HMS Exeter

HMS Exeter Conundrum - Yellow Funnels

The famous World War Two cruiser, Exeter, was laid down in Devonport in 1928 and completed in 1931. Leading up to World War Two, the ship underwent some modifications, which effected her appearance.

To mark the 70th anniversary of the Battle of the River Plate 1939-2009, I have been commissioned to paint a picture of Exeter in the opening phases of the action with the German pocket battle ship, the Admiral Graf Spee on 13th December 1939. The story is well known but a brief summary as follows -

In the action with the Admiral Graf Spee, Exeter sustained heavy damage and was eventually compelled to withdraw from the action, leaving the two light cruisers, HMS Ajax and HMNZS Achilles to harry and shadow the Graf Spee. Graf Spee was also damaged in the action by Exeter's main armament and she was forced to seek the neutral port of Montevideo in Uruguay for repairs. A few days later, she was scuttled on Hitler's orders. Exeter, in near sinking condition, steamed to the Falkland Islands and had suffered the loss of 60 plus sailors and marines. Here, she was patched up for the long journey home sailing from Port Stanley at the end of January 1940. She arrived back at Plymouth her homeport and the port in which she was built on 15th February 1940. She received a hero's welcome including the First Lord of the Admiralty the Right Honourable Winston Churchill.

The Ship's Appearance at the Battle of the River Plate

Photo of HMS Exeter

The black and white photos of that day are an important record of the ship's appearance and many clues as to how she looked can be gleaned from careful study of these photos. Upon analysis of the images, it is apparent even to a non-expert eye that the ship is painted in an eccentric way. The hull appears a very dark grey where as the upper works and super structure are much lighter grey but the forward gun turrets seem almost white or a very light grey. There are very dark areas around the forward part of the bridge.

Extensive Research

In the course of extensive research to ascertain the ship's appearance at the battle, I have seen two paintings by Charles Ernest Cundall RA (1890-1971). The two paintings represent the ship on the occasion of her homecoming to Plymouth on 15th February 1940.
Painting of HMS Exeter with yellow funnels Another painting of HMS Exeter with yellow funnels

Cundall Painting

The two paintings by Charles Cundall superbly capture the mood and spirit of that emotional homecoming in Devonport. He also confirms in both paintings the mixed paint scheme, in which the ship was painted, but here is the conundrum – in both paintings, he shows Exeter with yellow or buff coloured funnels of course this feature is not discernible in the black and white stills or the news reel. The photo and paintings are important, for they most certainly will confirm evidence of the ship's structural appearance at the battle, the position of the ship's boats, type of boat and many other features relating to the super-structure and certain other pieces of equipment. It is fairly certain that no major alterations were made in Port Stanley and all positions can be checked with photographs taken in the month prior to the battle.

The yellow funnels, however, are very unusual. I have found evidence that some cruisers in the Far East were painted with yellow or buff funnels in the 1920/30's together with a very light grey hull and super structure.

Exeter was on the South American station and it would seem that a light grey was the norm for these ships. This begs the question, why did an artist of Cundall's skill and ability paint the funnels in this way? Both of his paintings have been heavily criticised for this, but for me, there is a precedent with another HMS Exeter. In 1979 I was commissioned to paint the present Exeter – due to be taken out of service next year 2009 and I have painted the ship twice. My paintings were largely painted from life in 1980 in Swan Hunter's Walsend Yard on the Tyne. Both of my paintings show the Type 42 Destroyer sporting a showy, bright blue boot topping. No Royal Navy ship has ever, before or since, had anything other than a black boot topping. The blue was a new self-polishing paint and Exeter was a trial ship for this paint Captain Hugh Balfour, Commanding Officer at the Falklands conflict in 1982 was responsible for changing the boot topping to black.

I know my painting has received certain adverse comments, because I painted what I saw rather than conform to the expected. So, did Cundall see yellow? Was she indeed sporting yellow funnels at the Battle of the River Plate? Was she patched up in Port Stanley with whatever was available, just to get the ship home or did Cundall, in a flight of fancy, splash in yellow for artistic affect?

The ships career has been divided into two sections.



1928 – 1940:
The Battle of the River Plate,
Robin Brooks' planned painting

1940 – 1942:
The Far East and sinking in the Java Sea,
HMS Wreck Found





The Fifth HMS Exeter 1978 has been painted twice by Robin Brooks from life at Swan Hunters Neptune Yard in Newcastle. The following pages relate to this ship.






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