diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Actor.scala b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Actor.scala
index d02f37cf7b..8f6f5d70f1 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Actor.scala
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/scala/akka/actor/Actor.scala
@@ -82,7 +82,8 @@ case class Terminated private[akka] (@BeanProperty actor: ActorRef)(
  * INTERNAL API
  *
  * Used for remote death watch. Failure detector publish this to the
- * `eventStream` when a remote node is detected to be unreachable.
+ * `eventStream` when a remote node is detected to be unreachable and/or decided to
+ * be removed.
  * The watcher ([[akka.actor.DeathWatch]]) subscribes to the `eventStream`
  * and translates this event to [[akka.actor.Terminated]], which is sent itself.
  */
diff --git a/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/ClusterEvent.scala b/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/ClusterEvent.scala
index f82f5e8835..bb90764837 100644
--- a/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/ClusterEvent.scala
+++ b/akka-cluster/src/main/scala/akka/cluster/ClusterEvent.scala
@@ -296,9 +296,16 @@ private[cluster] final class ClusterDomainEventPublisher extends Actor with Acto
           }
           publish(event)
 
-        case MemberUnreachable(m) ⇒
+        case MemberDowned(m) ⇒
+          // TODO this case might be collapsed with MemberRemoved, see ticket #2788
+          //   but right now we don't change Downed to Removed
           publish(event)
-          // notify DeathWatch about unreachable node
+          // notify DeathWatch about downed node
+          publish(AddressTerminated(m.address))
+
+        case MemberRemoved(m) ⇒
+          publish(event)
+          // notify DeathWatch about removed node
           publish(AddressTerminated(m.address))
 
         case _ ⇒
diff --git a/akka-cluster/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/cluster/ClusterDeathWatchSpec.scala b/akka-cluster/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/cluster/ClusterDeathWatchSpec.scala
index 3c1b41c950..d711aec55f 100644
--- a/akka-cluster/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/cluster/ClusterDeathWatchSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-cluster/src/multi-jvm/scala/akka/cluster/ClusterDeathWatchSpec.scala
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
  */
 package akka.cluster
 
+import language.postfixOps
+import scala.concurrent.duration._
 import com.typesafe.config.ConfigFactory
 import org.scalatest.BeforeAndAfter
 import akka.remote.testkit.MultiNodeConfig
@@ -54,7 +56,7 @@ abstract class ClusterDeathWatchSpec
   }
 
   "An actor watching a remote actor in the cluster" must {
-    "receive Terminated when watched node becomes unreachable" taggedAs LongRunningTest in {
+    "receive Terminated when watched node becomes Down" taggedAs LongRunningTest in within(20 seconds) {
       awaitClusterUp(roles: _*)
       enterBarrier("cluster-up")
 
@@ -76,10 +78,12 @@ abstract class ClusterDeathWatchSpec
         watchEstablished.await
         enterBarrier("watch-established")
         expectMsg(path2)
-        expectNoMsg
+        expectNoMsg(2 seconds)
         enterBarrier("second-terminated")
 
         markNodeAsUnavailable(third)
+        awaitCond(clusterView.unreachableMembers.exists(_.address == address(third)))
+        cluster.down(third)
         expectMsg(path3)
         enterBarrier("third-terminated")
 
@@ -91,6 +95,8 @@ abstract class ClusterDeathWatchSpec
         enterBarrier("watch-established")
         runOn(third) {
           markNodeAsUnavailable(second)
+          awaitCond(clusterView.unreachableMembers.exists(_.address == address(second)))
+          cluster.down(second)
         }
         enterBarrier("second-terminated")
         enterBarrier("third-terminated")
@@ -132,7 +138,7 @@ abstract class ClusterDeathWatchSpec
       enterBarrier("after-3")
     }
 
-    "be able to shutdown system when using remote deployed actor on node that crash" taggedAs LongRunningTest in {
+    "be able to shutdown system when using remote deployed actor on node that crash" taggedAs LongRunningTest in within(20 seconds) {
       runOn(fourth) {
         val hello = system.actorOf(Props[Hello], "hello")
         hello.isInstanceOf[RemoteActorRef] must be(true)
@@ -141,6 +147,9 @@ abstract class ClusterDeathWatchSpec
         enterBarrier("hello-deployed")
 
         markNodeAsUnavailable(first)
+        awaitCond(clusterView.unreachableMembers.exists(_.address == address(first)))
+        cluster.down(first)
+
         val t = expectMsgType[Terminated]
         t.actor must be(hello)