WWII Navy ship wrecks disappeared from Java seabedto

Well, does or does not the direct link to HMS PoW page on Pacific Wrecks own site take you to his (Justin Tynan’s) PoW page (where the direct links at right side of page can be found) or not then?

Kevin

I got to Google pages with my search. From there I picked from several options.

Boy there is strangeness going on here. For me on desktop computer, and on another device, it goes straight to PoW page on Pacific Wrecks. Go figure…or…each to - or is on - there own it seems (unfortunately). :frowning:

I think that the correct notation is “copy-n-past” instead of “cut-n-past” because cutting of text on external computers and web sites is not allowed/not possible. In fact “copy” is the only option available then.

How right you are Dutchie. Argh, semantics, gets me every time.

And is there ANY chance of anyone answering the above (now following) question PLEASE, even pretty please. Or are all experiencing what ‘ombugge’ says; i.e. goes to Google page?

"Well, does or does not the direct link to HMS PoW page on Pacific Wrecks own site take you to his (Justin Tynan’s) PoW page (where the direct links at right side of page can be found) or not then "?

TIA.

Yes, it takes me directly to the PoW site, no problem. However, the link is on top of the page and not on the right side!?

Below, is pic of the rangefinder in question on Hr. Ms. De Ruyter, with one ‘arm’ (the starboard) shot away.

Besides the quality German glass, note the the ship herself, especially the superstructure even has a German ‘look’ about it,IMO.

Opps, can’t make that comparison I am afraid as, unfortunately I cannot leave Dutchie’s pic of De Ruyter in the post because I get the somewhat lame “Sorry, new users can only put one image in a post.” when I try to post. Given it is Dutchie’s photo in his text, not mine. I AM only putting one photo in after all.

But hey, thems the rules for newbie swabbies it seems. ;-(

Re the PoW page at Pacific Wrecks Dutchie. Since when did the right become the top?

The TWO reports (a survey and also an analyses) I mentioned and tried to link too are accessed on the RIGHT side of the Pac. Wrecks page, not the top.

All your top snippet shows is ‘Ships History’ and a (USA) ‘divers down flag’ that shows the depth of PoW wreck, NOT either of the reports.

Here is the full page.

Yeah, just like I said, links are on / down the right hand side, not on top.

Thanks for proving my point with the screen grab! :wink:

IMG_4790

The Dutch submarines O-16 and K XVII have disappeared from the sea bottom. The O-16 was plundered by Cambodian scrap dealers, a few things are left on the bottom. Of the K XVII there is only an imprint in de sandy bottom left.

The O-16 sank four Japanese ships and then they ran into a mine which sank the sub. There was only one survivor who had to swim 80 (!) km to reach safety. Some doubted this as not possible but the position of the sub which was found in 1982 confirmed his bizar accomplishment.

IMG_4791

Cor de Wolf who swam 80 km to reach a Malayan Island. He is wearing the mourning scarf, as part of his uniform, in honor of Michiel de Ruyter, our most famous Admiral (1607-1676) and hero of the sea.

Of the surviving 6 crew members only de Wolf succeeded to swim ashore. He had to see that the others disappeared one by one. Here is part of his story:

“I look around and find nothing, I begin to call and get an answer, the others drift away, I swim towards them. When I come to them we are all together except for the commander. We call the commander and get an answer, but he cannot come to us, he was certainly too far away, I did not see him anymore, I ask if Mr Jeekel also knew what it could be, he informed me that it was probably a mine We orientated ourselves where we were and it soon appeared that if we wanted to swim to the islands, we had to keep the moon on the left and a star on the right, so we swam alongside each other, but sailor Van Tol could hardly more swim. We had already taken off our clothes, only Van Tol was still wearing a small jacket and could not take it off. I could not bear the sight of this and swam back to help him, in which I succeeded”.

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I was told the similar black sash (called a ‘silk’) on our Australian sailors’ uniforms (derived from the British) was in honour of the death of Admiral Nelson.

There were many other stories on the uniform (seven creases in the bellbottoms for the seven seas, the blue square collar derived from the need to protect the uniform from the sailor’s tarred pigtail etc) and I wonder now if these interesting and perhaps meaningful stories are just myths adapted for each Navy’s uniforms.

The uniforms were always folded and rolled inside out to be stowed in lockers aboard or in the kit bag on the move. No hanging needed. This was to keep the good side clean so I guess that’s useful but it was hell getting modern dry cleaners to do it properly.

This is sailor F. H. Rienstra (19) who died on the O-13 sub between June 12 and 16, 1940.

The striped (7 stripes) part of the uniform represented with us the seven seas. The three stripes on the square collar represented the three large battles that were fought by Admiral de Ruyter.

Nowadays the uniform has changed but not that much. The seven stripes have disappeared. That was not a striped shirt but a square piece of striped cloth hanging on the chest and held in place by a cord around the neck, rather impractical.

The story of sailor Henk Rienstra does not end here. I was flabbergasted and feeling ashamed of the unbelievable rudeness of the Dutch Navy towards one of his fallen sailors. And that 10 years after the fact. No respect at all for the dead and the family. Unbelievable! Greedy animals the lot…

Years after the war, on November 2, 1949, when everything had been formally settled for a long time, there was a final, very poignant letter from the Ministry of the Navy that began with the words:

“I have the honor to inform you that the final balance of the estate of the late Your son, Matroos III, F.H. Rienstra, closes with a negative balance of NLG 128,61.”

Well that came in hard, that can be guessed! Your son gives his life for his country and the navy comes with a claim almost 10 years later. My grandfather was very emotional in the letter with which he responded.

And that sarcastic: “I have the honor”. There is no honor in it at all, on the contrary.

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Photos of artifacts mentioned above.
https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=!AMNmCmmCJ-uz9qA&id=DBA5075D97351C77!15532&cid=DBA5075D97351C77