HMS Exeter (68)
 | HMS Exeter |
| | Career | |
|---|
| Ordered: |
| Laid down: | 1 August 1928 |
| Launched: | 18 July 1929 |
| Commissioned: | 27 July 1931 |
| Fate: | Sunk 1 May 1942 Java Sea |
| General Characteristics |
|---|
| Displacement: | Standard, 8,390 t; Full charge, 10,410 t |
| Length: | 175.25 m |
| Beam: | 17.58 m |
| Draught: | 6.17 m |
| Propulsion: | 8 boilers, Parsons geared turbines, 4 shafts, 80,000 shp (60 MN) |
| Speed: | 32 knots |
| Range: |
| Complement: | 630 officers & sailors |
| Armament (1939): | Main:
6 8 inch (203 mm) (3 × 2)anti-aircraft:
4 (later 8) 4 inch (102 mm) (4 × 1, or 4 × 2)
2 2 pdr pom-pom (2 × 1)
1941: 16 2 pdr pom-pom(2 × 8)
2 20 mm Oerlikon (2 × 1)
Torpedoes:
6 533 mm torpedo tubes |
| Aircraft: | 1 Supermarine Walrus floatplane, 1 catapult |
The fourth and best known of the
Exeters,
HMS Exeter (68), was a
County-class heavy cruiser of the
York subclass that served in
World War II. She was laid down on
1 August 1928 at the
Devonport Dockyard,
Plymouth,
Devon. She was launched on
18 July 1929 and completed on
27 July 1931.
At the outbreak of the
Second World War, she formed part of the South American Division with
Cumberland. Together with the light cruisers
Ajax and
Achilles she engaged the German
pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee in the
Battle of the River Plate on
13 December 1939, which action resulted in the scuttling of the
Admiral Graf Spee several days later. Severely damaged in the battle,
Exeter made for
Port Stanley in the
Falkland Islands for emergency repairs which took until January 1940, then returned to Devonport for full repairs between February 1940 and March 1941.
On returning to the fleet in 1941, she was engaged on escort duty for Atlantic convoys, including the escort of convoy WS-8B to the
Middle East during the
Bismarck episode. After this, she went on to the
Far East.
On the entry of
Japan into the war she formed part of the Allied Striking Force intended to defend the Dutch East Indies (
Indonesia) from Japanese invasion. At the end of February 1942 she was damaged in the
Battle of the Java Sea when she received a hit in the boiler room and was subsequently ordered to
Surabaya. The destroyer
HMS Electra was sunk covering her withdrawal. When she attempted to reach the
Sunda Strait, she was intercepted by the Japanese cruisers
Nachi and
Haguro on the morning of
1 March 1942 and badly damaged by gunfire and a
torpedo from the destroyer
Ikazuchi. She took on water and began listing to starboard. By noon she sank. Her escorting destroyers,
HMS Encounter and
USS Pope were also lost in this engagement.
See
HMS Exeter for other ships of this name.
|
HMS Exeter under attack in the Battle of the Java Sea |
*
HMS Exeter Final Days*
"L'Encyclopédie des Armes, Les Forces Armées du Monde: Les Croiseurs de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale, vol 41", Edition Atlas
