History of the Royal Australian Navy
2008/9 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Military History and War
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The History of the Royal Australian Navy can be traced back to 1788 and the colonisation of Australia by the British. During the period until 1859, vessels of the Royal Navy made frequent trips to the new colonies. In 1859, the Australia Squadron was formed as a separate squadron and remained in Australia until 1913. During the period before Federation, each of the six Australian colonies operated their own colonial naval force; these amalgamated in 1901 as the Commonwealth Naval Force. The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) was established in 1911, and in 1913 the fleet steamed through Sydney Heads for the first time.
The Royal Australian Navy has seen action in every ocean of the world during its short life. The RAN first saw action in World War I, and distinguished itself in three oceans. Between the wars the RANs fortunes shifted with the financial situation of Australia: experiencing great growth during the 1920s, but forced to shrink in the 1930s. Entering World War II the RAN was not in the situation it was in 1914. During the war the size of the RAN grew to over 300 vessels of virtually all classes. After World War II the RAN saw action in Korea, Vietnam, and other smaller conflicts. Today the RAN fields a small but modern force, widely regarded as one of the most powerful forces in the Asia Pacific Region.
Pre-Federation navies
From the colonisation of Australia in 1788 until 1859 the blue water defence of Australia was provided by detached units of the Royal Navy's East Asia Squadron based in Sydney. In 1859 Australia was established as a separate Royal Navy squadron; this marked the first occasion the Royal Navy ships had been permanently stationed in Australia. The Royal Navy's Australia Squadron remained the primary naval force in Australian waters until 1913 when the Royal Navy's Australia Station ceased and responsibility handed over to the Royal Australian Navy and its Sydney based depots, dockyards and structures were gifted to the Australian commonwealth.
Prior to Federation five of the six self-governing colony in Australia operated their own Colonial navies. Western Australia did not have a Colonial Naval force. The colonial navies were expanded greatly in the mid-1880s and usually consisted of gunboats and torpedo-boats for coastal defence of harbours and rivers, and naval brigades to man vessels and forts. In 1856 Victoria received its own Naval Vessel, the HMCSS Victoria, which in 1861 was deployed to assist the New Zealand colonial government during the first Taranaki Maori war. When Victoria returned to Australia the vessel had suffered one fatality and taken part in several minor actions. The deployment of Victoria to New Zealand marked the first occasion that an Australian warship had been deployed overseas. In the years leading up to Federation Colonial Victoria, became the most powerful of all the colonial navies. Victoria had HMVS Cerberus since 1870, as well as HMVSNelson, 3 small gunboats and 5 TBs. NSW had 2 very small TBs, and the corvette Wolverine. After Federation all colonial vessels became part of the Commonwealth Naval Force. Ref: Australian Naval Reserves by John M Wilkins RFD*
Formation
After the Federation of Australia in 1901, the Commonwealth Naval Forces was formed on 1 March 1901 by amalgamating the six separate colonial navies. The Commonwealth government, however, paid for the Royal Navy to continue providing blue water defence.
A growing number of people, among them Captain William Rooke Creswell, the director of the Commonwealth Naval Forces, demanded an autonomous Australian navy, financed and controlled by Australia. In 1909 Prime Minister Alfred Deakin and Creswell, while attending the Imperial Conference in London, sought the British Government's agreement to end the subsidy system and develop an Australian navy. The Admiralty rejected and resented the challenge, but suggested diplomatically that a small fleet of destroyers and submarines would be sufficient. Deakin was not impressed with the Admiralty and in 1908 invited the Great White Fleet to visit Australia, this fired the public enthusiasm for a modern navy and lead to the order of two 700 ton River class destroyers, a purchase that angered the British. The surge in German naval construction in 1909 lead the Admiralty to change their position on an Australian Navy. For his work Creswell's name lives on as the name of the naval base, HMAS Creswell, the site of the Royal Australian Naval College at Jervis Bay.
