Chapter 4 In Western Longitudes; In the Indian Ocean; Australia Station 1940/41

IV. IN WESTERN LONGITUDES

As was obvious from its geographical position, the first and most important sea battleground during this war-as in the last-would be the Atlantic Ocean. It is an area across which the majority of the many roads lead to the English Channel, and although these roads were to vary their European terminals slightly during hostilities, the "Western Approaches" and the "North-Western Approaches" were to become again the scenes of Britain's most strenuous struggle in defence of her merchant shipping.

As an indication of the importance with which the "Battle of the Atlantic" was later to loom over the world war scene, Germany's first blow against Britain was struck on this ocean on September 4, 1939, the day after the outbreak of war, when the Anchor Liner Athenia, with many passengers including women and children, was torpedoed without warning by a German submarine. This move by Germany was the more significant since it showed that she had, as in the past, again thrown overboard all undertakings to the contrary to which she was a party, and had decided on a "sink-at-sight" policy from the outset.

The maintenance of control of the sea here, as elsewhere, imposed two main tasks on the British Navy. One was the protection of British, Allied, and neutral shipping on these, the world's most crowded trade routes; the other was the prevention of their use by enemy merchant ships, or by ships carrying contraband of war for the enemy.

On September 3, 1939, there was only one Australian warship in the western longitudes. That was H.M.A.S. Perth. Perth was the last of the three modified Leander class, 6-inch cruisers, acquired by Australia under the accelerated defence programme which had been initiated some few years before the outbreak of the war. The other two ships of that class, H.M.A.S. Sydney and H.M.A.S. Hobart, had been in commission in the Royal Australian Navy since 1935 and 1938 respectively. H.M.A.S. Perth, which had been H.M.S. Amphion in the Royal Navy, was re-christened Perth by H.R.H. the Duchess of Kent, and commissioned in the Royal Australian Navy on June 29, 1939, under the command of Captain H. D. Farncomb, M.V.O., R.A.N.

Sailing from Portsmouth on July 26 for Australia via the United States of America, where she represented Australia at the World Fair at New York, Perth was in the Caribbean Sea when the war broke out, and remained there for some months on patrol work, and keeping a watchful eye on the German merchant shipping lying in the ports of the Dutch West Indies and other neutral territories.

Here the Perth suffered all the rigours and discomforts of active service at sea in war-time with none of the glories. But she did a good job of necessary, if uninspiring, work there until March, 1940, when she left the Atlantic and proceeded via Panama to Australia, so that, for a few weeks, there were no Australian ships in western longitudes.

There were, however, a number of Australian naval personnel in these longitudes, at the outbreak of war, and from then on the number increased. One of these days the full story of the men of the Royal Australian Navy serving with the Royal Navy during this war will be told. At present but few of their stories have "made the news". But there are stories in plenty for the recounting, and they will eventually add many valuable and inspiring pages to Australian Naval History. Some idea of the sort of jobs R.A.N. men were doing in the Atlantic sphere is given by the article in this book entitled "Gate Crashers", written by an Australian Navy man who was himself a "gate crasher".

There were such Australian Navy "gate crashers" in command of British destroyers at Norway; in the fighting in and around the Lowlands May, 1940; at Dunkirk; and in the waters around the British Isles. Ratings of the A.N. were - and are - serving in British warships of all types in those northern latitudes where the "Battle of the Atlantic" is being fought. Not permanent service men only, but men of the Royal Australian Naval Reserve, and the Royal Australian Naval Volunteer Reserve. Since the outbreak of war a steady and growing stream of Royal Australian naval men has been leaving our shores for service with the Royal Navy, especially in anti-submarine work, and the smaller vessels such as minesweepers and motor torpedo boats.

With the departure of the Perth from the Atlantic there was, however, a short period during which no Australian ship was in western longitudes. But it did not last for long. At the end of June, the 8-inch cruiser H.M.A.S. Australia, having crossed the Indian Ocean, rounded the Cape and entered the Atlantic, and remained for some months in those waters.

A great deal had happened since the Australia had sailed from her home port nearly two months earlier. During her passage across the Indian Ocean, Italy had declared war on France and Britain; Germany had overrun Holland, Belgium, and northern France; the evacuation of Dunkirk had taken place; and, on June 22, France had concluded an armistice with Germany. The immediate impact of the armistice was felt by the British Navy. At one stroke it was deprived-save for those few French ships which elected to serve under the Free French Movement led by General de Gaulle and Admiral Muselier rather than follow Vichy France in the acceptance of the armistice terms-of the help of a powerful Navy in its task of policing the seas of the whole world, checkmating the German surface naval units, and combating the growing submarine menace.

More than that, the lengths to which the Germans and Italians would go to force the French to hand the Fleet over for service under the Axis, could be assessed with some degree of accuracy; but the extent to which the Vichy Government would be amenable to Axis demands could not so easily be estimated. The fact remained that, not only was the British Fleet weakened by the loss of a powerful Allied Navy, it was now threatened with additional forces against it, should that Navy get into the enemy's hands.

It was, therefore, at a crucial time in the history of the war that H.M.A.S. Australia entered the Atlantic Ocean, being employed, as her first task in that sphere, as part of the escort of an important convoy from Capetown to Freetown, Sierra Leone.

On the day that Australia and her convoy reached its destination, one of the most tragic incidents of the war was taking place at another port in the African continent, but on the Mediterranean not the Atlantic seaboard. The Government of Great Britain had been forced to make a fateful decision. In the French naval base of Oran, Algiers, lay a powerful French fleet containing some of the flower of the French naval units. The ships included the battleships Provence, Bretagne, Strasbourg and Dunkerque, together with the seaplane carrier Commandant Teste and a force of light cruisers, destroyers, and submarines.

