| Royal Navy heavy cruiser HMS Exeter, sinking after engaging Japanese heavy cruisers in the Java Sea. After the 1st Battle of the Java Sea which saw Australian-British-Dutch-American (ABDA) forces unsuccessfully attempting to stop the Japanese from landing on Java, after making temporary repairs and refueling, Exeter, escorted by HMS Encounter and the American destroyer USS Pope (DD-225), was ordered to steam to Colombo, via the Sunda Strait. They departed on the evening of February 28, but they were intercepted by the Japanese heavy cruisers Nachi, Haguro, Myōkō, and Ashigara, and by the destroyers Akebono, Inazuma, Yamakaze, and Kawakaze on the morning of March 1, 1942. At about 0800 Hours, the British ships spotted 2 of the Japanese cruisers, 1 of which launched its spotting floatplanes. 2 others were seen closing in, and both launched their aircraft before opening fire at about 0930 Hours. The Allied ships laid smoke and turned away to the east with the Japanese to their north and south. Exeter was able to reach a speed of 26 knots (48 kilometers andhour; 30 miles per hour) before the 1st hit on her detonated in her “A,” forward boiler room and catastrophically knocked out all power around 1120 Hours. Now defenseless, as her guns could no longer 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. Only 2, out of a total of 18 fired by Japanese combatants, hit the ship – starboard amidships, and starboard just forward of “A” turret; these were fired the Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer Inazuma. As a result, Exeter rapidly righted herself; paused briefly, and then capsized to starboard. Encounter and Pope were also lost; Encounter approximately 15 minutes after Exeter, while Pope temporarily survived the initial melee, only to be sunk a couple of hours later. Imperial Japanese Navy Nakajima B5N Type 97 level bombers armed with 1 250 kilogram (551 pound) and 64 kilogram (132 pound) bombs assisted in the sinking of Pope, already crippled by bombing from seaplanes and land-based air. 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 2 Imperial Japanese Navy cruisers Ashigara and Myoko. The Japanese rescued 652 men of the crew of Exeter, including her Captain Oliver L. Gordon (January 26, 1896 – January 20, 1973), who became prisoners of war. This view, part of a photo archive captured on Attu Island in the Aleutians by the United States Army 7th Infantry Division’s Intelligence G-2, shows HMS Exeter sinking after the 2nd Battle of the Java Sea. This photo was published in the April 8, 1942, issue of Shashin Shūhō (“Photo Weekly”). Inazuma’s torpedo hits were confirmed when Exeter’s wreck was 1st discovered in 2007. Sometime before 2016, Exeter’s wreck, along with Encounter and Pope’s, were completely removed by illegal salvage operations. Only an indentation on the sea floor remains. | |
| Image Filename | wwii1965.jpg |
| Image Size | 2.15 MB |
| Image Dimensions | 4513 x 5721 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | Imperial Japanese Navy |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | March 1, 1942 |
| Location | |
| City | |
| State or Province | |
| Country | Java Sea |
| Archive | Naval History and Heritage Command |
| Record Number | 80-G-179020 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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