Uncrewed systems employed by assorted American maritime agencies almost never get any love, from Big Navy on down.
Almost.
It should be of interest these two recent videos from NOAA and the USCG on, respectively, the 25-foot-long DriX uncrewed surface vehicle, and the latter’s Operation Demonstration Coquí which has been working with 26 RDC, a RIB-based USV (including the use of a hand-launched RQ-20B Puma UAV), as well as a neat little VTOL UAV, the FVR-90.
Coast Guard Cutter James, returning from an East Pac deployment, seen at Port Everglades, Florida, Oct 26, 2023, including four Scan Eagle UAV contractors and one of their drones. 231026-G-FH885-1002
Pumas have been seen as well.
Coast Guard Cutter Oliver Henry (WPC 1140) in the Philippine Sea, lobbing a RQ-20B Puma UAS drone from the deck of the 158-foot Sentinel class color while on CTF75 taskings
Kevin Vollbrecht, an engineering development technician with Aerovironment Inc., launches a PUMA AE unmanned aircraft system from the flight deck of Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star during Operation Deep Freeze 2016 in the Southern Ocean Jan. 3, 2016. The UAS will play a role in selecting the optimal route through pack ice as the cutter transits to McMurdo Station, Antarctica. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Grant DeVuyst)
As for NOAA, they also have Saildrones– which capture amazing footage inside hurricanes, and swimming Ocean Gliders, which don’t get enough attention.
The so-called SADF Recce “Niemoller Rig” or Niemoller webbing belt kit, hailing from the Bush War era, is iconic when it comes to minimalist gear with a maximalist capability.
Sterile for deniability and everlasting– intended for use on 200-mile insertions (and 1,200-mile exfiltrations) across inhospitable terrain– it was born out of desperation.
It’s often been cheaply imitated while historical gear, while of much better quality, also comes with political baggage and runs a fortune as it is more often bought by collectors rather than folks looking for a good, functional rig.
Niemoller webbing gets its name from its designer, SADF member Johann Niemoller, who served in deep reconnaissance and raids into enemy strongholds.
Young Johann Niemoller on the MG
Kommandostore has worked with Niemoller to reintroduce the design under their North Equipment Collection, which makes having actual made-in-South-Africa rigs made with the by-in from its inventor one of the coolest gear stories I can think of.
As detailed by the man himself in a very interesting 11-minute sit down:
To say that Beretta has been around for a while is a massive understatement. To the point, the company is the oldest firearms maker in business today, logging its first documented contract in 1526, for arquebus barrels bound for the Republic of Venice from the shop of Bartolomeo Beretta. Who else can say they made arquebus barrels in the old Venetian Republic?
Beretta has well-guarded records going back centuries. This is because the company has been a constant in the region, no matter what banner flew over the land.
Not a lot of companies can say they were founded in the Renaissance. Keep in mind it predates the colonies at St. Augustine, Roanoke, Jamestown, and Plymouth. Further, while other long-running gun makers such as Remington and Smith & Wesson have changed ownership dozens of times over the past couple of centuries, Beretta remains a family business, now in its 15th generation – with the 16th lined up.
Beretta’s campus is located along the Garda Mountains in the foothills of the Alps, with portions of the facility inside the rock itself. (Photos: Chris Eger/Guns.com)
Some 80 years ago today. 13 December 1944, in San Jose, Mindoro, Philippines, a Skysoldier of the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Parachute Infantry, covers an area with his M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle. Note the gun’s nickname on the buttstock.
At some four feet in length and with an unloaded weight pushing 20 pounds, the BAR was not jumped often with paratroopers, with paratroopers instead relying on M1919A4/6 light machine guns that could be broken down and dropped among sections then assembled on landing.
Our para, of course, may have just “acquired” Tokyo Terror once on the ground.
And the above BAR operator was likely there. At least one was.
A M1918 BAR man of the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment firing at the Japanese after the jump on Corregidor, Philippines, 20 February 1945. SC Photo 364533 by Pfc. Morris Weiner.
They are currently part of the 173rd Airborne Brigade, based at Caserma Del Din, Vicenza, Italy.
At 0637 on 7 December 1941, the Wickes-class flush-decker, USS Ward (Destroyer No. 139), was detailed to Pearl Harbor’s Inshore Patrol Command and was on picket duty off the anti-submarine nets at the entrance to the huge Pacific Fleet naval base.
“Captain come on the bridge” rang out from the Officer of the Deck. A conning tower with a periscope of a submarine was visible, trailing close behind a ship heading into the harbor entrance. It is now believed that sub was HA-18 (I-20 tou), a Japanese Type A midget.
Three minutes later, Ward’s attack started, and, jumping from 5 to 25 knots by 0645 her No. 1. and No. 3 4″/50 guns were ringing out.
The shot from No. 3 gun fired at a range of 560 yards [a typo, it should have read 50-60 yards] or less struck the submarine at the waterline which was the junction of the hull and coning tower. Damage was seen by several members of the crew. This was a square positive hit. There was no evidence of ricochet. The submarine was seen to heel over to starboard. The projectile was not seen to explode outside the hull of the submarine. There was no splash of any size that might results from an explosion or ricochet.