The danger of these ships falling into Axis hands was too great to leave unheeded. A British fleet under Vice-Admiral Sir James Somerville was therefore despatched to Oran, and an ultimatum was presented to the French Commanding Officer, Admiral Marcel Gensoul.

The ultimatum demanded that the French fleet at Oran follow one of three courses:
- sail with Britain and continue to fight;
- sail with reduced crews under British control to a British port;
- sail with reduced crews under British control to a French port in the West Indies,
- or be entrusted to the United States until the end of the war.

Failing acceptance of the ultimatum, Admiral Sommerville had orders to use whatever force was necessary to prevent the French ships falling to German or Italian hands. The ultimatum was rejected by Admiral Gensoul, and Admiral Somerville was unhappily compelled to open fire on the French ships on July 3.

This is was not the only concentration of French warships whose presence as active fighting units might presently constitute a serious danger to Britain. Five hundred miles north of where the Australia was lying at Sierra Leone, was the French base of Dakar, just under the westernmost point of the African continent at Cape Verde. A number of French warships, headed by the 35,000-ton battleship Richelieu, was lying there. An ultimatum similar to that presented to Admiral Gensoul at Oran, was presented to the French officer in charge at Dakar, and with a similar result.

Acting under the orders of the Commander-in-Chief South Atlantic, Australia departed from Sierra Leone on July 4, and from the 5th to the 9th of the month was operating with a British force off Dakar, the object being to prevent the French warships in the port from falling into Axis hands in an effective state. It was during this period that a fast motor boat from the aircraft carrier Hermes, in a night attack successfully negotiated the boom at Dakar, entered the harbour, and exploded depth charges under the stern of Richelieu, effectively rendering her hors de combat. Subsequent to this exploit, the motor boat made its escape and was recovered by the British forces off the port.

Two months later, after a period with a cruiser squadron of the Royal Navy operating on patrols north of the British Isles and off the Norwegian coast, H.M.A.S. Australia was again in the Dakar area, on the occasion of the attempt to persuade the French forces there to throw in their lot with the Free French. Australia was one of a strong British naval force, and Free French troops under General de Gaulle took part in the operations. The French authorities ashore, however, stood firm for Vichy, and the affair resulted in a clash between the British fleet and the French vessels and shore defences at Dakar, in which Australia was engaged.

Australia was employed in these operations from September 14 to September :Z5, during most of which time she was patrolling off Dakar to prevent the egress or ingress of Vichy French warships, but on a number of occasions she was in action, either with the shore batteries or with Vichy French ships which were endeavouring to break through the British screen. In one of these encounters she engaged, and put out of

action on fire, a Vichy French destroyer of the Fantasque class. The heaviest actions took place on September 24 and September 25, when the British force carried out daylong bombardments of the forts and the Vichy French ships in the harbour, the engagement being hotly contested on both sides. Throughout the engagement the British ships were subjected to bombing attacks, and suffered some hits from shells, H.M.A.S. Australia being hit during the morning of the 25th and suffering some superficial damage but no casualties. It was during this period of the engagement, however, that Australia's Walrus aircraft, which was carrying out spotting duties, was shot down with the loss of its personnel. Shortly after this the engagement was broken off and the operation concluded.

During October, Australia was patrolling in the Atlantic, including a search for a suspected enemy raider; and during this period she rescued nine of the crew of 13 of a Sunderland Flying Boat which had been forced down on the sea during a heavy gale. The wind at the time was force io, with a high sea running.

While in dry dock in Liverpool during December, 1940, Australia came under the attention of the Luftwaffe, which was carrying out intensive raids on the port at the time, heavy raids taking place on the 20th, 21st, and 22nd of the month. During the night of the 20th a bomb fell in the dry dock, which was partly flooded. It was subsequently discovered that this was a large bomb in the nature of an aerial torpedo of about 3500 pounds. Fortunately it failed to explode properly, and the ship suffered no damage.

Shortly after this, H.M.A.S. Australia formed part of the escort of a convoy for South Africa, and departed from United Kingdom waters on the first leg of her passage back to Australia, and early in February, 1941, she rounded the Cape bound East, and so the last-to the present date-of the original' Australian ships left western longitudes.

There were, however, other ships left to carry on the "Australia will be there" tradition west of the Greenwich Meridian. The "N" Class destroyers had their representatives there, and were carrying on ceaseless work on patrol, escort, and submarine hunting, in addition to Fleet duties. Royal Australian naval personnel, also, continued to be represented in "N" Class destroyers in the Atlantic, and in ships of the Royal Navy of all types.

Altogether, in the Atlantic and other waters far removed from Australia, approximately 3000 officers and men of the Royal Australian Navy are serving with the Royal Navy and manning ships such as the "N" Class destroyers operating overseas.

IN THE INDIAN OCEAN (& loss of HMAS Sydney)

It is in the role of a highway linking a fighting Empire that the Indian Ocean is most prominent in this war, as in the last, its broad surface bearing ships freighted with men and materials to fight in the cause of freedom. It is a highway covetously eyed by the aggressors, and zealously guarded by those in whose world-strategy it looms so largely.

Here the prey which, nearly a quarter of a century before, lured the Emden to disaster, has beckoned again, in the present conflict to more than one enemy commerce raider; here weary days and nights of escort and patrol work have enabled precious cargoes to be ferried back and forth; here famous Sydney fought her last glorious action; here many men of the R.A.N., and the A.I.F. last looked on Australia as they left for overseas, and caught first glimpse again when they returned to face a new foe, nearer home.

