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Australia Remembers 1945-1995

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Author
Subjects
WWII operations, History - WW2, History - post WWII
Tags
Royal Australian Navy
RAN Ships
None noted.
Publication
June 1995 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)

NAVAL HISTORY NOTES WORLD WAR II 1939-45

HMAS HOBART Cruiser Torpedoed but survived. Last Australian Cruiser afloat.
HMAS SYDNEY Cruiser First RAN cruiser to be lost in action and was Australia’s largest ship loss of personnel. (Complement 645).
HMAS AUSTRALIA Cruiser Hit once by Japanese bomber (Leyte Gulf) and by four Japanese kamikaze-aircraft plus a near miss (Lingayen Gulf). Killed 76 crew.
HMAS CANBERRA Cruiser Australia’s largest naval ship loss.
HMAS SHROPSHIRE Cruiser Only Australian warship to have fired its main gunnery at an enemy battleship (YAMISHIRO) and to have registered many hits. Australian flagship at signing of Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay 2nd Sept 1945.
HMAS VAMPIRE Destroyer Sustained RAN’s first fatal casualty of World War II.
HMAS VENDETTA Destroyer Only combat ship of the RAN to have been actively engaged at the end of both World Wars I & II.
HMAS VOYAGER Destroyer Only RAN combat ship to be wrecked (1942).
HMAS WATERHEN Destroyer First Australian surface warship to be sunk by an enemy.
HMAS PARRAMATTA Sloop First ship of the RAN to be torpedoed and sunk by a submarine.
HMAS WARREGO Sloop While at Darwin during the Japanese air raid of 19th February 1942, had the distinction of firing the first shot in defence of the Australian mainland during its first enemy attack.
HMAS ARUNTA Destroyer Only Australian built destroyer to sink an enemy submarine single-handed.
HMAS NAPIER Destroyer First of the Ns single funneled destroyers in the RAN.
HMAS NESTOR Destroyer Sank the first German submarine (0127) by the RAN in WWII.
HMAS ARMIDALE Corvette First RAN vessel sunk primarily by torpedoes dropped from aircraft.
HMAS HAWKESBURY Frigate First ship of the RAN to return to Singapore since the Japanese had occupied the port in 1942.
HMAS BUNGAREE Minelayer Laid some 19,000 mines during World War II.
HMAS GOORANGI Minesweeper First Naval loss of World War II (1940).
K9 Submarine Only foreign submarine to serve as a unit of the RAN.
HMAS YARRA Sloop In action against the enemy: Red Sea 1940 – Persian Gulf 1941 – Mediterranean 1941 – last convoy into Singapore 1942 and while outward bound was sunk in the Indian Ocean by a Japanese naval force.

Ref: John Bastock. Australia’s Ships Of War. Angus & Robertson London 1975.

 

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