Sinking of Yarra

4 March 1942, Indian Ocean, south of Java

Japanese victory; Yarra and her convoy sunk

As Java fell, the sloop Yarra left Tjilatjap with three small ships for Australia: the depot ship Anking, the tanker Francol and the motor minesweeper MMS 51. At dawn on 4 March 1942 they met Vice-Admiral Nobutake Kondō's three heavy cruisers, Atago, Takao and Maya, with their destroyers. Lieutenant Commander Robert Rankin ordered the convoy to scatter, laid smoke and turned Yarra towards the cruisers, firing her three 4-inch guns. It was over in an hour and a half. The cruisers sank all four ships; Rankin was killed on the bridge, and Leading Seaman Ron Taylor kept firing the last gun until he too was killed. The 34 men who got away on rafts drifted for five days, and only 13 were alive when the Dutch submarine K XI found them.