Immediately after being hit the submarine appeared to slow and sink.
USS Ward, The First Shot, by Tom Freeman
Ward dutifully called in the engagement but the alarm, on a sleepy Sunday morning, never made it to the rest of the base in time enough to do anything and, at 0755, the first wave of Japanese carrier aircraft flew over Diamond Head and began the attack on Battleship Row and other targets.
Afterward, looking for silver linings in the dark clouds of the attack, Ward and her No. 3 gun and its nine-member crew became heroes for sending the sub– only confirmed in 1992— to the bottom.
A Shot for Posterity The USS Ward’s number three gun and its crew-cited for firing the first shot the day of Japan’s raid on Hawaii. Crew members, all recently mobilized were members of the Minnesota Naval Reservists are R.H. Knapp – BM2c – Gun Captain, C.W. Fenton – Sea1c – Pointer, R.B. Nolde – Sea1c – Trainer, A.A. De Demagall – Sea1c – No. 1 Loader, D.W. Gruening – Sea1c – No. 2 Loader, J.A. Paick – Sea1c – No. 3 Loader, H.P. Flanagan – Sea1c – No. 4 Loader, E.J. Bakret – GM3c – Gunners Mate, K.C.J. Lasch – Cox – Sightsetter. (quoted from the original 1942-vintage caption) This gun is a 4/50 type, mounted atop the ship’s midships deckhouse, starboard side. NH 97446
Removed from Ward, the No. 3 gun survived when the tin can was sunk via kamikaze on 7 December 1944 (notice the date?).
Still owned by the Navy, since 1956, the gun and a plaque detailing the event associated with it have been on exhibit on the State Capitol grounds at St. Paul, Minnesota, in a salute to the home state of the gun crew.
Now, plans are afoot to relocate the historic gun from the Capitol Mall, where it has been exposed to the weather, to an indoor display at the new Minnesota Military & Veterans Museum, outside the state’s National Guard base at Camp Ripley.
The public comment period has begun for the USS Ward Gun removal application. Interested persons may comment on whether conditions have been met for the Capitol Area Architectural and Planning Board to consider the application to remove the USS Ward Gun from the Capitol Mall. All comments must be received by 4:30pm on January 7, 2025. You can voice your opinion by email, phone, or mail.
Mail: Attn: Tina Chimuzu, CAAPB Planner-Fellow Capitol Area Architectural and Planning Board Freeman Building 625 Robert Street North Saint Paul, MN 551555
CAAPB will also be holding a public hearing to gather questions and feedback regarding the removal of the USS Ward Gun. The meeting will be held in room 116c of the Administration Building at 3:30 pm on Thursday, December 19, 2024. There will also be an option to attend virtually here. Check back regularly for updates!
Ruger and Magpul have teamed up to produce a new 9mm handgun complete with a modular stainless-steel chassis system, which could be a universal adapter.
Dubbed the RXM, the new pistol is striker-fired and familiar, having the same general dimensions as many popular carry guns of the past few decades.
Compared to popular carry guns such as the Glock 19, S&W M&P9 Compact M2.0, and CZ P09 Nocturne, the Ruger RXM seems very familiar.
Diving deeper, it has a serialized Fire Control Insert that is independent of its grip frame, which gives it the flexibility to be easily swapped into different grips – which are developed and produced by Magpul. Optics-ready with a Tritium front sight, it runs popular 15-round G19-pattern mags.
Can you say, “chassis system?”
American-made, the RXM has an MSRP of $499. For that, you get a G19 Gen 3 feeling pistol, made in the U.S. (not in Brazil or Turkey), with probably the most popular double-stack 9mm magazine pattern, complete with steel night sights and an optics cut. Plus, the removable chassis system, backed up with grip modules from Magpul, gives it some serious modularity.
Ruger has long had problems bringing a 9mm pistol to market that people really, really liked. RXM could see that change.
80 years ago this month. December 1944. “Unaymit” (White 15), a behemoth Martin PBM-3D Mariner flying boat of the “White Lightnings” of Patrol Bombing Squadron (VPB) 17 refueling on a flat sea around Ulithi atoll from the 311-foot Barnegat-class light seaplane tender USS Onslow (AVP-48). Note the multi-colored fender between the plane and the ship and the lack of safety and PPE gear that would drive an OSHA guy out of his skull these days.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval History and Heritage Command. Catalog #: NH 97673
Established 3 January 1944 at Norfolk, just five months later VPB-17 had made it 6,500nm to NAS Kaneohe in Hawaii and was quickly brought up to operational status.
By September, the squadron had leapfrogged to Eniwetok and Saipan then Ulithi with AVP support. The Lightnings then began conducting anti-shipping patrols as well as sector searches, Dumbo missions, mail delivery, and air cargo missions in the region until February 1945 when it was deployed to San Pedro Bay, Philippines, and would operate in the Lingayen Gulf on a series of night searches and raids against Japanese shipping and positions.