As soon as the war broke out, the Australian Navy inaugurated patrols in the Indian Ocean, with a series of widening sweeps from the Western Australian coast. The despatch of Australian and New Zealand troops overseas, apart from the regular running of supply ships to and from the Commonwealth, made the task all the more vital. Distances were such that cruisers generally were preferred for the work, and, apart from the action in which H.M.A.S. Sydney was concerned, the majority of the more noteworthy of the Indian Ocean incidents involving H.M.A. Ships centred about Canberra.

It was Canberra which was sent to search the area when, on November 20, 1940, the British ship Maimoa (8011 tons) sent out a message that she was being attacked by raider about 840 miles west of Perth. Canberra located one of her lifeboats. Within hours that distress message was followed by one from the Port Brisbane (8723 tons), reporting that she was being fired on by a raider. Her position was about 290 miles from where Maimoa had been attacked.

Next day (November 22), Canberra picked up 27 survivors from one of the ships boats. They reported that the raider had opened fire on the Port Brisbane from 2,000 yards, destroying the wireless room with the third round, and hitting the bridge and wrecking the steering gear with the fourth. The men picked up by the cruiser had crept away in the darkness, but the remainder of the personnel apparently had been taken on board the raider as prisoners.

It is a far cry from the eastern sector of the Indian Ocean to the prison camps of Italian Somaliland; yet, despite the sinking of her supply ships in the interim, the story of another raider, Atlantis, could not be pieced together until, many months later, Somaliland fell to the British forces.

The first blow struck by Atlantis was the sinking of the Scientist off the southwest coast of Africa in May, 1940. The raider is believed to have left Germany early that year, on a jackal cruise which is known to have lasted upwards of 12 months. Slipping around the Cape of Good Hope, she captured the motor vessel Tirranna on June io, and placed a prize crew on board. Early in August Tirranna, now used as a prison ship, was despatched for Germany, the raider in the meantime having intercepted and sunk the Talleyrand.

The tactics adopted by Atlantis in the following months were patterned on those followed by most of her type. Concentrating generally on the central sector of the Indian Ocean, she kept well clear of routes on which escorted ships might be expected, contenting herself with swoops on vessels sailing independently. In August and September she sank the King City, Athel King, Benarty and Commissaire Ramel. On September 21 she placed a prize crew on board the Durmitor, and about five days later she despatched this second prison ship for Somaliland.

Atlantis is believed to have sunk a couple more ships before capturing the Norwegian tanker Ketty Brovig early in February, 11941. The tanker, in charge of a prize crew, was in company with the 74oo-ton former Norddeutscher-Lloyd ship Coburg which was operating as a raider supply ship-on March 4, 1941, when they were intercepted by H.M.A.S. Canberra. The Australian cruiser was on patrol with H.M.N.Z.S. (then H.M.S.) Leander.

When ordered to stop, Coburg and Ketty Brovig separated and attempted to escape. As soon as Canberra opened fire on Coburg her crew took scuttling action; fire spread rapidly from amidships, and she sank very suddenly. Ketty Brovig also was scuttled, by her prize crew. The personnel of both ships were picked up from their boats by the cruisers.

Other raiders besides Atlantis have preyed upon commercial craft in the Indian Ocean, and not all have worn the guise of merchantmen. The German pocket battleship Graf Spee passed that way before she went to ignominious doom at the Battle of the Plate. So did the Admiral Scheer, and she, too, preferred to pick off her victims singly.

In February, 1941, H.M.S. Leander intercepted the Italian raider Ramb 1 (3667 tons), south-west of the Maldives Islands, and sank her with gunfire. Three months later, after an all-day chase, H.M.S. Cornwall sent an 8ooo-ton German raider to the bottom off the north-east coast of Africa.

On November 19, 1941, the Australian Navy suffered its heaviest loss of the war to that date, when H.M.A.S. Sydney was lost, with all hands, in the Indian Ocean, after sinking the heavily-armed German raider Steiermark. As none of her personnel has been located, precise details of what occurred on board the Australian cruiser must remain a matter for surmise; and the story of her last action can be reconstructed only on the basis of accounts given by the raider's survivors, 317 of whom reached Australia.

Sydney was on patrol, and apparently was about 300 miles west of Carnarvon (Western Australia) when, shortly before dusk, she encountered Steiermark (also known as Kormoran), in the guise of an inoffensive merchantman. Obviously the disguise gave the initial advantage to the German, on whom Sydney-patently a warship and a known enemy to the raider's crew - had to close to establish identity.

The cruiser made the closing movement cleared for action, but as soon as the raider realized that her identity would be detected, she opened fire with a salvo which struck Sydney full on the bridge, placing her at a temporary but vital disadvantage. It is a tribute to Sydney's preparedness that the German survivors admitted that the cruiser's opening salvo was simultaneous with their own. Although her central control was badly damaged, and a fire had broken out, Sydney immediately closed the range, bringing fierce, probably independent, fire to bear. The enemy was crippled by a direct hit in the engine room, and was set heavily on fire. But Sydney, in the meantime, also was on fire amidships from another salvo from the raider.

So darkness came with both ships ablaze. The enemy abandoned their vessel, which subsequently blew up. From their boats, the Germans watched Sydney disappear over the horizon. She was then on fire amidships; and that was the last seen of her.