The first Australian warship, the destroyer HMAS Parramatta, was launched at Govan in Scotland on Wednesday 9 February 1910. Sister ship HMAS Yarra, was launched at Dumbarton in Scotland on Saturday 9 April 1910. Both ships were commissioned into the Royal Navy on Monday 19 September 1910 and sailed for Australia. They arrived at Port Phillip on Saturday December 10, 1910, an event that was marred by the death of Engineer Lieutenant W. Robertson, RN. Robertson suffered a heart attack 8 miles (13 km) outside Port Phillip Heads whilst onboard HMAS Yarra, and drowned.
On 10 July 1911 King George V fixed his signature to the approval for the Royal Australian Navy and the ships now officially received the prefix "His Majesty's Australian Ship" (HMAS). The manpower of the fleet stood at four hundred officers and men and, for the next two years, ships were built for the fledgling navy. On Saturday 4 October 1913 the first Fleet Review of the Royal Australian Navy took place, the battle cruiser HMAS Australia, the cruisers HMAS Melbourne and HMAS Sydney, the protected cruiser HMAS Encounter and the torpedo-boat destroyers Parramatta, Yarra and Warrego, entered Sydney Harbour.
During the Imperial Conference of 1911 it was decided that in the event of war the ships of the RAN would be transferred to British Admiralty control. Under the Naval Defence Act (1912) the power to make the transfer was conferred in the Governor General. The RAN would become the Australia Squadron of the Royal Navy with all ships and personnel under the direct control of the Admiralty, while the RAN remained responsible for the upkeep of the ships and training.
World War I
On 3 August 1914,as the prospect of war with the German Empire loomed, the Australian Government sent the following message to the Admiralty.
| “ | In the event of war Government prepared place vessels of Australian Navy under control British Admiralty when desired. | ” |
On the August 8, the British Government telegrammed the Australian Government saying that the Admiralty would be grateful if the transfer be made immediately if not already done. On August 10, the Governor General officially transferred control of the RAN to the Admiralty. The Admiralty returned control of the RAN to the Australian Government on 19 August 1919 the following day, the United Kingdom declared war, bringing the whole British Empire, including Australia, into hostilities with Germany. The war was greeted with enthusiasm in Australia.
At the outbreak of war the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) consisted of Australia, the light cruisers Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane (Under Construction), the destroyers Parramatta, Yarra and Warrego and the submarines AE1 and AE2. 3 more destroyers were under construction, and a small fleet of auxiliary ships was being maintained by the RAN. The Royal Australian Navy at the start of the war was a formidable force.
Australian Navy ships first saw action Asian and Pacific theatre assisting in the attack on German New Guinea by the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF). In 1884 Germany colonised the northeastern part of New Guinea and several nearby island groups. The Germans used the colony as a wireless radio base, Britain required the wireless installations to be destroyed because they were used by the German East Asia Squadron which threatened merchant shipping in the region. The objectives of the force were the German stations at Yap in the Caroline Islands, Nauru and at Rabaul, New Britain. On 30 August 1914 the AN&MEF left Sydney under the protection of HMAS Australia and HMAS Melbourne for Port Moresby where it met the Queensland contingent aboard the transport HMAHS Kanowna. The force then sailed for German New Guinea on September 7 but the Kanowna was left behind when her stokers refused to work. HMAS Sydney and some destroyers met the AN&MEF off the eastern tip of New Guinea. Melbourne was detached to destroy the wireless station on Nauru, while on September 14, Encounter bombarded a ridge near the town, while half a battalion advanced towards the town. The only major loss of the campaign was the disappearance of the Australian submarine AE1 during a patrol off Rabaul on 14 September 1914.
On 9 November 1914 the German light cruiser SMS Emden attacked the critical radio and telegraph station at Direction Island in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. The inhabitants of the island managed to transmit a distress signal and Sydney, only 50 miles (80 km) away, began to steam towards the island. The Sydney reached the area in around two hours and was engaged by Emden. Sydney was the larger, faster and better armed of the two, and eventually overpowered the Emden, with the captain Karl von Müller running the ship aground on North Keeling Island to avoid sinking, at 11.15am. At first Emden refused to strike its colours, Sydney fired on the stationary Emden until it eventually struck its colours. The Battle of Cocos was the first ship-against-ship engagement for the Royal Australian Navy.