By July 1945, the squadron was over Balikpapan in Borneo, supporting the Australian push to liberate the Dutch East Indies. September brought missions to the recently liberated Korea and northeast China coast.
Shipping back to the West Coast aboard one of Onslow’s sisters, the tender USS Barataria (AVP 33), VPB-17 was disestablished at NAS San Diego in January 1946, having a very busy two-year lifespan.
Above we see the magnificent modified York-class heavy cruiser HMS Exeter (68), entering Grand Harbour, Valetta, Malta, likely during her service with the Mediterranean Fleet’s 1st Cruiser Squadron at Alexandria, during the Abyssinian crisis between October 1935 and July 1936.
Simultaneously the final British warship to be built with 8-inch guns and the last “Washington” treaty cruiser built for the Royal Navy, she would use her guns to good effect against a tough “pocket battleship” some 85 years ago this week.
The Yorks
Sometimes referred to as the “Cathedral” class cruisers, York and her near-sister HMS Exeter (68) were essentially cheaper versions of the Royal Navy’s baker’s dozen County-class cruisers, the latter of which were already under-protected to keep them beneath the arbitrary 10,000-ton limit imposed by the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. Weighing in at 8,250 tons, the Yorks were intended not for fleet action but for the role of sitting on an overseas station and chasing down enemy commerce raiders in the event of war.
York mounted six 8″/50 (20.3 cm) Mark VIII guns in three twin Mark II mounts. Fairly capable guns, they could fire a 256-pound SAP shell out past 30,000 yards at a (theoretical) rate of up to six rounds per gun per minute. Importantly, they carried 172 rounds per gun, up from the 125-150 carried by the preceding County class, a factor which allowed a slightly longer engagement time before running empty.
Bow turrets of HMS York. Photograph by Mrs. Josephine Burston, via Navweaps
Notably, Exeter was completed with the same main gun but in Mark II* mounts, which allowed for a shallower 50-degree elevation.
Cruiser HMS Exeter training her 8-inch guns to starboard
Exeter vessel also had a slightly different “straight” arrangement for her funnels and masts, whereas York’s carried a slant, giving each sister a distinctive profile.
Exeter’s 1930 rigging plan
HMS York. Note the slant to her masts and stacks. Photograph by Walter E. Frost, City of Vancouver Archives Photo No. 447-2863.1
Rounding out the cruisers’ offensive armament was a half-dozen deck-mounted 21-inch torpedo tubes a battery of DP 4-inch guns and a few Vickers machine guns to ward off aircraft.
Built with overseas service in mind, they could cover 10,000nm at 14 knots. Able to achieve 32.3 knots due to having 80,000-ship via Parsons geared steam turbines, they sacrificed armor protection for speed and magazine space, with just 1 inch of steel on their turrets and a belt that was just 3 inches at its thickest.
Exeter, Janes 1931
As noted by Richard Worth in his excellent tome, Fleets of World War II:
In trimming down the County layout, designers managed to retain several features, though sea keeping suffered. Protection also received low priority; the armor scheme (similar in proportion to the County type) included some advances, but all in all, the Yorks seemed even more vulnerable, especially in the machinery spaces.
Meet Exeter
Ordered as part of the 1926 Build Programme, Exeter was the fifth RN vessel to carry the name since 1680 and carried forth a quartet of battle honors (Adras 1782, Providien 1782, Negapatam 1782, and Trincomalee 1782) from these vessels. Constructed for £1,837,415 by HMNB Devonport Dockyard, Plymouth, she launched on 18 July 1929.
Her sponsor at the christening was Lady Madden.
Anchored off Plymouth, England, during her builder’s trials in May 1931. NH 60806
Bestowed with the familiar motto, Semper fidelis, Ever Faithful, she long maintained a relationship with her ancient namesake cathedral city along the River Exe.
On 23 May 1931, just before she was commissioned, HMS Exeter’s skipper and officers visited the town’s Mayor H W Michelmore, at the Exeter Guildhall. By tradition, Royal Navy ships named after a town are given a small gift by the town, and the Mayor announced that a model of the hall, paid for by public subscription, would be made of silver. Michelmore and a crowd of local dignitaries presented the finished model, about the size of a breadbox, three months later.
“On behalf of myself, my officers and ships crew, and of those who will come after us, I thank you most heartily and sincerely for the beautiful gift you have given us,” her plankowner skipper, Captain (later RADM) Isham W. Gibson, told the delegation. “We hope that you will count us as citizens of Exeter, afloat.”
NH 60803
Exeter, August 1931. NH 60804
Peacetime idyllic cruising
She was a striking vessel for her age. A true peacetime cruiser.
For the next decade, she would embark on a series of “waving the flag” port visits around the globe as she shifted between North America and West Indies Station, based in Bermuda, to the Mediterranean Fleet. This would involve roaming along the coast of Latin America, trips through the Panama Canal with corresponding port calls on the West Coast of America as far north as Esquimalt, BC, and cruising along the Caribbean.
