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The fourth and best known of the Exeters, HMS Exeter (68), was a ''York'' class heavy cruiser of the Royal Navy that served in World War II. She was laid down on 1 August 1928 at the Devonport Dockyard, Plymouth, Devon. She was launched on 18 July 1929 and completed on 27 July 1931.
Design Exeter was ordered two years after her sister ''York'' and therefore her design incorporated improvements in the light of experience with the latter. Her beam was increased by 1 foot to counter for increases in topweight, and the boiler uptakes were trunked backwards from the boiler rooms, allowing for straight funnels removed from the bridge rather than the raked funnels necessary in York to ensure adequate dispersal of the flue gasses. As a result, the masts were stepped straight, and the after funnel was thickened, to aid appearance. As the 8 inch gun turret roof had proved to be inadequately strong to accommodate the catapult intended for York, Exeter had a pair of catapults (although only one aircraft could be carried at a time) angled out from amidships, with the associated crane stepped to starboard. Consequently, the bridge could be lowered (that of York being tall to give command over the intended aircraft arrangements), and was of a modern, enclosed design that would be incorporated in later cruiser designs. Modifications In 1932, Exeter had side plating added amidships to the upper deck to enclose her open main deck as far as the after funnel (unlike the County class, the Yorks were not flush-deckers). This provided additional enclosed spaces for accommodation and working. In 1935, the intended multiple Vickers machine guns were finally added, single 2-pounder guns having being fitted in lieu. Early war modifications saw the replacement of the single 4 inch guns with modern twin Mark XVI models on the ubiquitous mounting Mark XIX and a single 20 mm Oerlikon gun added to the roof of both 'B' and 'X' turrets. Radar Type 286 air warning was added requiring the pole masts to be replaced by tripods, this primitive metric set had separate Tx and Rx aerials , one at each masthead. Radar Type 284 was fitted to the director control tower atop the bridge to provide ranging information and spot fall of shot. Service At the outbreak of the Second World War, she formed part of the South American Division with ''Cumberland''. Together with the ''Leander'' class light cruisers ''Ajax'' and ''Achilles'' she engaged the German pocket battleship ''Admiral Graf Spee'' in the Battle of the River Plate on 13 December 1939, which action resulted in the scuttling of the Admiral Graf Spee several days later. Exeter operated as a division on her own, Achilles and Ajax as the other, in order to split the fire of Graf Spee. Exeter was hit by seven 11 inch shells and several near misses caused significant splinter damage. She lost sixtyone of her crew killed and a further twentythree wounded. All three 8 inch turrets were put out of action and her speed was reduced to 18 knots, forcing her to withdraw from battle. Exeter made for Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands for emergency repairs which took until January 1940, then returned to Devonport without assistance for full repairs over fourteen months between February 1940 and March 1941. That she survived such damage from direct hits with large calibre shells is a testament to her design and construction, as well as the damage control efforts of her crew. On returning to the fleet in 1941, she was engaged on escort duty for Atlantic convoys, including the escort of convoy WS-8B to the Middle East during the Bismarck episode. After this, she went on to the Far East. On the entry of Japan into the war she formed part of the Allied Striking Force intended to defend the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) from Japanese invasion. At the end of February 1942 she was damaged in the Battle of the Java Sea when she received a hit in the boiler room and was subsequently ordered to Surabaya. The destroyer HMS ''Electra'' was sunk covering her withdrawal. When she attempted to reach the Sunda Strait, she was intercepted by the Japanese cruisers ''Nachi'' and ''Haguro'' on the morning of 1 March 1942 and badly damaged by gunfire and a torpedo from the destroyer ''Ikazuchi''. She took on water and began listing to starboard. By noon she sank. Her escorting destroyers, HMS ''Encounter'' and USS ''Pope'' were also lost in this engagement. See HMS ''Exeter'' for other ships of this name. | ||||||||
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