On 6 February 1915 the obsolescent light cruiser HMAS Pioneer joined the East African campaign. On July 6, it engaged the German cruiser SMS Königsberg, and German shore batteries, during the Battle of Rufiji Delta. Pioneer remained off East Africa and took part in many bombardments of German East Africa, including Dar-es-Salaam on 13 June, 1916. Pioneer then returned to Australia, to be decommissioned in October 1916.
During the Naval operations in the Dardanelles Campaign the Australian submarine AE 2 became the first Allied warship to breach the Turkish defences of the Dardanelles. AE 2 spent five days in the area and came under attack several time but was unable to find any large enemy troop transports. On 29 April 1915 she was damaged in an attack by the Turkish torpedo-boat Sultan Hisar in Artaki Bay and was scuttled by her crew. The wreck of AE 2 remained undiscovered until 2 July 1998, 83 years after she was scuttled.
Ships of the Royal Australian Navy also assisted the Royal Navy in the blockade of the German High Seas Fleet. HMAS Australia was the flagship of the 2nd Battle Cruiser Squadron and was to take part in the Battle of Jutland. Australia was forced to miss the battle after she collided with her sister ship HMS New Zealand on 22 April 1916, Australia did not return to service until 9 June 1916. Three vessels of the Royal Australian Navy were present during the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet; HMAS Australia, Sydney and Melbourne, Australia led the 2nd Battle Cruiser Squadron during the surrender. The RAN's only two losses during the war were the submarines AE1 and AE2.
The 1918-19 influenza pandemic
Between April 1918 and May 1919 the Spanish Flu killed an estimated 25 million people worldwide, far more than had been killed in four years of war. A rigorous quarantine policy was implemented in Australia this reduced the immediate impact of the flu, but by the end of 1919 the nations death toll stood at more than 11,500.
When the pandemic struck in 1918 the ships of the Royal Australian Navy were dispersed throughout the world, the speed at which the flu spread coupled with the cramped mess decks and poorly ventilated living spaces on early 20th century warships created a favorable environment for the disease. The pandemic swept through the British Grand Fleet in 1918 and the Australian cruisers suffered high casualties, with up to 157 casualties in one ship alone. Outbreaks in the Mediterranean fleets were more severe than those in the Atlantic. HMAS Brisbane recorded 183 casualties between November and December 1918, of those casualties 2 men died of pneumonia. The RAN lost a total of 26 men to the disease. The saving factor was largely the ready availability of professional medical treatment.
South Pacific aid mission
The disease arrived in the South Pacific on the cargo vessel SS Talune which sailed from Auckland on 30 October 1918, knowingly carrying sick passengers. The Talune stopped in Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Nauru, the first outbreaks occurred within days of the ships visits. The local authorities were generally unprepared for the size of the outbreak and the infection spread uncontrollably. The German territory of Samoa was the worst affected of the small islands, the New Zealand administration carried out no efforts to lessen the outbreak and rejected offers of assistance from nearby American Samoa. The New Zealand government officially apologised to Samoa in 2002 for their reaction to the outbreak. On 29 November 1918 the military governor of Apia requested assistance from Wellington; the request was turned down on the grounds that all doctors were needed in New Zealand. Australia offered the only alternate source of aid.
The Commonwealth Naval Board were aware of the worsening situation in the region, the sloop HMAS Fantome while stationed in Fiji reported its first case on 11 November 1918, and soon half her complement was affected. On 20 November 1918 the naval board began forming a joint relief expedition from available military medical personnel. The commanding officer of HMAS Encounter was then ordered to embark the expedition in Sydney and sail as soon as possible. Encounter departed Sydney on 24 November 1918 ten minutes after completing loading. As a precaution all 450 members of the Encounter's crew were doubly inoculated, the ship had suffered 74 cases earlier in the year at Fremantle and the captain did not want a repeat. Encounter arrived in Suva on 30 November and took half the available coal and 39 tonnes of water. Spanish flu was rampant in Suva and Captain Thring implemented a strict quarantine and placed guards on the wharf. All coaling was carried out by the crew; coaling was usually carried out by native labor. Encounter departed Suva in the evening of the same day and arrived off Apia on 3 December. Within six hours the medical landing party and their stores were ashore, Encounter departed for the Tongan capital of Nukuʻalofa immediately arriving their on 5 December. The last of the medical staff and supplies were unloaded, Encounter short on coal sailed for Suva on 7 December. On arriving in Suva Encounter received orders to return to Sydney. She reached Sydney on 17 December and was immediately placed in quarantine. The South Pacific aid mission is regarded as Australia's first overseas relief expedition and set a precedent for future relief mission conducted by the RAN.