On one such port call, the U.S. Navy dutifully took lots of close-up photographs of her armament and layout that were no doubt forwarded to the ONI, hence their preservation for posterity.
Exeter, .50 cal quad Vickers anti-aircraft machine gun mount. Note the Bluejackets aboard. NH 60811
Shagbats! Exeter with Supermarine Walrus amphibians on catapults. NH 60809
Same as above, NH 60810
Exeter 4″ anti-aircraft gun. NH 60808
Exeter At Montevideo, Uruguay in 1934. NH 60816
Exeter in Balboa harbor, canal zone, 24 April 1934. NH 60812
HMS Exeter, Panama Canal, 1930s. 33rd infantry honor guard at the Miguel locks. N-173-3
HMS Exeter, Northbound, Gamboa Signal Station, March 8, 1935, 185-G-2031
HMS Exeter returning to Devonport from the Mediterranean in July 1936, note her “homeward bound” pennant.
British heavy cruiser HMS Exeter, 1936
HMS Exeter at the Royal Naval Dockyard, on Ireland Island, Sandys Parish, in the British Imperial fortress colony of Bermuda, with Gibb’s Hill Lighthouse beyond, circa 1936
Aerial view of HMS Exeter, Panama Canal Zone, circa early 1939. NH 60807
Exeter off Coco Solo canal zone, circa 1939. NH 60814
Get the Graf!
Skipping a planned dockyard period at Devonport in early August 1939 due to rising tensions in Europe, Exeter’s crew was recalled from leave and prepared to return to service with the South Atlantic Division of the West Indies Squadron, escorting the troopship Dunera to Cape Verde before diverting to Freetown.
On her bridge was newly promoted Capt. Frederick “Hooky” Secker Bell, a fighting sailor who served as a mid on HMS Challenger in the Cameron Campaign in 1914, on board the battleship HMS Canada at the battle of Jutland in 1916, and, as a young lieutenant in 1918, was one of only two survivors of his destroyer when it was sunk from under his feet by one of the Kaiser’s U-boats. He had been XO of the battlewagon HMS Repulse just before moving into Exeter’s captain’s cabin– a battleship man in a cruiser.
When Hitler sent his legions into Poland in September, Exeter was in passage to Rio de Janeiro, and, clearing for war service, she soon took up station off Rio for the purpose of trade defense and interdicting German shipping.
By early October, with German surface raiders afoot in the South Atlantic, Exeter joined Hunting Force G along with the older but more heavily armed County-class heavy cruiser HMS Cumberland (9,750 tons, 8×8″ guns, 31 knots, 4.5-inch belt) and the Leander-class light cruisers HMS Ajax and HMNZS Achilles (7,270 tons, 8×6″/50s, 32.5 knots, 4-inch belt), with the force ranging from the Brazilian coast to the Falklands.
These hounds would eventually find fruit in the chase for the German Deutschland-class panzerschiff cruiser KMS Admiral Graf Spee (14,890 tons, 6×11″/52, 8×5.9″, 28.5 knots, 3.9-inch belt), however, its strongest asset, Cumberland, was in the Falklands under refit at the time, leaving our Exeter and the two lighter cruisers, Ajax and Achilles, to fight it out.
Kriegsmarine Panzerschiff Admiral Graf Spee im Spithead U.K. 1937. Colorised photo by Atsushi Yamashita/Monochrome Specter http://blog.livedoor.jp/irootoko_jr/
A detailed retelling of what is now known to history as the Battle of the River Plate would be out of the scope of this post, but, beginning with Graf Spee’s sighting of Force G at 0520 on the morning of 13 December, and ending when the engagement broke off around 0730 with the big German cruiser retreating into the River Plate estuary, is the stuff of legend.
In those swirling two hours, Graf Spee had been hit at least 70 times by British 8- and 6-inch guns, with the German suffering 36 killed and another 60, including her captain, Hans Langsdorff, wounded– in all about a fifth of her complement. While in no danger of sinking and still very much able to fight– albeit with only a third of her 11-inch shells left in her magazines– the panzerschiff had her oil purification plant, desalination plant, and galley destroyed, factors that would make a 6,000 mile run back to Germany likely impossible.
Graf Spee also gave as good as she got, with Exeter, pressing the fight against the larger ship repeatedly, getting the worst punishment in the form of hits from seven 660-pound 11-inch shells– ordnance she was never expected to absorb. Listing and with her two front turrets knocked out, Exeter had 61 dead and 23 wounded crew members aboard and could only make 18 knots. With only one turret still operable– and under local command only– Captain Bell had vouched that he was ready to ram Graf Spee before the German had retired.
As detailed by Lt Ron Atwill, who served in Exeter during the battle:
‘A’ and ‘B’ turrets were out of action from direct hits.
‘Y’ turret firing in local control.
The Bridge, Director Control Tower, and the Transmitting Station were out of action.
A fire was raging in the CPO’s and Serving Flats.
Minor fires were burning on the Royal Marine messdeck and in the Paint Shop.
