Remembering the ‘Fighting Perth’
By Jayne Keogh, Naval Association of Australia
The HMAS Perth Association and the Naval Association of Australia will commemorate the crew members of the cruisers HMAS Perth (I) and USS Houston who made the supreme sacrifice during the Battle of Sunda Strait on the night of 28 February and early morning of 1 March 1942 and later while in Japanese captivity, as well as those members who returned but have since ‘crossed the bar’. Several widows and descendants of survivors have been invited and are proud to attend this special ceremony.
Every Royal Australian Navy ship that passes through the Sunda Strait silently lays a wreath of respect into on the watery grave of the Perth.
Sadly, all the sailors who survived have since ‘crossed the bar’, but we are honoured to have the wife and daughter of two Perth survivors at the ceremony.
According to his widow Sylvia (95), Charlie Wray was a quiet man who rarely talked about his war experiences because, ‘People will only think we are looking for sympathy’.
‘He only ever talked about the funny things that happened,’ she said. ‘Like how Captain Waller sent out a search party to find his cat Red Lead before they would leave port. Sailors are a superstitious lot!’
On the other hand, the late Chilla Goodchap was an outgoing and extremely positive man, according to his daughter Sue Holt.
‘Dad was a great storyteller, and he talked to us a lot about what happened to him after the Perth sank. He said that everything was on fire, even the water where he survived for 18 hours.’
Captain Hector ML Waller DSO RAN, took command of the Perth on 24 October 1941 while the Leander Class modified cruiser was undergoing a refit in Sydney following war service in the Mediterranean. Following completion of this refit in November, the Perth carried out exercises, patrols and escort duties into January 1942, before sailing north to Java on 14 February to join the Allied forces confronting the Japanese invasion of South East Asia.
The Perth and the USS Houston were fortunate to survive the disastrous Battle of Java Sea on the night of 27/28 February when five other Allied ships were lost. On 28 February, orders were received to sail in company with Houston and the Dutch destroyer HNLMS Evertsen through Sunda Strait to Tjilatjap. Perth and Houston cast off first, to be followed by a delayed Evertsen a few hours later.
Captain Waller considered that the Japanese would make a landing east of Batavia and that any Japanese naval escort with an invasion convoy to look after would be unlikely to interfere with the passage of Perth and Houston through the Sunda Strait. However, Perth and Houston, and later Evertsen, soon encountered superior naval forces protecting more than 50 transports of the Japanese 16th Army’s Western Java Invasion Convoy.
Perth received her first hit at 23:26, her second at 23:32 and a third at 23:50. About midnight, Perth’s gunnery officer, Lieutenant-Commander Peter Hancox reported that very little 6-inch main gun ammunition remained. At that juncture, Captain Waller decided to attempt to force a passage through Sunda Strait and ordered full speed.
Perth was then struck on the starboard side by a torpedo at 00:05. Hancox a few minutes later reported that ammunition was almost expended with the main guns now firing practice shells and the 4-inch guns reduced to using star shells. Perth then received a second torpedo hit under the bridge on the starboard side. Captain Waller gave the order to abandon ship. Perth sank at about 00:25, having received two further torpedo hits, another on the starboard side, and a fourth struck her port side. According to Japanese reports, 85 torpedoes were expended by Japanese ships during the Sunda Straits action.
USS Houston was still fighting despite being on fire. She was hit by torpedoes and sank shortly afterwards. Evertsen met the same fate.
During the abandon-ship operation, Perth was under fire from several destroyers at close range and many hits were scored resulting in many more casualties. Many were killed or wounded in the water by the explosion of the last two torpedoes and by shells exploding in the water.
‘Charlie was a wireman (electrician), so after “Abandon Ship” was called, he knew how to find his way through gaps to climb out of the ship and jump overboard,’ said Sylvia. ‘Fortunately he was a very strong swimmer and was able to survive 12 hours in the water before being picked up by a Japanese ship.
‘He then went to work on the horrors of the Burma-Thailand Railway, motivated to survive so he could see his mother again.
‘Years later we went back to Hellfire Pass for Anzac Day. The Last Post played as the sun came up. Charlie said it was the best Anzac Day he ever had.
‘Chilla made it to shore, where his clothes literally rotted off him. Unfortunately, he was dobbed in to the Japanese by the locals, captured and sent to Changi Prison. Dad used to say that Changi was like a night in the Ritz compared to the Burma-Thailand railway where he was sent next.’
Chilla was thrilled when the British bombed the famous bridge on the River Kwai. However, he was sent to Japan to work near Nagasaki, narrowly missing the atomic bomb blast.
‘He used to say he had nine lives like a cat,’ said Sylvia. ‘Bizarrely, he loved rice, and we ate a lot of it at home!’
At the time of her loss, Perth’s ship’s complement was 681. Of these, 347 (including Captain Waller) died when Perth was sunk. Only 328 men survived the sinking, though four naval personnel died ashore shortly afterwards. Red Lead the cat also survived. 324 naval personnel, three Royal Australian Air Force personnel, and 17-year-old Alfred Hawkins, the only civilian canteen assistant to survive, entered Japanese captivity. At war’s end, only 214 men, including Hawkins, survived Japanese captivity and were able to be repatriated home to Australia.
A commemorative ceremony will take place at noon on 1 March 2022 at the Jack Tar statue in the South Brisbane Memorial Park. All welcome.
For more information: Jayne Keogh 0418 882 408 / naaqldmedia [at] outlook.com (naaqldmedia[at]outlook[dot]com).
HMAS Perth arriving in Port Jackson, Sydney for the first time