Between the wars
Following the end of World War I the Australian Government believed that an immediate evaluation of the RAN was necessary. Australia had based its naval policy on the Henderson Recommendations of 1911 developed by Sir Reginald Henderson. The government sent an invitation to Admiral John Jellicoe, he arrived in Australia in May 1919. Jellicoe remained in Australia for 3 months and then returned to England via New Zealand and Canada. Jellicoe submitted his findings in August 1919, titled the Report on the Naval Mission to the Commonwealth. The report outlined several policies designed to strengthen British naval strength in the Pacific. The report heavily stressed a close relationship between the RAN and the Royal Navy. This would be achieved by strict adherence to the procedure and method of Administration of the Royal Navy. The report also suggested constant officer exchange between the two forces. Jellicoe also called for the creation of a large Far East Imperial Fleet which would include capital ships and aircraft carriers, this force would be mainly based in Singapore. The cost for the creation of such a fleet would be divided between Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand each contributing 75, 20 and 5% respectively. The suggested make up of the RAN would include; 1 aircraft carrier, 2 battlecruisers, 8 light cruisers, 1 flotilla leader, 12 destroyers, a destroyer depot ship, 8 submarines, 1 submarine parent ship and a small number of additional auxiliary ships. The annual cost and depreciation of the fleet was estimated to be £4,024,600. None of Jellicoe's major recommendations were carried out except for the establishment of closer ties with Britain. Although some of the minor recommendations were implemented.
With the end of World War I the Australian Government began to worry about the threat Japan posed to Australia. Japan had extended its empire 3,000 km to the south, bringing it right to Australia's doorstep. Japan had continued to build up its naval force and had reached a stage where it outgunned the Royal Navy in the Pacific. The RAN and the government believed that the possibility of a Japanese invasion was highly likely. In his report, Admiral Jellicoe believed that the threat of a Japanese invasion of Australia would remain as long as the White Australia Policy remained in place. Due to the perceived threat and bilateral support in Australia for the White Australia Policy the Australian Government became a vocal supporter of the continuance of the 1902 Anglo-Japanese Alliance. Australia was joined in its support for the alliance by New Zealand but was heavily opposed by Canada, Canada believed the alliance hindered the Empires relationship with China and the United States. No decision on the alliance as agreed on. The discussion was shelved pending the outcome of the Washington Naval Treaty. The results of the treaty which allowed the British to retain naval supremacy in the Pacific created a sense of security in Australia. Many Australian saw the Four Powers Pact as replacing the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. This sense of security became known as the Ten Year Rule. This lead to defence retrenchments in Australia following the international trend and a £500,000 reduction in expenditure. The Governor General Henry Forster when opening parliament on 22 June 1922 was quoted as saying.
| “ | In view of the result of attained at the Washington Treaty which, my advisors believe, guarantee peace in the Pacific for some time to come, it is proposed to reduce the establishment of the navy and army, and postpone the expansion of the air force. | ” |
Between World War I and World War II the Royal Australian Navy suffered a severe reduction in men and ships. As a result of the Washington Naval Treaty the flagship HMAS Australia was scrapped with her main armaments and sunk outside Sydney Heads in 1924. In the same year, the RAN began a five year program of obtaining new ships from Britain - the heavy cruisers HMAS Australia and HMAS Canberra and the seaplane carrier HMAS Albatross. This purchase was partly paid for by scrapping HMAS Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney along with most of the destroyers. The Great Depression of 1929 hit the RAN hard and led to another reduction of manpower, the RAN although reduced in size had no problem filling its ranks, many men were unemployed and the pay was quite high for the period. Strength of the RAN fell to 3117 personnel plus 131 members of the Naval Auxiliary Services. In 1932 the strength of the Reserves stood at 5446. In the early 1930s, lack of funds forced the transfer of the Royal Australian Naval College from Jervis Bay to Flinders Naval Depot in Victoria. In 1933 the Australian Government ordered 3 light cruisers; HMAS Perth, Hobart and Sydney, and sold the seaplane carrier to fund Hobart. During this time the RAN also purchased destroyers of the V and W destroyer classes, the ships that would come to be know as the Scrap Iron Flotilla. With the ever increasing threat of Germany and Japan in the late 1930s the RAN was not in the position it was at the outbreak of World War I.