There were no telephone communications – all orders had to be passed by messengers.
The ship was about four feet down by the bows due to flooding forward and had a list to starboard of about eight degrees due to some six hundred and fifty tons of water which had flooded in splinter holes near the waterline plus accumulations of fire fighting water. This degree of list is quite considerable and makes movement within the ship very difficult when decks are covered with fuel oil and water.
Only one 4-inch gun could be fired.
Both aircraft had been jettisoned.
W/T communications had completely broken down – mostly due to aerials having been shot away.
HMS Exeter (68) as seen in 1939, shows splinter damage to ‘A’ and ‘B’ turrets and the bridge from the German cruiser Admiral Graf Spee. While her rear ‘Y’ turret was intact, its electrical system had suffered a short from saltwater intrusion and was down to manual control. CDR RD Ross photo IWM HU 43488
Swiss cheese splinter damage to Exeter’s stacks. Splinters had riddled the ship’s funnels and searchlights, wrecked the ship’s Walrus aircraft just as it was about to be launched for gunnery spotting, and slaughtered her exposed torpedo tube crews. Shrapnel swept the bridge, killing or wounding almost all the bridge personnel and knocking out most of the ship’s communications and navigational tools, forcing the vessel to be directed by one of the compasses pulled from a launch. CDR RD Ross photo IWM HU 43505
With no means to fight left at her disposal other than the single 4-inch open mount still working, Exeter remained on watch with the lighter Ajax and Achilles, both damaged and nearly out of shells, keeping station at the Plate’s mouth should Graf Spee attempt to escape. Cumberland, rushed 1,000 miles from the Falklands in just 34 hours, arrived to reinforce the force late on the night of 14 December and relieve Exeter, who was ordered to retire to the Port Stanley for emergency repairs.
Ordered by Berlin not to have his ship interned in Uruguay, options were limited to Langsdorff, Graf Spee’s skipper. Partially due to his ship’s damage, and partially because the three British cruisers at the river’s mouth could bird-dog him should he put to sea, a factor acerbated by openly exaggerated signals that RN carriers and battlewagons were rapidly inbound (they were in fact still five days away), Langsdorff landed his crew– who he refused to sacrifice in vain– scuttled his ship in Montevideo, and then blew his brains out.
Admiral Graf Spee in flames after being scuttled in the River Plate estuary, 17 December 1939. IWM 4700-01
Later Allied inspection of Graf Spee’s hull showed Exeter got in at least three hits from her “puny” 256-pound 8-inchers, including the key destruction of her oil purification plant, the blow that cut off the big cruiser’s legs.
Admiral Graf Spee, ship’s port bow, taken while she was at Montevideo, Uruguay in mid-December 1939, following the Battle of the River Plate. Note crew members working over the side to repair damage from an eight-inch shell fired by the British heavy cruiser Exeter. The notation The ‘Moustache’ refers to the false bow wave painted on Admiral Graf Spee’s bows. The original photograph came from Rear Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison’s World War II history project working files. NH 83003
Admiral Graf Spee photograph of a shell hole in the ship’s forward superstructure tower, made by an eight-inch shell fired by the British heavy cruiser Exeter. The sketch below shows the location of the hole, and describes it as large enough to crawl through. Taken on board the ship’s wreck in the River Plate, near Montevideo, Uruguay, where she had been scuttled in December 1939. Page from an intelligence report prepared by USS Helena (CL-50) during her shakedown cruise to South America. The photograph was taken on 2 February 1940 by Ensign Richard D. Sampson, USN. NH 51986
Admiral Graf Spee photograph of the interior of the ship’s forward superstructure tower, showing damage caused by an eight-inch shell fired by the British heavy cruiser Exeter during the Battle of the River Plate. Cut wires and the absence of a fire control tube were noted on the original report in which this image appeared. Taken on board the ship’s wreck in the River Plate, near Montevideo, Uruguay, where she had been scuttled in December 1939. Photographed on 2 February 1940 by Ensign Richard D. Sampson, USN, for an intelligence report prepared by USS Helena (CL-50) during her shakedown cruise to South America. NH 51987-A
Arriving at Port Stanley on 20 December, Exeterwould remain there for a month, patched up with steel plate salvaged from the old Grytviken whaling station while her wounded were cared for in local homes, until the battered cruiser began her slow voyage back to England. She arrived at Plymouth on 15 February 1940.
HMS Exeter arrives back in the UK after emergency repairs at Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands following the battle of the river Plate. Lighter paintwork can be seen where the damage was patched up.
Churchill, at the time First Lord of the Admiralty, visited the cruiser and addressed the crew. The bulldog had come “to pay my tribute to her brave officers and men from her shattered decks in Plymouth Harbor”
Arrival at Plymouth with Churchill coming aboard. IWM HU 104428
On 23 February, her celebrated crew marched through the City of London. Bell was made a companion knight of the Bath while the other members of the crew would pick up two DSOs, seven DSCs, and nearly 40 DSMs.
