USS Peary 1942
Marker: recorded wreck position (Second World War).
Key facts
| Name | USS Peary | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Year lost | 1942 | Wikidata P576 dissolved/abolished/demolished date |
| Era | Second World War | derived from year |
| Ship type | destroyer | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Cause of loss | War action | Keyword match in English Wikipedia lead sentence |
| Nationality / flag | United States | Wikidata P8047 country of registry |
| Operator | United States Navy | Wikidata P137 operator |
| Conflict | World War II | Wikidata P607 conflict |
| Sea / ocean | Timor Sea | Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon |
| Nearest coast | Australia | Natural Earth (public domain); approx. 6 km from land |
| Position | -12.4750, 130.8290 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
USS Peary (DD-226) was a Clemson-class destroyer of the United States Navy. She was commissioned in 1920 and sunk by Japanese aircraft at Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, on 19 February 1942.
Diving & visiting
There is a memorial in Darwin in honor of the lives lost. This memorial, in Bicentennial Park, consists of a plaque and one of the 4-inch deck guns recovered from Peary. This gun is aimed towards Peary's resting place in the harbor. In the words of Peter Grose, author of An Awkward Truth: The Bombing of Darwin, February 1942, "The doomed yet magnificent reply by the destroyer USS Peary in Darwin harbour as Japanese dive-bombers swarmed around her deserves a place in the legend books of American military history".
Peary lies in 89 feet (27 m) of water in Darwin Harbour, at coordinates 12°28′30″S 130°49′45″E. The wreck itself is a memorial to those who lost their lives in the first bombing raid on Australian soil and to those who defended Darwin.
Location
- Recorded position: -12.4750, 130.8290 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
- Sea / ocean: Timor Sea
- Nearest coast: Australia
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 USS Peary (revision 1379986636), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section and section(s) “Memorial”, “Wreck”; condensed by selecting paragraphs; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
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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 →
Browse more: Oceania wrecks · wrecks off Australia · Timor Sea · Second World War