HMS Exeter (68)

Exeter underway off the coast of Coco Solo in 1939
History
United Kingdom
Name	Exeter
Namesake	Exeter
Ordered	15 March 1928
Builder	Devonport Dockyard, Plymouth
Laid down	1 August 1928
Launched	18 July 1929
Commissioned	27 July 1931
Identification	Pennant number: 68
Fate	Sunk during the Second Battle of the Java Sea, 1 March 1942, wreck destroyed by illegal salvagers 2014–2016
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type	York-class heavy cruiser
Displacement	8,390 long tons (8,520 t) (standard)
Length	575 ft 1 in (175.3 m) (o/a)
Beam	58 ft (17.7 m)
Draught	20 ft 3 in (6.2 m) (deep load)
Installed power	8 Admiralty 3-drum boilers 80,000 shp (60,000 kW)
Propulsion	4 × shafts; 4 × geared steam turbine sets
Speed	32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph)
Range	10,000 nmi (19,000 km; 12,000 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)
Complement	628
Armament	3 × twin 8 in (203 mm) guns 4 × single 4 in (102 mm) AA guns 2 × single 2 pdr (40 mm) AA guns 2 × triple 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes
Armour	Waterline belt: 3 in (76 mm) Deck: 1.5 in (38 mm) Barbettes: 1 in (25 mm) Gun turrets: 1 in (25 mm) Magazines: 3–5.5 in (76–140 mm) Bulkheads: 4.375 in (111 mm)
Aircraft carried	2 × seaplanes
Aviation facilities	2 × aircraft catapults

HMS Exeter was the second and last York-class heavy cruiser built for the Royal Navy during the late 1920s. Aside from a temporary deployment with the Mediterranean Fleet during the Abyssinia Crisis of 1935–1936, she spent the bulk of the 1930s assigned to the Atlantic Fleet or the North America and West Indies Station. When World War II began in September 1939, the cruiser was assigned to patrol South American waters against German commerce raiders. Exeter was one of three British cruisers that fought the German heavy cruiser Admiral Graf Spee, later that year in the Battle of the River Plate. She was severely damaged during the battle, and she was under repair for over a year.

After repairs were completed the ship spent most of 1941 on convoy escort duties before she was transferred to the Far East after the start of the Pacific War in December. Exeter was generally assigned to escorting convoys to and from Singapore during the Malayan Campaign, and she continued on those duties in early February 1942 as the Japanese prepared to invade the Dutch East Indies. Later that month, she was assigned to the Striking Force of the joint American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDACOM), and she took on a more active role in the defence of the Dutch East Indies. The culmination of this was her engagement in the Battle of the Java Sea later in the month as the Allies attempted to intercept several Imperial Japanese Navy invasion convoys. Exeter was crippled early in the battle, and she did not play much of a role as she withdrew. Two days later, she attempted to escape approaching Japanese forces, but she was intercepted and sunk by Japanese ships at the beginning of March in the Second Battle of the Java Sea.

Most of her crewmen survived the sinking and were rescued by the Japanese. About a quarter of them died during Japanese captivity. Her wreck was discovered in early 2007, and it was declared a war grave, but by 2016 her remains, along with other WWII wrecks, had been destroyed by illegal salvagers.