Leap Day 1940 saw Bell lead 87 members of his crew on a Freedom of the City parade with fixed bayonets through Exeter, where seemingly the entire town turned out. The cruisermen brought with them a host of souvenirs to hand over to the city including Exeter’s shell-torn White Ensign and her bell, left with the city for safekeeping.
Pacific maelstrom
Exeter’s extensive repair would stretch for a year and included rebuilding her gun houses, installing new catapults and torpedo tubes, as well as modernization that saw a Type 279 search radar, Type 284 gunnery control radar, tripod masts, and improved anti-aircraft armament shipped aboard. The latter included landing her old 4.1-inch singles for four twin 102/45 QF Mk XVIs along with two massive octuple 40mm 2-pounder MK VIII mounts.
In that period, her near-sister, York, was lost to MTMs of Xª Flottiglia MAS in Suda Bay.
HMS Exeter, off Devonport after refit, March 1941, by Harold William John Tomlin. IWM A3553
HMS Exeter, off Devonport after refit, March 1941 hoisting Walrus, by Harold William John Tomlin. IWM A 3555
Stern view, same place and time as above. A 3552
Exeter’s ninth and final skipper, Capt. Oliver Loudon Gordon, took command on 11 March 1941.
Following post-refit workups with the Northern Patrol in April 1941, Exeter was transferred to the East Indies Squadron, which was beefing up as tensions with the Empire of Japan were at an all-time high. Likewise, Bell was ordered to a new position as Flag Captain to the Flag Officer, Malaya,
Sailing south with a military convoy on 22 May– while keeping an eye out for the raiding Bismarck and Prinz Eugen— she arrived in Freetown on 4 June and Durban two weeks later before spending the next six months as escort a series of different slow convoys (CM 014, BP 012, CM 017, and MA 001) shuttling around the Indian Ocean.
On 7 December 1941, she was ordered to Singapore to join the ill-fated Force Z– the battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the battlecruiser HMS Repulse. She didn’t make it to join the force before it was destroyed by Japanese land-based bombers three days later in the South China Sea.
Instead, Exeter leaned into her speed and, under the combined ABDA Command in Java, she spent January and February 1942 as part of several different Allied convoys (DM 001, BM 010, BM 011, BM 012, JS 001, and SJ 5) running troops to Singapore and around the Dutch East Indies.
HMS Exeter firing at Japanese aircraft which unsuccessfully attacked convoy JS1 in the Bangka Strait during the 14/15 February 1942, NIMH 2158_017924
A harbor tug crosses the bow of the 8-inch gun cruiser HMS Exeter as she lies anchored in the congested harbor of Tanjong Priok, the port for Batavia, now Jakarta, in the first days of February 1942. Exeter helped clear the congestion, taking thirty merchant ships to sea. AWM P04139.003
On 25 February, Exeter, along with the RAN Leander-class light cruiser HMAS Perth (sister to Ajax and Achilles) and destroyers HMS Electra, Encounter, and Jupiter, were detailed to join the ABDA’s Eastern Striking Force under Dutch RADM K.W.F.M. Doorman at Soerabaja, which was then renamed the Combined Striking Force. Doorman’s force was slight, made up of just the Dutch light cruisers HrMs De Ruyter and HrMs Java, the heavy cruiser USS Houston (CA-30), and a mix of nine Dutch and American destroyers, mostly old “flush deckers” from the Great War.
Of the five allied cruisers, only Houston was more powerful than Exeter, carrying nine cramped 8″/55 guns in her thin hull. However, only six of Houston’s 8-incher were operable as her aft turret had been knocked out in an earlier air attack. Further, only Exeter had radar.
Rushing out to confront a force of 30 Japanese troops transports on 27 February 1942 protected by RADM Takeo Takagi’s two heavy cruisers, two old light cruisers, and 14 destroyers, things got pear-shaped pretty fast in what became known as the First Battle of the Java Sea.
A flurry of over 90 Long Lance torpedoes sank a Dutch destroyer while a lucky 7.9-inch hit from the Japanese Myoko-class heavy cruiser Haguro penetrated to Exeter’s aft boiler room and knocked six of her eight boilers offline, dropping the British cruiser’s speed to just five knots.
Retiring South towards Surabaya via the Sunda Strait with Encounter and the American destroyer USS Pope (DD-225) escorting, Exeter had the supreme misfortune of running into the four Japanese heavy cruiser sisters Nachi, Haguro, Myoko, and Ashigara, along with their four escorting destroyers, supported by the carrier Ryujo over the horizon, on the morning of 1 March.
Although Exeter had managed to increase her speed to 23 knots by this time, it was far too slow to avoid being overtaken by the armada of bruisers and fast greyhounds. The disparity in ordnance in big guns alone– 40 7.9″/50s vs six 8″/50s– was staggering before even taking into account smaller guns and torpedo tubes.
Japanese shells rain down around HMS Exeter during her ill-fated encounter in the Java Sea
Despite Encounter and Pope bravely making smoke and attempting torpedo runs against impossible odds– the same sort of bravery later seen by American escorts in the defense of Taffy 3 in October 1944– it was all over in about three hours and all of the Allied vessels were sent to the bottom piecemeal.