A widespread search by air and sea was instituted as soon as Sydney was reported to be overdue, and before it was known that she had been in action. Hundreds of thousands of square miles of ocean were scoured day after day by aircraft and surface vessels. The searchers located the survivors of the raider-some of whom had reached the Western Australian coast, while others were at sea in lifeboats-but the sole trace of the Australian cruiser was one unoccupied Carley float, damaged by gunfire, and two empty lifebelts. The search was not abandoned until December 5.

When she fought her last action, H.M.A.S. Sydney had on board 645 officers and men, and was under the command of Captain Joseph Burnett, R.A.N. Before their burning ship went over the horizon they had the satisfaction of knowing that they had sent their- adversary to the bottom, and had worthily upheld the traditions of their ship and their Service.

With the entry of Japan into the war, and her progress through Malaya, Singapore and the Dutch East Indies and into the Bay of Bengal, the Indian Ocean has assumed a new significance, underlined by Britain's prompt steps to forestall any Nipponese attempt to occupy Madagascar.

In their early sweeps over the Bay of Bengal, Japanese aircraft paid dearly for the damage they caused, but among their victims was the destroyer H.M.A.S. Vampire, lost in April, 1942. Six of her crew were killed, one died of wounds, and two, including her Commanding Officer (Commander W. T. A. Moran, R.A.N.) were reported missing believed killed.

Only a short time before, Vampire, with a British destroyer, sank one Japanese destroyer and damaged another off the coast of Malaya. In the Mediterranean, in the

AUSTRALIA STATION, 1940-41

WITH public interest centred in Europe and the Middle East, many Australians can be accused of having adopted almost a lethargic attitude towards this 'war practically up to the time of Japan's treacherous attack on Pearl Harbour. To many, the war was something probably very unpleasant for those living on the other side of the world, but something only remotely affecting Australia, and certainly most unlikely to touch her shores.

Fortunately, that was not the attitude of die Fighting Forces, and particularly not that of the Navy. Even though our enemies then were half a globe away from us, and even assuming we were to acquire no fresh opponents nearer at hand, the conflict nevertheless had to be regarded as world-wide. For the Navy, the enemy had to be sought and fought on every sea, and guarded against on every coast and along every shipping lane.

So, on the Australian station, the year i94o opened with the continued implementing of the measures so promptly introduced when war broke out, and the development and expansion of those measures to an extent unparalleled in the history of die young Service. Not many months were to elapse before this policy of ever-increasing strength was more than vindicated.

Week by week organization was steadily built up and improved. New ships were on the stocks; more and more merchant ships were requisitioned and placed in commission as armed merchant cruisers or as auxiliary minesweepers; increasing numbers of merchantmen were defensively armed; war signal stations, examination services and control centres, were developed to new pitches of efficiency. If proof of the necessity for such "home front" precautions were required, it was provided by such developments as the daring series of attacks on passenger and cargo ships by German raiders in the Pacific, the shelling of Nauru, and the laying of enemy minefields in our own coastal waters.

There were those who fondly imagined that minesweeping in Australian waters, at least in those days, was virtually a waste of time, and that the men on the job either were "in training" or could have been employed more profitably elsewhere. After all, there may have been a few random mines about these shores during the last war, but that probably was a misadventure which would not occur again; the enemy would be too busily engaged on the other side of the world to worry about the Australian sea routes. This complacent school had to readjust its ideas very suddenly when, on November 7, 1940, a 10,800 ton British freighter sank after striking an enemy mine only six miles from Wilson's Promontory, the south-eastern corner of the Australian mainland. This meant that the enemy had sent a visitor right to our door, and that he had left deadly evidence of his visit.

Next day, a few miles south of Cape Otway, the United States freighter City of Rayville (5,883 tons) struck a mine and sank in 35 minutes. She was America's first shipping loss of the war. From each of these ships only one life was lost. In the meantime, the Bass Strait area had been temporarily closed to shipping, and into the danger zone went the minesweepers. Their harvest showed that, but for their vigilance, quite a few more merchantmen might well have been lost.

Next month the toll of destruction and damage from mines spread to the New South Wales and South Australian coasts. Seven lives were lost when the coastal steamer Nimbin (1,052 tons) was sunk by a mine off the New South Wales coast. Two days later it seemed that a much larger British vessel would meet a similar fate when she struck a mine in South Australian waters; but an excellent towing job brought her safely to port for repairs. At recurring intervals, even up to a few months ago, mines have been swept and destroyed, or rendered safe after being found stranded, over a considerable portion of Australia's coastline. In March, 1941, the trawler Millimumul was sunk by a mine, which apparently fouled her trawl, off New South Wales; seven of her crew were lost. The survivors saw the mine, and their description indicated that it was one of the field laid late in the previous year. In July, 11941, two members of a naval party were killed when about to deal with a mine found stranded in South Australia.

The fact that these, and others subsequently swept or stranded, apparently formed part of the original field is evidence of one of the most sinister aspects of this form of warfare. Enemy mines do not become innocuous when they break adrift from their moorings, and Australian experience shows the distances which they can drift. Yet it has been necessary for naval and police authorities to issue repeated warnings to inquisitive spectators who insist on attempting to examine stranded mines at close quarters! When the war is over, the world may be told, in terms of mines swept and destroyed, the true nature of the work done by auxiliary minesweepers in safeguarding lives and cargoes along Australia's 12,000 miles of coastline.

So far, the toll of life and material through mines in these waters has been amazingly small; and, of the auxiliary sweepers themselves, only one-H.M.A.S. Goorangai -has been lost. None of her 23 personnel was saved when she was sunk in collision with a merchant ship near Queenscliff, Port Phillip Bay, on the night of November 20, 1940- She was not actually engaged in sweeping when she was sunk, but she and her crew were worthy members of a worthy branch of the Service. Although not killed by enemy action, her men were the Australian Navy's first grouped loss in the present war.

