Britain sends Navy ships to foil the war grave pirates DESECR ATION OF BRITISH WAR GRAVES
MILITARY chiefs are sending a task force to protect British ships designated as war graves after The Mail on Sunday revealed how they are being plundered by pirates.
We exposed how at least ten vessels that provide a final resting place for more than 1,000 UK sailors off the Malaysian and Indonesians coasts have been ransacked – in a flagrant breach of international law.
Chinese-owned barges fitted with cranes have been carrying out the illegal operations and disturbing human remains entombed in the wrecks since the ships were sunk in 1941 and 1942.
But last night, the Defence Secretary heeded the MoS’s call for action to prevent further desecration of British war graves.
Gavin Williamson confirmed that Royal Navy survey vessels have been ordered to examine the wrecks of warships such as HMS Prince of Wales, HMS Repulse and HMS Banka and report back on their state.
From now on British satellites will also monitor stretches of the South China Sea where the ships were sunk and take photographs of anyone attempting to remove highly valuable non-irradiated steel – also known as low-background steel – from the wrecks.
Steel produced prior to the detonation of the first atomic bombs in the 1940s and 1950s is not contaminated by radiation. It is much sought after by manufacturers of surgical implements and scientific equipment. Mr Williamson said: ‘We will never tolerate anyone vandalising or desecrating our graves sites on land and we will not tolerate this at sea. Every wreck is the final resting place of the brave sailors who fought for freedom and against oppression. ‘If there is any commercial activity around their graves this dishonours their memory. I have therefore ordered this survey to undertake further investigations.’ Defence sources added that the British Embassy in Indonesia was engaging with local maritime authorities in an effort to make the wrecks protected sites.
The ten vessels lying off Malaysia and Indonesia were sunk in 1941 and 1942.
Some 508 officers and men went down with HMS Repulse while a further 327 were killed aboard HMS Prince of Wales, which sank just a few miles away.
The destruction of the vessels – just days after the Japanese attack on the US base at Pearl Harbor – came as a major blow to the British in the Far East as they attempted to resist the invasion of Malaya and, ultimately, the occupation of Singapore and Indonesia.
The battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the battlecruiser HMS Repulse, accompanied by four UK destroyers, were on a mission to intercept Japanese invasion convoys in the South China Sea in December 1941.
But the vessels put to sea without air cover and the fleet was attacked by waves of Japanese aircraft, with eight torpedoes striking their targets. Both ships turned over as they sank with Repulse now at a depth of 183ft and Prince of Wales in 223ft of water.
Callous gangs of scavengers have now looted about half of their 750ft-long structures, with the remains of fallen heroes dredged up with the metal. One heavy cruiser – HMS Exeter, which went down with the loss of 40 crew in March 1942 – has all but disappeared from the seabed.
Last night, former head of the Royal Navy Admiral Lord West praised the MoS for convincing the Defence Secretary to take action.
He said: ‘I am delighted that we’re taking these steps and well done to your newspaper for championing this issue and getting such a swift response.
‘It is imperative now that we build detailed criminal cases against the scavengers using all the technology at our disposal.
‘We owe it to all those who perished aboard these ships.’