World War II
Australia declared war on Nazi Germany one hour after the United Kingdom's declaration of war on 3 September 1939. At the onset of war, the Royal Australian Navy numbered two heavy cruisers, HMAS Australian and Canberra both carried 8-inch (203 mm) guns and had entered service in the 1920s - three modern light cruisers HMAS Hobart, Perth and Sydney, which mounted 6-inch (152 mm) guns. The older cruiser HMAS Adelaide also remained in service. The RAN also possessed 4 sloops, HMAS Parramatta, Swan, Warrego and Yarra, though only Swan and Yarra were commissioned. The RAN's destroyer force consisted of five obsolete V class destroyers. The RAN also featured a variety of support and ancillary craft. Men and vessels of the RAN served in every theatre of operations, from the tropical Pacific to the frigid Russian convoys. By the end of the war the RAN's combat strength numbered 150 ships with an additional 200 auxiliary craft. The RAN reached its peak in June 1945 when it ranks swelled to 39,650. During the war the RAN lost 19 ships and 2,176 men and women died while serving in the RAN, 1,740 of them on ships of the RAN.
The following table illustrates the growth of the RAN between the outbreak of war and 30 June 1945:
| Ship type | Sept. 1939 | June 1945 |
| Heavy cruisers | 2 | 2 |
| Light cruisers | 4 | 2 |
| Destroyers | 5 | 11 |
| Frigates | 0 | 6 |
| Sloops | 2 | 2 |
| Corvettes | 0 | 53 |
| Landing ship infantry | 0 | 3 |
| Anti-submarine auxiliaries | 0 | 3 |
| Auxiliary Minesweepers | 0 | 6 |
| Minelayers | 0 | 1 |
| Fleet Oilers | 0 | 1 |
| Store ships | 0 | 12 |
| Repair ships | 0 | 3 |
| Boom defence vessels | 0 | 4 |
| Boom gate vessels | 0 | 6 |
| Tugs | 0(?) | 6 |
| Cable repair ships | 0 | 2 |
| Survey ships | 0(?) | 9 |
| Motor Launches | 0 | 33 |
| Harbour defence launches | 0 | 28 |
| Air sea rescue vessels | 0 | 20 |
| Naval auxiliary patrol vessels | 0 | 75 |
| Services reconnaissance | 0 | 8 |
| Miscellaneous vessels | 0(?) | 41 |
| Total | 13(?) | 337 |
Operations against Italy, Vichy France and Germany
From Mid-1940, ships of the RAN, at the request of the Admiralty, began to deploy to the Mediterranean Sea to take part in the Battle of the Mediterranean against Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. In September 1939 the Admiralty and the Australian Commonwealth Naval Board agreed to deploy RAN destroyer force outside the Australia Station, the 5 ships later to be immortalised as the Scrap Iron Flotilla arrived at Malta mid December and became known as the 10th Destroyer Flotilla. HMAS Sydney deployed in May 1940 and was later joined by Hobart. When Italy declared war on 10 June 1940 the Australian warships made up 5 of the 22 destroyers and 1 of the 5 modern light cruisers on station in the Mediterranean. The RAN then offered the services of Australia to the Admiralty, the offer was gratefully accepted. When Australia arrived in the Mediterranean, the RAN has sent nearly the entire combat fleet to the Northern Hemisphere, leaving Australian open to possible attack.
On 27 June 1940 Admiral Cunningham commander of the Mediterranean Fleet ordered the 7th Cruiser Squadron, which included HMAS Sydney, to rendezvous with an Egypt-bound convoy near Cape Matapan. The cruiser squadron sighted three Italian cruisers at 6 pm on 28 June 1940 and immediately engaged them. Within an hour the Italian cruiser Espero was incapacitated and Sydney was signaled to sink her. As Sydney approached the Espero launched torpedoes, but failed to hit any targets. Sydney fired four salvos, scoring 10 direct hits on the Espero. Sydney remained at the scene for two hours picking up survivors.
