Exeter was
decommisioned today.
Southampton was
decommisioned in February.
This
Navy News story from April demonstrates links to the previous
Exeter.
A WHITE Ensign which ‘flew’ on the wreck of HMS Exeter will find peace in the surroundings of the namesake city’s cathedral.
Veterans of the wartime cruiser were invited aboard the present-day destroyer for a final time – the current ship is decommissioning – to receive the treasured flag.
The heavy cruiser took her place along the lions of Royal Navy history thanks to her crucial role in the Battle of the River Plate in 1939.
She survived the heavy damage she suffered that day at the hands of the ‘pocket battleship’ Graf Spee, but was not so fortunate two and a half years later in the Java Sea.
Mortally wounded by Japanese attack, the cruiser was scuttled by her crew. Most of her ship’s company survived the ordeal, but then faced more than three years in Japanese Prisoner of War camps, where they suffered starvation, disease, and brutality.
More than six decades later, their numbers are few, but eight survivors of the Java Sea battle – Bill Francis, Admiral J P K Harkness, Steve Cairns, Joe Asher, Johnny King, Jimmy Hegney, Admiral Sir Peter Anson and Bill Guy – made the pilgrimage to Portsmouth, where they were hosted both by Exeter and her slightly younger sister HMS Nottingham.
The latter treated the eight veterans to lunch in the wardroom as well as the obligatory photographs for the albums.
The wreck of the heavy cruiser was located by divers after a protracted search of the Java Sea.
She lies around 200ft below far from the site her CO, Capt Oliver Gordon, reported more than six decades ago, and close to the last resting place of her escort, HMS Encounter.
The divers initially attached an ensign to the port torpedo tube as mark of respect.
It has since been recovered and was presented to Exeter veteran Stoker 1st Class Bill Francis, on behalf of his shipmates on the eve of their annual reunion. The ensign will go on display in a wing of Exeter Cathedral which is dedicated to the ship and her men.
As for the current Exeter, she formally leaves the ranks of the RN on May 27 with a decommissioning ceremony in Portsmouth Naval Base.
Anyone connected with the Falklands veteran who wishes to attend the event should contact the decommissioning officer on [email protected] or call 02392 722466.
I believe that Exeter cathedral already holds the battle scarred Battle Ensign flown during the Battle of the River Plate.
Janes is reporting that Pakistan may be interested in buying some old Type 42s - see
here. Oh well, we need all the exports we can get!