Exeter sinking on 1 March 1942 after engagement with Japanese Cruisers off Java. This Japanese photo was captured by U.S. Forces at Attu in May 1943. Collection of Admiral T. C Kinkaid, USN. NH 91772
NH 91773
Exeter sinking after engaging Japanese heavy cruisers in the Java Sea, 1 March 1942. Image taken from the captured Japanese wartime booklet “Victory on the March” 80-G-179020
Exeter earned three battle honors (River Plate 1939, Malaya 1942, and Sunda Strait 1942) to add to the four she carried forward.
Epilogue
Over the next two days, Japanese destroyers would pick up some 800 Allied survivors from the three lost warships in the water after the battle including 652 men of the crew of Exeter, the cruiser remarkably “only” losing 54 in the battle itself. A large reason why so many of Exeter’s crew survived the battle was that Capt. Gordon, his ship lost, ordered her evacuated before the final bloody game could play out. Like Capt. Langsdorff at Montevideo, Gordon owed it to his men not to ask them to perish in vain.
Tossed into the hell that was the Japanese POW camp systems no less than 27 of Pope’s sailors, 37 of Encounter’s, and 30 from Exeter died in the prison camps, usually from either malaria or pneumonia. When it came to Japanese camps, they typically lost a full quarter of those housed within.
Recovered from camps in the Celebes, Macassar, and Nagasaki in September 1945, Exeter veterans were given emergency medical care and repatriated. AWM photos
The wrecks of Encounter, Exeter, and Pope have been extensively looted by illegal salvagers.
Capt. Gordon, while being removed from Japan on USS Gosper (APA-170) in October 1945, finally had a chance to deliver his 12-page report on Exeter’s final battles to the Admiralty, via U.S. channels. With the traditional English gift of understatement, he noted that, during the evacuation of the cruiser, “The ship was evidently leaking oil fuel considerably, which, with a slight lop, made conditions in the water decidedly unpleasant, at first.”
July 1942 portrait of Capt. Oliver L Gordon, RN, HMS Exeter, who was captured in the Java Sea. Capt Gordon was a prisoner of war in Zentsuji Camp, Shikoku, Osaka, Japan. He later wrote of his experiences both in command of the Exeter and as a prisoner of war in Japan in the book Fight It Out, published in 1957, and passed in 1973. AWM P04017.059
As for “Hooky” Secker Bell, Exeter’s commander during the fight with Graf Spee, he escaped Singapore before the fall in 1942 and survived the war. In January 1946 he took command of the battleship HMS Anson, was named an ADC to King George VI, and retired on health grounds in January 1948.
In 1956, he served as an advisor to the film The Battle of the River Plate which included the huge Des Moines class heavy cruiser USS Salem as the Graf, Achilles as herself, the light cruiser HMS Sheffield as Ajax, and the light cruiser HMS Jamaica as our Exeter.
Her 1931-marked bell and River Plate battle-damaged ensign, along with a scale model of the cruiser, are in Exeter as part of the city’s archives.
St Andrews Chapel in Exeter has several relics and a memorial stained glass window which incorporates the ship’s badge.
She is celebrated in maritime art, and for good reason.
HMS Exeter at Plymouth in 1940: Back from the Graf Spee action, by Charles Ernest Cundall. IWM (Art.IWM ART LD 1848)
Battle of the River Plate, 13 December 1939 watercolor by Edward Tufnell, RN (Retired), depicting the cruisers HMS Exeter (foreground) and HMNZS Achilles (right center background) in action with the German armored ship Admiral Graf Spee (right background). NH 86397-KN
Admiral Graf Spee vs Ajax, Achilles, and Exeter painting by Adam Werka
The Battle of the Java Sea, painting by Van der Ven. From left to right two American destroyers (Four stackers), cruiser Hr.Ms. De Ruyter, HMAS Perth, HMS Exeter, Hr.Ms. Witte de With, Hr.Ms. Kortenaer (sinking) and HMS Jupiter. NIMH 2158_051001.
The Royal Navy, when passing through the Sunda Strait, typically holds a memorial service for the lost cruiser and her escorts.
HMS Montrose showers the now-calm waters of the Java Sea with poppies over the site where 62 men lost their lives when cruiser HMS Exeter and destroyer HMS Encounter fell victim to the Japanese, 2019. MOD photo
In 1980, a Type 42 destroyer, HMS Exeter (D 89), joined the fleet to perpetuate the name. She earned the ship her eighth battle honor (Falklands- 1982) and was only decommissioned on 27 May 2009.
October 1987. Gulf Of Oman. A starboard beam view of the British destroyer HMS Exeter (D-89) underway on patrol while stationed in the region as part of a multinational force safeguarding shipping during the war between Iraq and Iran. PH1 T. Cosgrove. DN-ST-93-00902
The International Naval Research Organization is a non-profit corporation dedicated to the encouragement of the study of naval vessels and their histories, principally in the era of iron and steel warships (about 1860 to date). Its purpose is to provide information and a means of contact for those interested in warships.