On 7 July 1940, a 25 ship fleet departed Alexandria intending to meet a convoy east of Malta. The next day a submarine reported sighting a Italian fleet 500 miles (800 km) away; the fleet altered course to intercept. The two fleets sighted each other at 3 pm on 9 July 1940 and a battle that became known as the Battle of Calabria began. Four vessels of the RAN took part in the battle; HMAS Sydney, Stuart, Vampire and Voyager. Sydney was the first RAN vessels to engage the enemy, and at 3.23 pm opened fire. The Italian fleet began to withdraw, the Allied destroyer squadron was ordered forward. HMAS Stuart, leading the destroyer force, was the first to open fire; her opening salvo was fired at a range of 12,600 yards (11,500 m) and was recorded as a direct hit. The Italian fleet retired under smoke and the Allied fleet retired. The fleet remained under constant air attack and Sydney, which came under heavy air attack, was believed to have sunk. The fleet arrived back in Alexandria on 13 July.
On 17 July 1940, HMAS Sydney was ordered to support a Royal Navy destroyer squadron on a sweep north of the island of Crete. At 7.20 am on 19 July the Italian cruiser were sighted off Cape Spada by the destroyers, Sydney, 40 miles (60 km) away, began to steam towards the enemy destroyers at over 30 knots (60 km/h). Sydney sighted the cruisers at 8.29 am. By that time Sydney had achieved a speed of 37 knots (69 km/h), she fired the first shots of the Battle of Cape Spada, at a range of 17,360 metres. The Italian cruisers began to retire from the area under a smokescreen, with Sydney and the destroyers in pursuit. Sydney scored her first direct hit on the Giovanni dalle Bande Nere at 8.35 am and at the same time began to score repeated hits on the Bartolomeo Colleoni which by 9.25 am was incapacitated. Captain John Collins ordered the destroyers to sink the Colleoni. After he had maintained radio silence for two hours, Collins sent the following message.
| “ | One cruiser sunk. Ammunition practically gone | ” |
By 10.27 am, Collins decided to end the chase, largely due to the fact that the Sydney was almost out of ammunition. Sydney though hit several times during the battle she suffered no casualties, but casualties were suffered in subsequent air attacks.
On 27 March 1941 an Allied fleet under Admiral Andrew Cunningham was ambushed by an Italian naval force off Cape Matapan, Greece. Three vessels of the RAN took part in the battle; HMAS Perth, Stuart and Vampire. The victory at Cape Matapan allowed the evacuation of thousands of Allied troops from Crete.
West Africa
On 6 September 1940 HMAS Australia was ordered to sail to Freetown, Sierra Leone to join Operation Menace, the invasion of Vichy French-controlled Dakar, French West Africa. On 19 September, Australia and the RN cruiser HMS Cumberland sighted three Vichy cruisers heading south and shadowed them. When one of them, the Gloire, developed engine trouble, Australia escorted her towards Casablanca and returned to the fleet two days later. On 23 September Australia came under heavy fire from shore batteries and then drove two Vichy destroyers back into port. Australia then engaged and sunk the destroyer L'Audacieux with eight salvos in sixteen minutes. Over the next two days French and Allied forces exchanged fire; the Australia was struck twice and lost her Walrus amphibian. Australia and the rest of the fleet retired on 25 September the battle became known as the Battle of Dakar.
The "Scrap-Iron Flotilla"
The Scrap-Iron Flotilla was an Australian destroyer group that operated in the Mediterranean and Pacific during World War II. The name Scrap-Iron Flotilla was bestowed upon the group by Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels who described the fleet as a "consignment of junk" and "Australia’s Scrap-Iron Flotilla". The flotilla consisted of five vessels; Scott class destroyer HMAS Stuart which acted as flotilla leader, and four V class destroyers; Vampire, Vendetta, Voyager and Waterhen. The ships were all built to fight in World War I and were slow and poorly armed compared to newer ships. The five destroyers which made up Australia's total destroyer force departed Australia in November 1939 destined for Singapore where they carried out anti-submarine exercises with the Royal Navy submarine HMS Rover. On 13 November 1939 the flotilla sailed left Singapore for the Mediterranean following a request from the Admiralty for assistance. For a time the five Australian destroyers made up the entire Mediterranean Fleet destroyer force.
