HMS Exeter Song

DESCRIPTION: "When the Exeter went on patrol, We all put our woolies on, But south of the border is more in our line, Or the land of the Rising Sun.... But a certain marine down the fore magazine Said, 'Buet mon droit, bless 'em all."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1987 (Tawney-GreyFunnelLines-RoyalNavy)
KEYWORDS: ship clothes travel navy
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Mar 1, 1942 - Sinking of HMS Exeter
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Tawney-GreyFunnelLines-RoyalNavy, p. 88, "HMS 'Exeter' Song" (1 text, tune referenced)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Bless 'Em All" (tune)
NOTES [174 words]: According to M. J. Whitley, Cruisers of World War II: An International Encyclopedia, Arms and Armour Press, 1995, p. 94, HMS Exeter, the only cruiser of her class, was laid down at Devonport on August 1, 1928, launched July 18, 1929, and completed July 27, 1931; she was sunk March 1, 1942. She was a heavy cruiser, but a rather under-gunned one (the result of British naval economies), with just six 8" guns (a normal heavy cruiser would have eight or more) and a rather poky design speed of 32 knots. She had a tough career, barely avoiding being sunk in her first battle and then being destroyed in her second campaign.
This song is largely right: even though Exeter was a British ship, she spent most of her World War II career in the southern hemisphere, first while chasing the German Graf Spee and then in the south Pacific defending the Malay Barrier from Japan. It was there that she was sunk in the aftermath of the Battle of the Java Sea. For a fuller overview of her career, see the notes to "The Sinking of the Graf Spee." - RBW
Last updated in version 6.2
File: Tawn066

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