British second world war wrecks illegally scavenged for scrap
HMS Exeter
One of the ships, HMS Exeter had a crew of around 700 men, most of whom were rescued by the Japanese to become prisoners of war.
The Ministry of Defence said 54 men died when it sank.
Also
Recollections of a Japanese Prisoner of War by Gwynne Hodge
Gwynne Hodge - other articles VJ Day 1945 by a Prisoner of the Japanese: Gwynne Hodge 15th August 2015, the 70th anniversary of VJ Day by Gwynne Hodge ' Its over! Peace ...
Extract from the guardian
published on 16 November 2016
British second world war shipwrecks in Java Sea destroyed by illegal scavenging
The Ministry of Defence statement-
“Where we have evidence of desecration of these sites, we will take appropriate action,”
One of the ships, HMS Exeter had a crew of around 700 men, most of whom were rescued by the Japanese to become prisoners of war. The Ministry of Defence said 54 men died when it sank.
Three British ships and a US submarine that sank in the Java Sea during the second world war have been destroyed by illegal scrap metal scavengers, the Guardian can reveal.
The UK’s Ministry of Defence said it condemned the “unauthorised disturbance of any wreck containing human remains” and requested Indonesian authorities investigate and take “appropriate action”.
The commercial salvaging of war wrecks has caused significant upset among veterans, historians and governments who want to preserve the final resting place of sailors who went down with their ships.
A preliminary report from an expedition to document sunken ships, seen by the Guardian, shows that the wrecks of HMS Exeter, a 175m heavy cruiser, and destroyer HMS Encounter have been almost totally removed.
Using equipment that creates a 3D map of the sea floor, the report showed that where the wreck “was once located there is a large ‘hole’ in the seabed”.
A 100m destroyer, HMS Electra, had also been scavenged, the report found, although a “sizeable section” of the wreck remained. The 91m US submarine Perch, whose entire crew were captured by the Japanese, had been totally removed, the report said.
All four sank during operations in the Java Sea in 1942, when Japanese forces overpowered Dutch, British, American and Australian sailors. The battle was one of the costliest sea skirmishes for the allies during the war and led to the Japanese occupation of the entire Dutch East Indies.
The Ministry of Defence said in a statement that the British government had contacted Indonesian authorities to express “serious concern” and request they investigate and take “appropriate action to protect the sites from any further disturbance.
“Many lives were lost during this battle and we would expect that these sites are respected and left undisturbed without the express consent of the United Kingdom.
Another news outlet stated-
During 1942’s Battle of the Java Sea, more than 2000 sailors perished as the Allies struggled to keep the Japanese Navy from marching across South East Asia.
By the time the fighting subsided, at least five allied ships, some with bodies still inside, lay stricken on the seabed.
In 2002, they were still largely intact at the bottom of the Java Sea.
Today, all five have vanished.
None of the ships could be considered small. The USS Perch was 91m long and weighed 1370 tonnes. The Dutch warship HNLMS De Ruyter was 171m long and when full weighed more than 6650 tonnes while Britain’s HMS Exeter was even heavier at a whopping 8520 tonnes.
“It’s astonishing,” Joss Parsons, a maritime services expert told news.com.au. “These are warships, not small 10 metre tinnies.”
It continued-
The disappearance of the five ships, three from the Netherlands and one each from the US and Britain was revealed earlier this week.
–The shipwrecks were discovered, mostly in the condition in which they sank, 15 years ago, by amateur divers.
But when the sites were surveyed ahead of next year’s 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Java Sea they had gone.
All that was left in their place was ship shaped indentations on the sand 50m below the surface.
The Dutch Government has launched an investigation to solve the mystery of what has happened to its warships, which are classified as an official war grave for some of the 900 Dutch soldiers who died in the battle.
The country’s defence ministry confirmed the disappearance to the Guardian. “The wrecks of HNLMS De Ruyter and HNLMS Java have seemingly gone — completely missing. A large piece is also missing of HNLMS Kortenaer.
“The desecration of a war grave is a serious offence.”
Netherlands Defence Ministry
The news comes after the Netherlands defence ministry said this week that it had launched an investigation into the disappearance of three of its own shipwrecks, also in the Java Sea. “The desecration of a war grave is a serious offence,” it said in a statement.
That announcement appears to be based on the same preliminary report, which also mapped empty space where HNLMS De Ruyter, HNLMS Java, and HNLMS Kortenaer used to be.
The expedition had been sent to the Java Sea this month to take video footage of the underwater Dutch ships in advance of next year’s 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Java Sea.
Some 900 Dutch sailors died in the battle, including Rear Admiral Karel Doorman, a war hero in the Netherlands. Divers were planning to put a plaque on the vessels, which were located in 2002 – only to discover that they had vanished.