Plymouth City Council Media Release 

Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery will partially re-open on Saturday 3 May with two exciting temporary exhibitions.

The Museum has been closed since the end of November 2007 while it undertakes a £1.2 million refurbishment programme. Work is progressing well and the start of the summer marks the beginning of its spaces becoming accessible to the public once more.

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE APRIL 30th 2008
TWO FAMOUS WW2 WARSHIP WRECKS DISCOVERED!

The discovery of the wreck of the famous British heavy cruiser HMS Exeter, along with one of her two destroyer escorts, HMS Encounter, can now be 'officially' revealed for the first time after a successful multi day / multi dive expedition to the wreck sites.

Initially discovered in the Java Sea on 21st February 2007, almost 65 years to the day after their sinking, the extraordinarily historically significant discovery culminated five years of persistent searching by a dedicated core group of shipwreck explorers (see footnote for more details). However, it was decided at the time that news of the discovery would be delayed until high definition video footage and high resolution digital images of the wrecks were taken so there could be no doubt whatsoever as to just which wrecks the group had discovered.

Their recent April 2008 survey expedition entitled 'Java Sea Revisited- The HMS Exeter Expedition' has now accomplished that task and in honour of her brave crew left a Royal Navy Ensign attached to her port torpedo tubes to 'fly' in the ocean currents sweeping over the Exeter wreck site.

Click here for an underwater photo and marine paintings of HMS Exeter, and a downloadable press release