The Australian destroyer flotilla took part in multiple actions while in the Mediterranean, including the evacuation of Greece in April 1941, though the flotilla came to fame in the mission to resupply the besieged city of Tobruk. The resupply routes from Alexandria and Mersa Matruh to Tobruk became known as "Bomb Alley" and was subject to constant Axis air attacks. The flotilla, which by this time was in poor condition, managed to make 138 runs to Tobruk, carrying in ammunition and stores and taking out wounded soldiers. On 28 May 1941 Vampire became the first of the flotilla to leave the Mediterranean, Vendetta the last to leave sailed in October 1941.
Of the five destroyers, three were lost during the war; Waterhen was sunk in the Mediterranean on 30 June 1941, Vampire was sunk by Japanese aircraft during the Indian Ocean Raid and Voyager ran aground at Betano, during the Timor campaign and was abandoned.
Red Sea
As well as serving in the Mediterranean Sea, ships of the RAN also served in the Red Sea. In August 1940, Italian forces invaded British Somaliland. After a fighting withdrawal, the small British garrison was evacuated from Berbera, with HMAS Hobart assisting in the destruction of the port and its facilities. To aid in the delaying action, Hobart sent a 3-pounder gun ashore, manned by volunteers from the crew. The seamen were captured by the Italians (but were liberated months later). Two RAN sloops joined the Red Sea force in 1940: Parramatta on 30 July and Yarra in September. In October, Yarra engaged two Italian destroyers attempting to raid a convoy; Yarra drove the destroyers off, saving the convoy. Though vessels of the RAN served in the Red Sea throughout the war, after 1941 larger vessels were deployed to Australian waters in response to the threat from Japan.
Loss of HMAS Sydney
On November 19, 1941, the Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney and the German auxiliary cruiser HSK Kormoran engaged each other in the Indian Ocean, off Western Australia. The two ships sank each other and the Sydney was lost with all 645 hands. The majority of the Kormoran's crew were rescued and became prisoners of war. The location of both wreaks reamined a mystery to many and subject to much controversy until March 16–17 2008 when both ships were found.
Sicily 1943
During early 1943, eight Australian-designed and built Bathurst class corvettes were transferred to Egypt from the Indian Ocean, in preparation for Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily. They were part of a 3,000 ship Allied force. The corvettes arrived in the Mediterranean in May and were formed into the 21st Minesweeping Flotilla and the 22nd Minesweeping Flotilla. All survived the campaign without damage or casualties sustained in action, although HMAS Maryborough experienced a near miss from a German bomber. When the captain of HMAS Gawler enquired what damage had been sustained, the response from Maryborough read: "no damage except to my underpants".
War with Japan
After the Imperial Japanese Navy's attacks on the Allies in December 1941, the RAN redeployed its larger ships to home waters to protect the Australian mainland from Japanese attack, while several small ships remained in the Mediterranean. From 1940 onwards there was considerable Axis naval activity in Australian waters first from German commerce raiders and submarines and later by the Imperial Japanese Navy.
Initially RAN ships served as part of the British-Australian component of the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ADBACOM) naval forces. ABDACOM was wound up following the fall of the Netherlands East Indies. It was succeeded by the South West Pacific Area (command) (SWPA). The United States Seventh Fleet was formed at Brisbane on March 15, 1943, for service in the SWPA. RAN ships in the Pacific generally served at part of Seventh Fleet task forces.
Timor
From February 1942, the RAN played a critical role in resupplying Australian and Dutch commandos on Timor. Voyager was not the only loss during the campaign. On 1 December 1942, HMAS Armidale was attacked by thirteen Japanese aircraft while attempting to land Dutch soldiers off Betano, Portuguese Timor. Armidale sank with the loss of 40 of her crew and 60 Dutch personnel. During the engagement, Ordinary Seaman Teddy Sheean manned an <