Tag Archives: Sunda Strait

Houston, departing

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Here, 80 years ago today, we see the Northampton-class heavy cruiser USS Houston (CA-30), as viewed through the sight of an Australian 4-inch gun on the beach at Darwin, Australia, on 18 February 1942. Houston– which had been RADM Thomas C. Hart’s Asiatic Fleet’s flagship until he was scapegoated and relieved of operational responsibilities the week before– was then leaving Darwin for the Dutch East Indies and a rendevous with destiny.

As such, this is one of the last photos taken of the doomed ship, as she would be sent to the bottom at the Sunda Strait just 11 days later.

Photo courtesy of Otto Schwartz, 1983. Naval History and Heritage Command Catalog #: NH 94458.

Houston would earn the Presidential Unit Citation and two battle stars for her World War II service, in the hardest kind of way.

Remembering Perth

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HMAS Perth 1941

Commissioned 29 June 1933, HMS Amphion was a Leander-class light cruiser in the Royal Navy. In 1939, she was reborn in a sense and her name was changed to HMAS Perth (D29) on the occasion of her transfer to the Royal Australian Navy.

Her RAN career was tragically short. After much sharp service in the Med during the whole Crete debacle, she was sent back home to assist in the defense of Australia.

After surviving the hell of the Battle of the Java Sea, she picked up four Japanese torpedoes in the space of a few minutes at the midnight pitch-black engagement at Sunda Strait on 1 March 1942.

Of her 681 souls aboard, 353 were killed in battle. Her survivors may have been spared from Posideon’s grasp but had to endure three years as Japanese POWs, with nearly half never seeing home again.

Even her hulk, stripped over the years by unlicenced Indonesian marine salvagers who used explosives to break her apart on the seafloor, was desecrated.

However, her 1939 bell, cast to commemorate her new life in the RAN, was located in Indonesia by Australian wreck diver David Burchell and returned through the auspices of the government in 1978.

The Australian War Memorial on Friday, on the 77th anniversary of her loss, held a special Last Post Ceremony in honor of HMAS Perth, including the striking of the ship’s bell.

Houston is still there

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140609-N-ZZ999-001 140609-N-ZZ999-001 This photo shows the cruiser USS Houston (CA30) in the San Diego Bay in Oct. 1935

140609-N-ZZ999-001 This photo shows the cruiser USS Houston (CA30) in the San Diego Bay in Oct. 1935

Last December, the Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) and the National Research Centre of Archaeology Indonesia/Pusat Penelitian Arkeologi Nasional (ARKENAS) conducted a remote-sensing survey of the wreck sites of Royal Australian navy light cruiser HMAS Perth (D29) and the U.S. heavy cruiser USS Houston (CA30), lost during World War II at Sunda Strait, 1 March 1942.

There had been persistent reports that both ships, along with a number of Dutch vessels, had been extensively raided by illegal scrap metal salvors.

After initial analysis, it looks like Houston may have been spared the vultures.

The new multi-beam sonar imagery shows the entire wreck site and confirms the wreck remains in its original sinking location and is largely intact.

More here