The auxiliary minesweeper HMAS GOOLGWAI, was commissioned. GOOLGWAI was laid down in Collingwood Shipbuilding Co Ltd, Ontario, Canada. She was requisitioned for the RAN, from her owners Red Funnel Trawlers ...
Australian Naval History on 4 October 1939
The auxiliary minesweeper HMAS TONGKOL, was commissioned. TONGKOL was laid down in 1926. She was requisitioned for the RAN, from her owner, Mr A. A. Murrell, Sydney, on 4 October ...
Australian Naval History on 25 September 1939
The auxiliary minesweeper HMAS DOOMBA, was commissioned. DOOMBA, (as HMS WEXFORD), was laid down in the UK in 1919. She was requisitioned for the RAN, from her owners, the Doomba ...
Australian Naval History on 22 September 1939
CMDR B. M. Long, LCDR E. Feldt, and LCDR R. B. A. Hunt, set up the organisation for the RAN’s Coastwatcher Service. ...
Australian Naval History on 18 September 1939
The former steam yacht HMAS ADELE, (auxiliary patrol vessel), was commissioned. The vessel was first commissioned in 1914 as HMAS FRANKLIN, and served as a tender to the Royal Australian ...
Australian Naval History on 10 September 1939
HMS OXLEY, (submarine, ex-HMAS OXLEY), was sunk in error by HMS TRITON, (submarine). The Commanding Officer, and one rating, survived the sinking. OXLEY was the first British submarine lost in ...
Australian Naval History on 9 September 1939
HMAS Stuart on patrol off Terrigal in Broken Bay, north of Sydney, attacked a submarine contact which later proved to be rocks. ...
Australian Naval History on 8 September 1939
The British Admiralty asked Australia to send a cruiser and five destroyers for service beyond the Australia Station. The five destroyers, HMA Ships VAMPIRE, VOYAGER, VENDETTA, WATERHEN and STUART were ...
Australian Naval History on 6 September 1939
Rates of pay in the RAN were:- Ordinary Seaman 2nd Class, (under 17 years of age), 1/9d per day; Able Seaman, 7/- per day; Chief Petty Officer 11/- per day. ...
Australian Naval History on 5 September 1939
HMAS AUSTRALIA, (cruiser), caught fire alongside the dock, at Garden Island Sydney. A brazier of burning pitch was overturned, setting alight the deck and destroying an 27 foot whaler. ...
Australian Naval History on 4 September 1939
HMAS KURUMBA, (fleet oiler), was commissioned. The ship had served with the RN between 1916 and 1919. She was later transferred to the RAN. KURUMBA was sold out of service ...
Australian Naval History on 3 September 1939
The ‘Declaration of war on Germany’ was issued. The Imperial war telegram was received in Canberra at 2150. It read; ‘Total Germany, repeat, total Germany’. At 2115 in a radio ...
Australian Naval History on 2 September 1939
CDRE Wilfred Rupert Patterson, CBE, RN, was appointed to command His Majesty’s Australian Squadron, his flagship was HMAS CANBERRA, (cruiser). He replaced RADM Wilfred Custance who was in the grip ...
Australian Naval History on 27 August 1939
The Australian Naval Board approved the mobilisation of 350 RANR for duty at Darwin, Navy Office, Melbourne and the Naval Control Service. The passenger liners MORETON BAY, ARAWA, KANIMBLA, and ...
Australian Naval History on 4 August 1939
New York newspapers carried headlines; ‘Aussies Mutiny-British Officers Too British’. The story concerned an incident in HMAS PERTH, (cruiser), when ratings objected to the wearing of whites ashore. The matter ...
Australian Naval History on 29 June 1939
The modified Leander class cruiser HMAS PERTH, (CAPT H. B. Farncomb, MVO, RAN), was commissioned. PERTH was laid down in Portsmouth Dockyard, England, as HMS AMPHION, on 26 June 1933, ...
Australian Naval History on 14 June 1939
The Government acquired 357 acres of land at Brown’s Hole near Nowra, NSW. Operating as a Royal Naval Air Station during WWII, the site later commissioned as HMAS Albatross. ...
Australian Naval History on 10 June 1939
HMAS PARRAMATTA, (sloop), was launched at Cockatoo Island, Sydney. ...
Australian Naval History on 3 April 1939
HMAS VENDETTA, (destroyer), transported the body of the Australian Prime Minister, Joseph Lyons, to Devonport, TAS, for burial. ...
Australian Naval History on 30 March 1939
The Australian Naval Board in a letter to the Government stated, “the control of sea communications in Australian waters must depend basically on the strength of the British Fleet”. ...
Australian Naval History on 31 December 1938
LCDR. R. B. M. Long, Director of Naval Intelligence, reported 34 clandestine landings on Australian territory by Japanese agents in the year. A Japanese trawler, fitted with sophisticated radio and ...
Australian Naval History on 29 October 1938
HMAS KOOKABURRA, (boom defence vessel), was launched at Cockatoo Island, Sydney. ...
Australian Naval History on 27 October 1938
The Sydney Morning Herald reported:- ‘The Navy found itself with two of its four cruisers undergoing refits, its one remaining heavy cruiser still lacking protective armour without which ships of ...
Australian Naval History on 28 September 1938
HMAS ALBATROSS, (seaplane carrier), was transferred to the RN as part payment for HMAS HOBART, (cruiser, ex-HMS APOLLO). The modified Leander class cruiser, HMAS HOBART, was commissioned. HOBART was laid ...
Australian Naval History on 11 July 1938
HMAS ALBATROSS, (seaplane carrier), sailed from Sydney for England. The vessel was transferred to the RN as part payment for HMAS HOBART, (cruiser). ...