Wrecks of dutch cruisers illegally salvaged and scrapped

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Helmut0815
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Wrecks of dutch cruisers illegally salvaged and scrapped

#1

Post by Helmut0815 » 16 Nov 2016, 23:30

Mystery as wrecks of three Dutch WWII ships vanish from Java seabed

An international investigation has been launched into the mysterious disappearance of three Dutch second world war shipwrecks which have vanished from the bottom of the Java Sea off the coast of Indonesia.

The Netherlands defence ministry has confirmed that the wrecks of two of its warships that sank in 1942 have completely gone, while large parts of a third are also missing.

The wrecks were first found intact by amateur divers in 2002. But a new expedition to mark next year’s 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Java Sea discovered the ships were missing.

While sonar shows the imprints of the wrecks on the ocean floor, the ships themselves are no longer there.

The ministry said in a statement: “The wrecks of HNLMS De Ruyter and HNLMS Java have seemingly gone completely missing. A large piece is also missing of HNLMS Kortenaer.”

All three ships sank during the Battle of the Java Sea, which turned out to be a disastrous defeat for Dutch, British, American and Australian sailors by Japanese forces in February 1942. It was one of the costliest sea battles of the war and led to the Japanese occupation of the entire Dutch East Indies.
...
More: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/ ... -indonesia


A sad story... :(


regards


Helmut

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hucks216
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Re: Wrecks of dutch cruisers illegally salvaged and scrapped

#2

Post by hucks216 » 17 Nov 2016, 02:45

It's been going on for years and only now that the wrecks have gone, including the British ones - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/ ... g-java-sea - do they bother to ask the local authorities to investigate. Even the wrecks of HMS Repulse and Prince of Wales have suffered.

It has also been happening much closer to home with the wrecks from The Battle of Jutland suffering the same to some degree and also a Dutch salvage company destroying the wrecks of the 3 British cruisers sunk in a day, HMS's Cressy, Hogue and Aboukir Bay. If the powers that be ignore what's happening in waters much closer to home then those wrecks much further afield don't stand a chance.


ROLAND1369
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Re: Wrecks of dutch cruisers illegally salvaged and scrapped

#3

Post by ROLAND1369 » 18 Nov 2016, 05:20

While the Dutch, British, and American ships are still government property, the Dutch Company is doing nothing illegal. The British government sold the salvage rights to the three WW I cruisers in 1954 and the Dutch company purchased them from the original salvor. I would suspect the same might be true of the Jutland wrecks. The only villan in the British cruiser salvage is the British Government.

paulrward
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Re: Wrecks of dutch cruisers illegally salvaged and scrapped

#4

Post by paulrward » 20 Nov 2016, 03:26

Hello All ;

I posted this on another website, but it very succinctly sums up the situation:


Yes, it appears that to impoverished, hungry people in the third world, it is worth taking the risk to go diving in shark infested South Pacific Waters in old, worn out diving equipment to retrieve the quite valuble scrap steel, bronze, lead, and copper.

IMHO the Indonesian wreck divers are entitled to anything and everything they have the skill, strength, and courage to bring up and sell.

But hey, everybody: this is the perfect time to go there on vacation, and make a deal for some nice relics of the Battle of the Java Sea !

Just a thought....


Respectfully ;

Paul R. Ward


P.S. What makes ANYBODY think that the Indonesian Government or their Navy gives a Rodent's Rectum as to what happens to these rusting lumps of ruined, obsolete warships ? Believe me, they have far more important Social and Geopolitical issues to be worried about.
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James A Pratt III
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Re: Wrecks of dutch cruisers illegally salvaged and scrapped

#5

Post by James A Pratt III » 05 Dec 2016, 21:19

I would like to point out that this goes on all the time all over the world. Also the price of scrap metal was rather high some years ago.

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