Malaysia investigates possible looting of sunken British World War II ships

() — Malaysian authorities have detained a Chinese-flagged cargo ship amid reports of salvage of World War II shipwrecks in Malaysia’s exclusive economic zone, according to a report by state news agency Bernama.

The ship was stopped and boarded after it was found not to have an anchor clearance in waters under Malaysian jurisdiction, according to Bernama’s report, citing the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency.

An inspection of the ship “led to the discovery of old steel and cannon shells,” according to the report.

Police, the Malaysian Maritime Department and the Department of National Heritage will investigate whether the shells are from World War II, according to the report.

The report noted that the region’s media had recently reported that “a foreign salvage ship was carrying out an illegal operation to recover steel from a British warship that sank” in the area.

The case was being investigated under the Malaysian Merchant Marine Ordinance, which covers submarine operations, among other activities, according to Bernama.

The area is the site of the wreck of two British warships, the battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the cruiser HMS Repulse, sunk in an attack by Japanese warplanes on December 10, 1941, just two days after Japan attacked the Pearl Harbor US Naval Base, Hawaii.

Authorities are investigating whether the shells found on the ship are from World War II, according to Malaysian state media. (Credit: Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency/Facebook)

The attack by dozens of Japanese planes armed with bombs and torpedoes left 842 men dead. These wrecks are classified as war graves under British law.

Reports of the alleged salvage of the wrecks drew condemnation in Britain.

“We are distraught and concerned by the apparent vandalism of HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse for personal gain,” Professor Dominic Tweddle, Director General of the National Museum of the Royal Navy, said in a statement.

“They are war graves. We are upset by the loss of naval heritage and the impact this has on our understanding of our Royal Navy history.”

John Bradford, a professor at Singapore’s S. Rajaratman School of International Studies, said maritime salvage “is an emotional business.”

“For a lot of people, this is more like robbing the graves of national heroes than salvaging junk,” he said.

a shady law

Salvage of World War II wrecks around the Pacific is not a new problem.

In 2017, the Dutch, British and US authorities reported that warships sunk in the Battle of the Java Sea of World War II had been salvaged without permission.

All traces of two Dutch cruisers and two British ships had disappeared, according to reports from 2017.

The steel from World War II wrecks may have special value because it was produced before the first nuclear explosions on Earth. Known as “bottom steel,” it’s necessary for some special scientific instruments because it doesn’t contain traces of radioactive fallout.

But Bradford said there may be other reasons behind the alleged looting of the Prince of Wales and the Repulse.

“The fact that the Malaysian authorities have recovered intact shells suggests that looters are not just looking for scrap metal, but trophies with a high resale value,” he said.

International law on salvaging sunken warships is murky, according to a 2017 report from the Peace Palace Library in The Hague, The Netherlands.

“The legal regime relating to the wrecks of warships and state ships remains complex, fractured and in dire need of clarification,” the report states.

Blake Herzinger, a researcher at the Center for American Studies at the University of Sydney, said it should be the registrant nations that stop salvaging war graves.

“Ultimately, the flag State is responsible for ensuring that ships flying its flag do not engage in illegal conduct. And if such a pattern of conduct exists, it is up to the flag State to take action,” he said.

HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse, operating out of Singapore, sank after coming under fierce attack by land-based Japanese warplanes as they attempted to deal with a Japanese amphibious landing off the Malaysian coast.

Her sinking is considered one of the worst naval disasters in the history of the Royal Navy.

It was also one of the first battles to show that even the most powerful modern warships – the Prince of Wales had entered service less than a year before it sank – were vulnerable without aviation support.

Japanese planes attacked the British ships from airstrips in the region, while there was no British air cover for the two surface ships, after an aircraft carrier that was to accompany them in what was dubbed “Force Z” ran aground during his trip to the Pacific.