But sinkings due to mines proved to be only one phase of the enemy's activities close to our own shores at that stage of the war, and in the months which followed it became apparent that there were other menaces to be coped with in the Pacific. On August 12, 1940, the French steamer Notou (2,489 tons) sailed from Newcastle for Noumea. She did not reach her destination. Subsequent events were to show that she was the first ship sunk in the Pacific by the German surface raiders which, generally operating as a trio, appeared in those waters over a period of slightly more than six

months. A comprehensive account of the depredations of this pack was obtained ultimately from some of the 496 prisoners whom the raiders landed at Emirau Island (New Guinea) on December 21, 1940. These reached Australia by rescue ship on January 1, 1941

Generally, and particularly in the later stages of their career, the prowlers operated together. They comprised a ship known variously among the prisoners as Narvik or the Black Raider, the Manyo Maru, and the Tokyo Maru, the last-named apparently serving as a supply ship for her consorts. It was established that the Notou was sunk on August 6; and four days later - Turakina met a similar fate. Then followed almost two months of silence, possibly explained by the subsequent statement of released prisoners that their food on board the raiders included Japanese tinned goods.

The next victim, Ringwood, was sunk about 500 miles from Nauru, on October 15Once more there was silence, this time for a month, which, incidentally, included the period during which the Bass Strait mines apparently were laid. November and December brought a crop of sinkings, beginning with the Holmwood on November 25, and bringing the largest individual victim in the small hours of the following morning, when the 16,7oo-ton passenger liner Rangitane went down in flames. Like more than one of the others, Rangitane sold herself dearly, and her defensive armament is known to have done some damage. Unfortunately, there were casualties on board this ship, but the vast majority of her passengers and crew were taken off as prisoners.

The raiders then doubled back towards the Nauru area. They sank the Triona on December 6, and next day they had their biggest run of successes, sinking, within 14 hours, the Vinni, Triadic, Triaster, and Komata, whose combined tonnages exceeded 21,000.

Two weeks later, the prisoners on board Manyo Maru and Tokyo Maru were landed on Emirau Island. Those who had been placed on board the Narvik were not released. Months later came advice that they were prisoners of war in Germany. On December 27, 1940, came the last evidence of the raiders' movements, when an enemy vessel-presumably one of the trio-stood off Nauru and heavily shelled the phosphate loading equipment, causing substantial damage.

Some months before these raiders first commenced to prey on Pacific shipping, Mussolini, on June 10, 1940, had a misleading vision of a victory march, and threw Italy into the war. This ill-conceived move also had its repercussions in Australia, where steps had been taken to ensure that, if Italy did declare herself against the Allies, Italian ships then in these waters should not be allowed to escape.

The motor vessel Remo was at Fremantle when the new enemy went to war, so she was promptly seized by the Australian Navy. The master of the Romolo may, perhaps, have been able to read Il Duce's mind a little more clearly; anyhow, his ship sailed from Brisbane on June 5, bound ostensibly for Macassar, via Thursday Island.

What his thoughts were when he saw an Australian armed merchant cruiser, H.M.A.S. Manoora, in his neighbourhood may be surmised. But, with Italy not yet a belligerent, both ships had equal rights to the high seas, and the Italian was in no way molested, even when the Australian pilot was taken off after it had become obvious that Romolo's course had been drastically altered. In fact. rather than give any semblance

of provocation, the merchant cruiser kept well away until, when Italy finally declared war, the chase was "on" in earnest.

The pursuit did not last long. Whether Romolo can lay claim to the very doubtful distinction of being the first Italian ship scuttled in this war is not quite clear, but her crew set fire to her when she was overtaken by the merchant cruiser on June i2-barely two days after Italy ha I joined forces with Germany. Passengers and crew abandoned ship before she sank, which sinking was hastened by a few shells from Manoora, and all were picked up by the Australian.

By way of good measure, the Manoora, en route to port with Romolo's personnel, altered course on receipt of an S 0 S from a wrecked United States merchantman. She also picked up the crew of this vessel.

The pin-pointing of outstanding incidents in any one period of the war tends to minimize what may be described as the Navy's "routine" work, the less spectacular tasks which, if not efficiently performed, would cause a breakdown in the entire system. Young men are accepted into the Navy only if they are prepared to serve anywhere in the world, afloat or ashore. The vast majority realize their ambition by being drafted to sea; but ships cannot be kept in action and shipping cannot be controlled without the collaboration of smooth-working shore bases, and shore bases cannot work smoothly without trained naval personnel.

Basically, the Navy owes its success to the fact that it operates as a whole, and not in separate sections. The control vested in the Australian Naval Board is delegated through widespread channels, but, in the ultimate analysis, the responsibility for administration lies with the Board, which, in turn, functions under the First Naval Member and Chief of Naval Staff.

Obviously, this is a post whose occupant must be a man of wide experience, highly skilled in his own calling, and wise in the ways of the world outside that Service. The Australian Navy has been more than fortunate in the succession of men chosen as First Naval Members. The part played by Admiral Sir Ragnar Colvin-who held the position when the present war broke out-has already been mentioned. He came to Australia after having been Vice-Admiral in command of the Royal Naval War College. After the last war he had been, in turn, Assistant Director of Plans Division at the Admiralty, Naval Attach6 in Japan, Chief of Staff of the Home Fleet, and President of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich.

