HMAS Perth 1942
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Marker: recorded wreck position (Second World War).
Key facts
| Name | HMAS Perth | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Year lost | 1942 | Wikidata P793 significant event, point-in-time qualifier |
| Era | Second World War | derived from year |
| Ship type | light cruiser | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Cause of loss | War action | Keyword match in English Wikipedia lead sentence |
| Nationality / flag | Australia, United Kingdom | Wikidata P8047 country of registry |
| Operator | Royal Navy, Royal Australian Navy | Wikidata P137 operator |
| Conflict | World War II | Wikidata P607 conflict |
| Sea / ocean | Java Sea | Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon |
| Nearest coast | Indonesia | Natural Earth (public domain); approx. 9 km from land |
| Position | -5.8617, 106.1311 | Wikidata P793 significant event, coordinate qualifier (CC0) |
About the wreck
HMAS Perth was one of three modified Leander-class light cruisers used by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) during the early part of World War II. She was built for the Royal Navy (RN) in the mid-1930s and was commissioned as HMS Amphion in 1936. The ship spent the next several years as flagship of the Commander-in-Chief, Africa before she was transferred to the RAN in 1939 and renamed as HMAS Perth.
At the start of World War II in September, the ship patrolled the Western Atlantic and the Caribbean in search of German shipping and escorting convoys for six months before she was ordered home in early 1940. The ship continued the same types of duties in Australian waters before she was transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet at the end of 1940. Perth then helped to escort numerous convoys to Malta in early 1941 and played a minor role in the Battle of Cape Matapan in March. She escorted convoys to Greece and Crete and helped to evacuate Allied troops from both places in the face of the victorious Axis forces. The ship was badly damaged by Axis aircraft in May during the evacuation of Crete.
After repairs were completed in June, Perth provided naval gunfire support to Allied forces ashore during the Syria-Lebanon Campaign and bombarded Vichy French targets.
Diving & visiting
The main battery of the Modified Leander class consisted of eight BL 6-inch (152 mm) Mk XXIII guns arranged in two pairs of superfiring twin-gun turrets fore and aft of the superstructure. Their secondary armament consisted of four QF 4-inch (102 mm) Mk V guns in open single mounts abreast the aft funnel. For short-range air defence, the ship was fitted with three quadruple mounts for Vickers 0.5 in (12.7 mm) AA machineguns. They were also armed with eight 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes in two above-water quadruple mounts, one on each broadside.
Most of the armour protecting parts of the ship consisted of non-cemented armour. The machinery spaces were protected by a 3-inch (76 mm) waterline belt and the deck above them consisted of 1.125…
The wreck was discovered by David Burchell in 1967; at the time, the ship was reasonably intact, lying on its side at a depth of about 35 m (115 ft). In late 2013, divers found that the wreck of Perth was being stripped by unauthorised Indonesian marine salvagers. Reports in September indicated that crane-equipped barges had stripped off most of the wreck's superstructure, forward turrets, and forward decking, and that explosives had been used to break the ship up for easier recovery. These actions compromised the structural integrity of the wreck site, and have potentially exposed live munitions and oil tanks.
Location
- Recorded position: -5.8617, 106.1311 (Wikidata P793 significant event, coordinate qualifier (CC0); may be approximate)
- Sea / ocean: Java Sea
- Nearest coast: Indonesia
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article HMAS Perth (D29) (revision 1375013870), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section and section(s) “Armament and protection”, “Unauthorised salvage”; condensed by selecting paragraphs and trimming at sentence boundaries; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Nearby wrecks
Other wrecks of the World War II
- U-434 1941
- USS Arizona (BB-39) 1941
- USS Hopewell 1941
- Vasilefs Georgios 1941
- Zara 1941
- Akagi 1942
- Aviere 1942
- Diana 1942
- Giovanni delle Bande Nere 1942
- HMAS Nestor 1942
All 599 wrecks of the World War II →
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