gaspar Strait
The Gaspar Strait ( id, Selat Gaspar) is a strait separating the Indonesian islands Belitung ( en, Billiton, link=no) and Bangka. It connects the Java Sea with the South China Sea.
Etymology
The strait is named after a Spanish captain, who pa ...
and then northwest towards Bangka Island. While passing through the strait, the Dutch destroyer struck a rock in poor visibility and another Dutch destroyer was tasked to take off her crew. The Japanese spotted the Allied ships around 08:00 and repeatedly attacked them. The first was a group of seven Nakajima B5N
The Nakajima B5N ( ja, 中島 B5N, Allied reporting name "Kate") was the standard carrier-based torpedo bomber of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) for much of World War II.
Although the B5N was substantially faster and more capable than its Al ...
"Kate" torpedo bomber
A torpedo bomber is a military aircraft designed primarily to attack ships with aerial torpedoes. Torpedo bombers came into existence just before the First World War almost as soon as aircraft were built that were capable of carrying the weight ...
s from the light carrier
A light aircraft carrier, or light fleet carrier, is an aircraft carrier that is smaller than the standard carriers of a navy. The precise definition of the type varies by country; light carriers typically have a complement of aircraft only one- ...
that attacked ''Exeter'' with bombs around 10:30. The blast from a near miss badly damaged her Walrus
The walrus (''Odobenus rosmarus'') is a large flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous distribution about the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in the f ...
, but the ship was only damaged by shrapnel. They were followed shortly afterwards by a group of 23 Mitsubishi G3M "Nell" bombers from the Genzan Air Group that inflicted no damage as they dropped their bombs from high altitude. Another group of six B5Ns attacked without effect at 11:30.
The repeated aerial attacks persuaded Doorman that further progress was unwise in the face of Japanese aerial supremacy and he ordered his ships to reverse course and head for Tanjung Priok at 12:42. The attacks continued as 27 G3Ms of the Mihoro Air Group then bombed from high altitude. Seven more B5Ns attacked fruitlessly at 14:30; a half-dozen more followed an hour later. The final attack was made by 17 Mitsubishi G4M
The Mitsubishi G4M was a twin-engine, land-based medium bomber formerly manufactured by the Mitsubishi Aircraft Company, a part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy from 1940 to 1945. Its official design ...
"Betty" bombers of the Kanoya Air Group shortly before dark. The Japanese attacks were almost entirely ineffectual, with no ship reporting anything more than shrapnel damage. In return, allied anti-aircraft fire was moderately effective with most of the attacking bombers damaged by shrapnel. In addition, one G4M crashed while attempting to land, and another was badly damaged upon landing.
First Battle of the Java Sea
On 25 February, Helfrich ordered all available warships to join Doorman's Eastern Striking Force at Surabaya
Surabaya ( jv, ꦱꦸꦫꦧꦪ or jv, ꦯꦹꦫꦨꦪ; ; ) is the capital city of the Indonesian province of East Java and the second-largest city in Indonesia, after Jakarta. Located on the northeastern border of Java island, on the Mad ...
. The ''Exeter'' and the Australian light cruiser , escorted by three British destroyers, , , and , set sail at once, leaving behind one Australian cruiser and two destroyers that were short of fuel. After they had arrived the following day, Doorman's entire force of five cruisers and nine destroyers departed Surabaya at 18:30 to patrol off Eastern Java in hopes of intercepting the oncoming invasion convoy which had been spotted earlier that morning. The Japanese were further north than he anticipated and his ships found nothing. His own ships were located at 09:35 on the following morning, 27 February, and were continuously tracked by the Japanese. Doorman ordered a return to Surabaya at 10:30, and his ships were attacked by eight bombers from the Kanoya Air Group at 14:37. They claimed to have made two hits on the ''Jupiter'', but actually they missed the British destroyer. Just as his leading ships were entering harbour, he received reports of enemy ships to the north and Doorman ordered his ships to turn about to intercept them.
Aware of Doorman's movements, the Japanese commander, Rear Admiral Takeo Takagi
was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II.
Biography
Takagi was a native of Iwaki city, Fukushima prefecture. He was a graduate of the 39th class of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy, ranking 17th of 148 cadets in 1911. A ...
, detached the convoy's two escorting destroyer flotilla
A flotilla (from Spanish language, Spanish, meaning a small ''flota'' (Naval fleet, fleet) of ships), or naval flotilla, is a Tactical formation, formation of small warships that may be part of a larger fleet.
Composition
A flotilla is usually ...
s, each consisting of a light cruiser and seven destroyers, to intercept the Allied ships in conjunction with his own pair of heavy cruisers ( and ) which were escorted by a pair of destroyers. His heavy cruisers opened fire at long range at 15:47 with little effect. The light cruisers and destroyers closed to ranges between and began firing Type 93 "Long Lance" torpedoes beginning at 16:03. All of these torpedoes failed to damage their targets, although one torpedo hit ''Exeter'' and failed to detonate at 16:35.[Grove, p. 93] Three minutes later, ''Haguro'' changed the course of the battle when one of her shells penetrated the British ship's starboard
Port and starboard are nautical terms for watercraft and aircraft, referring respectively to the left and right sides of the vessel, when aboard and facing the bow (front).