Ill-health compelled Sir Ragnar Colvin to resign from his position in March, 1941. and he was succeeded by another man of high repute and wide experience, the present First Naval Member and Chief of Naval Staff, Vice-Admiral Sir Guy C. C. Royle, K.C.B., C.M.G. To him fell the task of further expanding and developing the Australian Navy, of preparing a young Service, already at war, for the threatened intervention of yet another aggressor-this time much nearer our own shores. Vice-Admiral Royle came equipped with a wide combination of combative and administrative experience. His services in the last war had earned for him Mention in Despatches and the C.M.G.

The years 1924-27 found him Naval Attaché in Japan. From 1930 to 1932 he was in command of H.M.S. Excellent (Royal Naval Gunnery School), and in 1933 and 1934 he commanded the aircraft carrier H.M.S. Glorious. From then until 1937 he was Naval Secretary to the First Lord of the Admiralty, going from there to the position of Vice-Admiral Commanding Aircraft Carriers and flying his flag in H.M.S. Ark Royal. From 1939 until his appointment to Australia he was a Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty and Chief of Naval Air Services. He was knighted after the outbreak of the war.

Directly responsible for the control of the fleet at sea is the Rear-Admiral Commanding the Australian Squadron. Here, again, Australia has had a succession of outstanding servants. Shortly after this war began, Rear-Admiral W. N. Custance, C.B., died of illness while returning to England. His successor, Rear-Admiral J. G. Crace, was an Australian-born officer of the Royal Navy who spent a considerable proportion of the last war in the old H.M.A.S. Australia. Rear-Admiral Crace's distinguished services as Rear-Admiral Commanding the Australian Squadron earned him the award of C.B., in July, ig4i. On his proceeding overseas to take up another appointment, he was succeeded in June, 1942, by Rear-Admiral V. A. C. Crutchley, V.C., D.S.C.

WHEN the inhabitants of a comparatively small island, or group of islands, are an aggressive and covetous people possessed of a sense of destiny and a desire for world domination, the sea is to them both a barrier against and a bridge toward the realization of their dreams of conquest. Being islanders, the sea is the first-and last-battleground on which they will have to fight to gain their objectives, so that a powerful Navy will be their prerequisite. That being so, it is natural that neighbours -even distant ones with interests in the neighbourhood-should on their own accounts consider powerful navies a prerequisite, and the situation eventually arises when a trial of strength between fleets is inevitable.

That situation had been arising in the Pacific Ocean over a number of years, and it came to a head during the closing months of 1941. Let us take a glance at the map to get a picture of the screen and of the actors. The comparatively small island concerned, Japan, lies in the north-west; the ultimately desirable areas of occupation by her -because of their richness in raw materials-lie south-west and south of her, Malaya, the islands of the East Indian Archipelago, and Australia. The distant neighbour with interests in the neighbourhood - the United States of America - lies some 5,000 miles to the eastward of Japan, but that country's interests in the neighbourhood, the Philippine Islands, also viewed covetously by Japan, lie only about one third of that distance almost due south of that island.

Thus the general position geographically. Militarily, the aggressor was in a weaker position so far as sea power was concerned, than the other combined nations. Great Britain had a powerful naval base in Malaya at Singapore, and could put a strong fleet into the area. The United States, ship for ship, could herself outweigh Japan in the Pacific, and had bases in the Philippines and at Hawaii, 3,300 miles from Japan. The Dutch had strong bases and a sizeable fleet 'in the Netherlands East Indies, and Australia, apart from the support of Britain, possessed a compact fleet of cruisers, destroyers, and smaller vessels.

Unfortunately, owing to circumstances not unconnected with the original interest of the United States in the Philippine Islands Japan, in the initial stages of the conflict that presently developed, had a greater weight of "artillery" than the other nations, owing to the bomber and torpedo-carrying aircraft and the excellent series of steppingstones in the shape of shore aircraft bases that led from her mainland to her southern objectives.

To get the proper picture, it is necessary to go back a few years to the time of the Spanish-American war. When, during that conflict, a United States cruiser stopped at and took Guam, the largest of the Ladrone Islands lying just below the Tropic of Cancer, due south of Japan, it unfortunately failed to take also the other 16 islands of the group, stretching away northwards for a distance of some 6oo miles. Consequently, although Guam was formally ceded to the United States at the conclusion of
hostilities by the Treaty of Paris, the rest of the group remained the property of Spain, who presently sold them to Germany. When Germany lost the war of 1914-18, Japan acquired the Ladrones except Guam, together with the Pelews, the Carolines, and the Marshalls, as mandated territory. Following her withdrawal from the League of Nations, she stuck to them all as actual possessions. Thus, when she was ready to strike, Japan had a series of ready-made stationary "aircraft carriers" stretching from her own mainland well down to her southern objectives.

They were strongly to influence-and are still influencing-the development of the war which broke out in the Pacific Ocean on December 7, 1941.

A number of Australian ships was in the Singapore area at the time. They included the destroyer Vampire, and the A.M.S. vessels Bendigo, Burnie, Goulburn, and Maryborough, which had been engaged for some months in minesweeping, escorting, and patrol duties in Malayan waters. The first of these in action with the Japanese Navy was H.M.A.S. Vampire, which was on the destroyer screen of H.M.Ss Prince of Wales and Repulse when they were sunk off Malaya by torpedo bombers on December 10, Vampire rescuing 225 survivors.

Her next encounter with the enemy was during the night of January 26-27 when, with H.M.S. Thanet, she attacked a Japanese invasion force off Endau, on the eastern coast of Malaya about 100 miles from the southern tip. Contact was made with an enemy force of three destroyers and a cruiser, and action joined at 0318 on January 27. The action resulted in the loss of H.M.S. Thanet and the sinking of one enemy destroyer, while another was put ashore, H.M.A.S. Vampire suffering neither damage nor casualties.

