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Ashburton Guardian, Volume 66, Issue 46, 4 December 1945, Page 3

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BATTLE OFF JAVA COAST ODDS MUCH TOO HEAVY LONDON, December 2. The full story of how the cruiser LI.M.S. Exeter, with two escorting destroyers, H.M.S. Encounter and U.S.S. Pope, went down fighting four Japanese heavy cruisers and five destroyers off the Java coast on March 1. 1942, was brought hack from a Japanese prison camp , by the commanding officer, Captain 0. L. Gordon, who hid the records from the Japanese in a tube of shaving cream. Exeter was badly damaged in action on February 27 and put into Sourabaya, but there was no time for proper repairs. She sailed again at dark on February 28 with six of her eight boilers out of action, accompanied by Encounter and Pope. The enemy force early the next morning began to bear down on the alreadv crippled cruiser and her two destroyers. A little later a large enemy destroyer appeared ahead, and almost immediately afterwards two other cruisers and more destroyers came into view. The engineering staff managed partially to repair the boilers, and Exeter at 26 knots, with, Pope and Encounter on each side, steamed into action. She had only 20 per cent, of her mam armament and ammunition remaining after a previous battle. The destroyers tried to ward off the enemy by firing torpedoes and by screening tfie Exeter with smoke. One enemy cruiser was hit by a torpedo from the Pope, and several other ships were hit by gunfire from all three Allied vessels. One enemy destroyer dropped out of line but the end was not far off. The Exeter received a vital hit in “A boiler-room. The main engines stopped and all power on the ship failed. She was being straddled and hit by the enemy cruisers, and orders were given to sink her and abandon ship. She sank about 11.50 a.m. The Encounter was sunk shortly afterwards, but the Pope remained at hand until the end and managed to escape in a rain squall, only to be sunk an hour later following an attack by Japanese bombers.