Vessels with bilateral symmetry have left and right halves which a ...
aft twin four-inch gun mount before detonating in the 'B' or aft boiler room, knocking six of her boilers off-line[ and killing 14 of her crew. The ship sheered out of line to avoid another torpedo and slowed, followed by all of the trailing cruisers. Moments later a torpedo fired from ''Haguro'' stuck the Dutch destroyer , breaking her in half and sinking her almost immediately. ''Perth'' laid a ]smoke screen
A smoke screen is smoke released to mask the movement or location of military units such as infantry, tanks, aircraft, or ships.
Smoke screens are commonly deployed either by a canister (such as a grenade) or generated by a vehicle (such as a ...
to protect ''Exeter'' and the Allied ships sorted themselves into separate groups as they attempted to disengage. ''Exeter'' was escorted by one Dutch and all three British destroyers in one group and the other cruisers and the American destroyers formed the other group. The Japanese did not initially press their pursuit as they manoeuvered to use their torpedoes against the crippled ''Exeter'', which could only make , and her escorts.
The Japanese began launching torpedoes beginning at 17:20 at ranges of , but they all missed. For some reason, two Japanese destroyers continued to close before firing their torpedoes at and ''Encounter'' and ''Electra'' pulled out of line to counter-attack. They engaged and at close range as they closed. ''Asagumo'' was damaged by ''Electra'', but the Japanese ship sank the British destroyer at 17:46. Meanwhile, the ''Exeter'' continued south to Surabaya, escorted by ''Encounter'' and the Dutch destroyer . Doorman's repeated, unsuccessful, and ultimately fatal attempts to reach the transports concentrated the Japanese on the task of protecting the transports and allowed the damaged British cruiser to reach harbour.
Second Battle of the Java Sea
The following day, after making temporary repairs and refuelling, the ''Exeter'', escorted by ''Encounter'' and the American destroyer , was ordered to steam to Colombo
Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...
, via the Sunda Strait
The Sunda Strait ( id, Selat Sunda) is the strait between the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra. It connects the Java Sea with the Indian Ocean.
Etymology
The strait takes its name from the Sunda Kingdom, which ruled the western portion ...
. They departed on the evening of 28 February, but they were intercepted by the Japanese heavy cruisers ''Nachi'', ''Haguro'', , and , and by the destroyers , , , and on the morning of 1 March.
At about 0800, the British ships spotted two of the Japanese cruisers, one of which launched its spotting floatplanes. Two others were seen closing in, and both launched their aircraft before opening fire at about 09:30.[Shores, Cull & Izawa 1993, p. 306] The Allied ships laid smoke and turned away to the east with the Japanese to their north and south.[Dull, p. 87] ''Exeter'' was able to reach a speed of before the first hit on her detonated in her 'A', or forward, boiler room and catastrophically knocked out all power around 11:20.[ Now defenseless] as no guns could train or traverse, and wanting to save as many lives as he could, and to avoid the ship's capture by the Japanese forces, Captain Gordon ordered the ship to be scuttled. As a result, ''Exeter'' began listing to port, and that list was said to be at "a considerable angle" by the time the abandonment was completed. Sensing a kill, the Japanese destroyers closed in and fired torpedoes, two of which (out of a total of 18 fired by Japanese combatants) from the destroyer , hit the ship – starboard amidships, and starboard just forward of A turret, as confirmed when the wreck was first discovered in 2007. As a result, ''Exeter'' rapidly righted herself, paused briefly, and then capsized to starboard.[ ''Encounter'' and ''Pope'' were also lost; ''Encounter'' approximately fifteen minutes after ''Exeter'', while ''Pope'' temporarily survived the initial melee, only to be sunk a couple of hours later. Bomb-laden B5N Type-97s armed with one 250kg and four 60kg bombs assisted in the sinking of ''Pope'', already crippled by bombing from seaplanes and land-based air, and closed in to make a level bombing attack. No direct hits were scored, but several more near-misses hastened the abandonment and scuttling of the vessel and she was finished off by gunfire with the late arrival of the two IJN cruisers ''Ashigara'' and ''Myoko''.
The Japanese rescued 652 men of the crew of the ''Exeter'', including her captain, who became prisoners of war. Of these men, 152 died in Japanese captivity.
]
Wreck site
The wreck was located and positively identified by a small group of dedicated exploration divers specifically searching for the wreck aboard MV ''Empress'' on 21 February 2007. The wreck was lying in Indonesian waters at a depth of about , north-west of Bawean Island
Bawean ( id, Pulau Bawean) is an island of Indonesia located approximately north of Surabaya in the Java Sea, off the coast of Java. It is administered by Gresik Regency of East Java province. It is approximately in diameter and is circ ...
– some from the estimated sinking position given by Captain Gordon after the war. In July 2008, HMS performed a memorial service over the wreck of ''Exeter''. Aboard, along with several British dignitaries and high ranking naval officers, were a BBC film crew and four of HMS ''Exeter''s veteran survivors, and one of the 2007 wreck discovery dive team representing the other three dive team members. Her wreck, a British war grave, had been destroyed by illegal salvagers by the time another expedition surveyed the site in 2016.
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
*
*
External links
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Exeter (68)
York-class cruisers
Ships built in Plymouth, Devon
1929 ships
World War II cruisers of the United Kingdom
Battle of the River Plate
World War II shipwrecks in the Java Sea
Maritime incidents in March 1942