During January, the Royal Australian Naval Forces in the area were strengthened by the arrival of H.M.A.S. Hobart, H.M.A.S. Yarra, and of the three A.M.S. vessels, H.M.A.Ss Ballarat, Toowoomba and Wollongong. Throughout the month the ships were employed on patrol and escort duties, and minesweeping, action with the enemy being confined to the repelling of air attacks, both at Singapore and while on duty at sea. These air attacks became heavier and more widely spread as the enemy progressed southwards on the Malay Peninsula and the islands of the Archipelago, with new bases becoming available to him.

February witnessed the exodus of ships of all types and sizes from Malaya, preceding the fall of Singapore, where, on the 5th of the month, a particularly fine piece of rescue work was carried out by H.M.A.S. Yarra. Yarra was one of the escort of a convoy including the Canadian Pacific liner Empress of Asia, which arrived at Singapore on the morning of the 5th, and was attacked by a large force of Japanese aircraft as it approached the anchorage. The ships suffered an hour's intensive dive-bombing, during which Empress of Asia and another ship were hit and set on fire. The other ship managed to extinguish her fire, but that in the Empress of Asia got too firm a hold, and spread with such rapidity that she had to be abandoned.

The Commanding Officer of H.M.A.S. Yarra took his ship alongside the burning vessel, having first lowered all boats and floats to pick up a number of men from Empress of Asia from the water. Altogether, including those picked up by boats and floats, a total of 1804 men was rescued by Yarra, including 1,334 taken off by the ship herself while lying alongside the burning vessel. Speaking of the men in Empress of Asia, the Commanding Officer of Yarra said: "On arrival alongside I found the troops mustered in an orderly fashion and commenced embarking them over my forecastle. Their discipline and good morale deserves commendation and their embarkation was conducted in a most orderly fashion."

During the shipping exodus from Singapore, H.M.A. Ships were kept busy escorting various convoys clear of the area, some being bound to the westward, others to Australia, and many to Java. Losses among the merchant vessels were heavy at this stage, mostly from air attack, restricted waters such as Banka Strait giving the enemy great advantages in this form of warfare. The A.M.S. vessels did particularly valuable

work during this period, and its units were employed on a variety of tasks, ranging from rescuing shipwrecked crews, patrolling in the notorious "Bomb Alley"-Banka Strait-carrying out the final evacuation and demolition work, and maintaining an A/S patrol for protection of merchant shipping lying in the roadstead of Tandjong Priok during the period when that port was hopelessly congested as a result of the influx of shipping from Malaya.

One of the largest rescue operations was carried out by H.M.A.S. Ballarat, which picked up 215 survivors from a British merchant ship which was torpedoed seven miles south-west of South Watcher Island (6o miles north-west of Batavia) at 21oo on February 13. The Ballarat came on the scene of the sinking at 1225 on the following day, fifteen and a half hours after the vessel had gone down. The sea presented an extraordinary sight, being covered over a large area with rafts and boats from the lost vessel, and with planks and small makeshift rafts each supporting two or three persons. Ballarat sent away her motor boat and whaler to round up and collect the small-parties while she herself rescued the greater numbers from the large rafts and boats, the work taking nearly five hours to complete.

The rapid deterioration in the military situation following the fall of Singapore and the Japanese occupation of Palembang, led to the decision to evacuate Oosthaven, at the southernmost end of Sumatra. The A.M.S. vessels were concerned in these operations, and H.M.A.S. Burnie stood by at the withdrawal, and embarked the rearguard on February 18, taking them to Batavia. Subsequently a request was received for a party of R.A.F. to be taken from Batavia to Oosthaven to salve some essential Air Force material which it was thought might still remain there. H.M.A.S. Ballarat was detailed for this operation.

She left Batavia at 1400 on February 11th reaching Oosthaven at 0400 on the 20th. It was not known at this stage whether the enemy were at Oosthaven in force. The Commanding Officer of Ballarat accordingly landed and surveyed the entrance to the harbour. Then, following a bombardment of the harbour and approach at dawn, the ship went in.

A party of R.A.F. personnel armed with Tommy guns landed and covered the northern shore approaches, and the southern approaches were covered by a landing party from the ship. The special R.A.F. equipment was successfully salvaged, and, following the demolition of material it was impossible to take away, the landing parties withdrew on board, and the ship slipped and proceeded at 1500 on February 20, the operation having been carried out successfully and without loss.

It was while the A.M.S. vessels in die Malayan area were on these operations that Darwin suffered its first air raid on February 19. The attack was directed especially at the harbour, and the men of the R.A.N. there had their first chance to see naval men of our United States Ally in action, when the destroyer U.S.S. Peary was bombed, set on fire, and sunk; and praise was high of the gallantry of the personnel of that ship, who stuck to their guns to the last, continuing firing as the burning vessel went under the, water. Here, too, the personnel of the R.A.N., in the Shore Base Staff and also those in ships of the R.A.N. operating from and around Darwin, showed up particularly well.

During the evacuation of Sumatra the A.M.S. vessels took a prominent part, Goulburn and Burnie being at Oosthaven, Wollongong, Ballarat and Bendigo at Palembang, and Toowoomba at Merula, while an A.M.S. vessel, the Ballarat, was the last R.A.N. ship to leave Singapore.

