EXETER HMS 1931

[shipstamps]

Built as a heavy cruiser on the Devonport Dockyard at Devonport for the Royal Navy.
01 August 1928, laid down.
18 July 1929, launched under the name HMS "EXETER".
Displacement: 8.390 tons standard, 10.410 tons full load, dim. 164.9 x 18 x6.2m.(draught).
Powered by Parsons turbines, 80.000 shp., speed 32 knots, 4 screws.
Bunker capacity 1.900 tons oil. Radius 10.000 miles by 11 - 14 knots.
Armament 6 - 8 inch, 4 - 4 inch AA, 6 - 21inch triple torpedo tubes.
Two aircrafts, and two catapults
Crew 630.
27 July 1931, completed.

1931 After commission in the Second Cruiser Squadron in the Atlantic Fleet.1933 Commodore's ship on the America and West India Station.
Between 1935 and 1936 served for short period in the Mediterranean during the Abyssinian crisis.
1936 Got a refit in Devonport.
July 1936, recommissioned.
June 1937, sent to Trinidad where riots had broken out amongst striking oil workers.
January 1939, together with HMS "AJAX" rendered valuable aid at Concepcion after an earthquake in Chile.

13 December 1939, Battle of the River Plate, she was a unit of Group G which damaged the German pocket battleship "ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE" which later was scuttled by her own crew by explosives. The HMS "EXETER" under command of Capt. F.S.Bell got heavy damage, after 30minutes in battle four of her 8 inch guns were put out of action, and she was on fire, her main steering gear was smashed, and hand steering had to be employed. She lost during the battle 5 officers and 56 ratings and 3 officers and 20 ratings were wounded. She retreated from the battle and had to return to the Falkland Islands for temporary repair.

January 1940 sailed to Devonport for repair and a refit.
1941 After a refit of 13 months at Devonport, she joined the First Cruiser Squadron in the Home Fleet. Afterwards send to the Far East via Cape of Good Hope. Then used in the convoy service between Durban and Aden.

27 Feb. 1942 under command of Capt. O.L.Gordon she was one of the cruisers and destroyers under overall command of the Dutch Rear-Admiral Karel Doorman, to defend the Dutch East Indies against the Japanese.

During an action to repel the Japanese landing on Java she was damaged The battle of the Java Seas began around 04.20 p.m. at 27 February, the HMS "EXETER" received a hit from a 8 inch shell, which caused great damage in her boiler room, which considerable reduced her speed. In this state she could not coupe with the speed of the other vessels in the squadron and was sent to Surabaya for repair.
At Surabaya she got in contact with the American destroyer USS "POPE" and later HMS "ENCOUNTER" joined her. The three ships left Surabaya under cover of darkness bound for Colombo. Her maximum speeds was first 15 knots, but by much work done by the engine staff three more boilers were in use the next morning, and her speed increased to 26 knots.
1 March 1942, at 09.35 a.m. she ran in three Japanese cruisers and four or five destroyers, which were covering the Kragan landing The vessel was in no condition to fight but she fought well for the next two hours before she just before twelve o'clock was sunk by her own crew. Before she sank all her boilers had been wrecked and all her ammunition expended. During the battle 54 crew lost their life, and the survivors taken prisoner by the Japanese. During the time in captivity 152 men died. Capt. Gordon who was released at the conclusion of the hostilities, had preserved his records of the actions in a tube shaving cream.

Falkland Islands 1974 2p sg307, scott 237. 1995 65p sg740, scott 637. 2005 80p sg?, scott ?.
Gambia 1995 5d sg2035, scott 1631f.
Marshall Islands 1989 45c sg251, scott 242.
Tanzania 1992 sg?, scott 824 (in margin)
St Kitts $1.40

Source: Devonport Built Warships since 1860 by K.V.Burns. Dictionary of Disasters at Sea during the age of Steam by Charles Hocking.

[aukepalmhof]

The stamp of 27p depicts Supermarine Walrus and HMS EXETER.
A Supermarine Walrus from HMS EXETER was the first aircraft to fly over South Georgia, carrying out a full photographic aerial survey in 1938.
The Walrus was a single-engine amphibious reconnaissance aircraft designed by RJ Mitchell, the same man who designed the Supermarine Spitfire.
It first flew in 1923 and entered service in 1936. Its fuselage was strengthened so that it could be launched from ship-borne catapults, and when required, it could carry two machine guns and bombs or depth charges below its lower wings. The Walrus remained in service with the Fleet Air Arm, and later with the RAF, carrying out reconnaissance, anti-submarine and air sea rescue duties until after the Second World War.

South Georgia & South Sandwich 2009 27p sg?, scott?

Source: South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands Post