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This week, some 85 years ago, Canadian maritime artist Donald Mackay’s painting depicts the open sea bridge of the destroyer HMCS Restigouche (H00) escorting a large convoy of troop ships, including the four-funneled 45,000-ton Cunard liner-turned-troopship RMS Aquitania (center left), across a brooding North Atlantic.
Beaverbrook Collection of War Art CWM 19710261-4245
Mackay is likely portraying troop convoy TC 1, which left Halifax with half (some 7,449 soldiers) of the newly formed Scotland-bound 1st Canadian Infantry Division on 10 December 1939. One officer (center) communicates with another ship by signal lamp, while an officer (left) records the message as a lookout stands by. The two large loops (right) are the direction-finding aerial used for navigation. Other navigational equipment is visible, including a gyroscopic compass repeater (center) providing compass directions.
It was Aquitania’s first WWII troop transport operation, carrying 2,638 troops and sailing in company with fellow liners/troopships Empress of Britain (1,303 troops), Empress of Australia (1,235 troops), Duchess of Bedford (1,312 troops), and Monarch of Bermuda (961 troops). The force was escorted by the old Royal Sovereign class battleship HMS Resolution along with the Canadian tin cans HMCS Fraser, Ottawa, Restigouche, and St. Laurent while an over-the-horizon cover force was built around the carrier HMS Furious, the battlecruiser HMS Repulse, and the light cruiser HMS Emerald. They would be met at 20’E by a dozen RN tin cans of the 6th and 8th Destroyer Flotillas, to help shepherd the Canucks through the wolves.
Between her Great War and WWII service, Aquitania sailed more than 500,000 miles and carried nearly 400,000 Commonwealth soldiers around the globe for the King.
As for Restigouche, completed in 1932 as HMS Comet, the “C” Class destroyer was purchased from Britain and commissioned in the Royal Canadian Navy on 15 June 1938. Like Aquitania, Convoy TC 1 was her first WWII convoy and the little greyhound would ride shotgun on no less than 72 by March 1945 including fully seven of the 14 big TC runs that brought Canada’s five Europe-bound field divisions and their reinforcements to the Continent. She also served off Normandy on D-Day and helped clean out the Bay of Biscay.
Her hard-working hull was often streaked with red iron oxide, and she was nicknamed “Rustyguts” by her crew.
Period Kodachrome of the Canadian destroyer HMCS Restigouche (H00), circa 1944-1945. Canadian Navy Heritage photo CT-284
HMCS Restigouche, River-class destroyer of the RCN during WW2. LAC Kodachrome. MIKAN 4821961
She earned five battle honors and her motto was Rester droit (Steer A Straight Course).
Paid off on 5 October 1945, she was broken up the following year.
A Falklands War veteran Type 22 frigate, HMS Broadsword (F88), was recently deep-sixed just after her 45th birthday.
The Yarrow-built Broadsword, the second such RN warship to carry the name, was commissioned in 1979 and saw a quarter-century in British service including splashing two Argentine aircraft during the Falklands with her then-revolutionary Sea Wolf missile system, making her and her sisters indispensable during the conflict.
Type 22 Frigate HMS Broadsword alongside HMS Hermes during the Falklands War, 1982. IWM (MH 27508)
Paid off after the end of the Cold War, Broadsword was sold to Brazil alongside her sisters HMS Brazen (F91), HMS Brilliant (F90), and HMS Battleaxe (F89) for £116,000,000, becoming Greenhalgh (F46), Bosísio (F48), Dodsworth (F47), and Rademaker (F49), respectively.
Although all had more than 25 years on their hulls, they were still the most advanced surface escorts and augmented the Brazilian navy’s seven smaller Vosper-designed Niteroi-class frigates.
Greenhalgh/Broadsword in Brazilian service– still with her Exocet/Sea Wolf punch.
However, with Brazil ordering eight new German (MEKO A-100) Tamandare-class frigates, both the Niterois and the Type 22s are being put to pasture.
Brilliant/Dodsworth was sold for scrap in 2012, Brazen/Bosísio expended as a target in 2017, and Broadsword/Greenhalgh, which decommissioned in 2021, was sent to the bottom during Lançamento de Armas IV back in September.
This included 500-pound Mk. 82s dropped by AK-4KU (AF-1B/C) Skyhawks from VF-1, the first warshot Brazilian-made SIATT MANSUP anti-ship missile– fired from Broadsword/Greenhalgh’s sister Battleaxe/Rademaker no less– and AGM-119B Penguins from the SH-60 Seahawks of Esquadrão HS-1. Ironically, the Type 22s often only narrowly missed dumb bombs from A-4s back in 1982.
Images via the Marinha do Brasil:
There is also a video from the Marinha do Brasil of the HS-1 Penguin shots.
The Greenhalgh/Broadsword agora descansa no Reino de Poseidon.