Meanwhile, the ships and men of our Dutch Ally were putting up a gallant fight, but being gradually driven back by the overwhelming strength of the enemy. The entire naval forces of the Allies in the area were, at this stage, under the command of the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Netherlands Navy, Rear-Admiral Helfrich, as Acting Commander-in-Chief, South-West Pacific, and a striking force in defence of Java was formed under the command of Rear-Admiral Doorman, one of the units in this force being H.M.A.S. Perth, which had arrived in the area on February 24- It was this striking force which engaged a Japanese fleet to the north-westward of Soerabaya on Friday, February 27. Another striking force was formed on February 26, including H.M.A.S. Hobart, its object being to attack an enemy convoy reported to be making for western Java.

H.M.A.S. Hobart, during her period in Malayan waters, withstood some of the severest bombing of her career. During one of these bombing attacks, on February 3, Hobart rescued the passengers and crew of a British ship which was being bombed by three Japanese aircraft and was badly on fire, with many wounded among her personnel.

The story during this period is one of almost continuous air attacks. Hobart was fuelling in Tandjong Priok on February 25 when 27 bombers attacked her and the tanker from which she was fuelling. It was estimated that 6o bombs fell near and around the two ships. Hobart suffered some damage from bomb splinters, and some casualties, and it was her inability to complete fuelling on this occasion that prevented her from taking part in the Java Sea battle of the 27th. As an instance of the intensity of the bombing attacks at sea, and the calls made both on personnel and ship-and the fine way with which they were answered-the Commanding Officer of Hobart stated how:

There have been occasions when I have had to call for the most violent maneuvering of the main engines, and the instant answer has resulted in swinging the ship in a manner I hardly thought possible. On one occasion I found it necessary to go from 24 knots ahead to 24 knots astern on one engine, while going full ahead on the other. It was on that occasion that the bombs fell close enough for me to see the ugly red flash of their burst and to feel the heat of their explosions across my face-but the ship steamed clear.

And he went on to comment that with a less alert engine-room team, the results might have been very different.

H.M.A.S. Perth was one of the ships which fought in the Java Sea battle of February 27, when the Allied force, comprising Dutch, United States, and British and Australian units under the command of Rear-Admiral Doorman, joined action with a strong Japanese force which was covering a convoy heading southward from Macassar Strait. Action was joined with the enemy in the afternoon of Friday, 27th, and the Allied force suffered the loss of the British destroyers Jupiter, Electra and Stronghold, and the Dutch cruisers De Ruyter and Java, and destroyer Kortenaer. Some damage, the full extent unknown, was inflicted on the enemy, and, the action having been broken off, the remaining Allied ships put in to Javanese ports to refuel.

The following night, H.M.A.S. Perth (Captain H. M. L. Waller, D.S.O. and Bar, R.A.N.), with the United States cruiser U.S.S. Houston, left Tandjong Priok with the

intention of proceeding south through Sunda Strait after dark. During the night a report was received from Perth indicating that the two cruisers had come into contact with a force of Japanese ships of St Nicholas Point at about 233o, February 28. Nothing has been heard from either ship since that time. The same night, H.M.S. Exeter, at only half speed-having been damaged in the previous engagement-left Soerabaya with H.M.S. Encounter and U.S.S. Pope. During the following morning, H.M.S. Exeter reported that she had sighted three enemy cruisers steering towards her. No further signals were received from any of these three Allied ships. The Dutch destroyer Evertsen also fell a victim to two Japanese cruisers in Sunda Strait, being damaged and beached.

Following these actions, it being obvious that nothing could prevent the Japanese invasion of Java, orders were given that all R.A.N. Staff officers and men remaining in Batavia were to be withdrawn Tjilatjap, from whence the final evacuation took place. Meanwhile, the remaining Australian ships, the sloop Yarra and the A.M.S. vessels, were despatched as was possible, either escorting convoys, or singly, for Australia. Yarra, as one of the escort of a convoy of merchant ships, sailed from Batavia on February 27On the following day, portion of the convoy escorted by the A.M.S. vessel Wollongong, detached, and Yarra proceeded south for Australia with two merchant vessels and a small motor minesweeper.

At dawn on March 4, an enemy force of three heavy cruisers and four destroyers attacked the convoy, whose sole armament consisted of the Yarra's three 4-inch guns and 3-Pounders, the 4-inch gun and anti-aircraft gun of one of the merchant ships, and the machine-guns of the other. The action was of short duration, although the enemy's initial firing was bad. The entire convoy was destroyed. H.M.A.S. Yarra put up a gallant fight, comparable with that of HMAS. Jervis Bay when she and her convoy were attacked by a German pocket battleship in the Atlantic in 1940.

She put down a smoke screen, and the convoy endeavoured to scatter all ships fighting back to the best of their ability. But against such a weight and power of fire, the fight could but be short-lived. Yarra was put out of action within approximately 20 minutes, although she did not sink until 0900, two and a half hours after the action opened. All of her officers, including her Commanding Officer (Lieutenant-Commander R. W. Rankin, R.A.N.) and most of her crew were lost. At first it was thought that there were no survivors, but after being in the water for 105 hours on two Carley floats and two small rafts, 13 survivors were picked up by a Dutch submarine, and were eventually landed at Colombo.

The seven A.M.S. vessels reached Australia safely, after the fall of Java. The final evacuation of the Royal Australian Naval Forces from that island took place on March 2, the A.M.S. vessels being the last Australian ships to leave, H.M.A.S. Ballarat, which remained behind to sink a small un-seaworthy minesweeper, being the last of all. She followed closely on H.M.A.S. Burnie, which ship, wearing the broad pennant of the Commodore Commanding China Force, left Tjilatjap at 2300 on March 2. So far as is known, no British naval personnel or civilians remained at that port after Burnie had sailed.