H.M.A.S. Perth & U.S.S. Houston Plaque
Details:
On the walkway to the HMAS Perth Memorial Plaque
A brass inscribed plaque.
The plaque remembers the U.S.S. Houston (CA-30) which was sunk along with the H.M.A.S Perth during the Battle of Sunda Straight (Java) in 1942.
From the US Naval Heritage Website about the USS Houston "The Galloping Ghost of the Java Sea":
USS Houston, a Northampton-class light cruiser, was commissioned in June 1930. Originally designated (CL-30), she was reclassified as (CA-30) the following year
She carried President Franklin D. Roosevelt on numerous trips and became the flagship of the United States Fleet during September–December 1938. Returning to the Asiatic Fleet in November 1940, she was ordered to Australian and Netherlands East Indies waters following the United States’ entry into war in December 1941 commanded by Captain Albert H. Rooks.
Despite an enemy bomb disabling her aft gun turret on Feb. 4, 1942, Houston remained in the area and took part in the Battle of the Java Sea on Feb. 27. Ordered from the area the following day and while steaming with the Australian light cruiser Perth, she encountered the strong Japanese force supporting an amphibious landing on western Java. Valiantly fighting against the enemy, both Houston and Perth were sunk by enemy gunfire and torpedoes.
“To this day, we do not know how many American Sailors went down with the Houston, but of her crew of about 1,100 only 368 survived to be captured by the Japanese. As many as 150 are known to have made it into the water alive, only to perish from wounds, drowning, exposure, washed by the current into the vast Indian Ocean, and some were machine-gunned by the Japanese in the water. Uncommon courage would be required even for the survivors, of whom only 291 would still be alive after three-and-a-half years of starvation, disease, torture, and forced labor in brutal Japanese prisons.”
Monument Text:
In Memory of
The Crews Of
H.M.A.S. PERTH 1
And
U.S.S. HOUSTON (CA 30)
"Still On Watch
In Sunda Strait"
Commemorates:
People:
Units:
U.S.S. Houston (CA-30)
United States Navy
Wars:
WWII
Battles:
Battle of Sunda Straight
Pacific Theater
Other images :
