The site of the Battle of Java Sea is considered a graveyard for the 2300 Allied sailors who died there. As such, there should be no diving, salvage or anything else that would disturb the final resting p;ace of those men.
A recent mission to film the sunken vessels as part of the 75th anniversary commemoration discovered that many of the wrecks are no longer there.
The HNLMS De Ruyter and HNLMS Java, both Dutch ships, are completely gone and a large chunk of the HNLMS Kortenner is also gone. The HMS Exeter and HMS Encounter and the submarine USS Perch (SS-17) also have been completely removed.
The wrecks of the ships were found in the early 2000s and believed to have been hit by metal scavengers.
The Lowest of the Low to Desecrate Graves Like That. --GreGen
The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.
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