HMAS SYDNEY embarked Australian delegates for the ABDA conference and departed for Singapore, arriving on the 19/4/41. HMAS WATERHEN, (destroyer), rescued 430 patients and medical staff from the hospital ship ...
Australian Naval History on 13 April 1941
The destroyers HMAS STUART and HMS GRIFFIN, bombarded enemy positions at Sollum, Libya. ...
Australian Naval History on 12 April 1941
The siege of Tobruk started and went on for 242 days, until the 8 December. The Tobruk Ferry involved RAN destroyers making 139 runs, with HMAS VENDETTA alone making 39. ...
Australian Naval History on 8 April 1941
HMAS PARRAMATTA, (sloop), towed the damaged cruiser HMS CAPETOWN to the port of Massawa. The cruiser had been attacked and torpedoed by Italian destroyers in the Red Sea. ...
Australian Naval History on 6 April 1941
The Seagull amphibian from HMAS AUSTRALIA, (cruiser), crashed and sank when taking off in Cook Strait. HMAS HOBART, (cruiser), was in company with AUSTRALIA, and landed its Seagull aircraft on ...
Australian Naval History on 5 April 1941
The trading schooner GERARD was commissioned into the RAN as an auxiliary patrol vessel. ...
Australian Naval History on 3 April 1941
HMAS PARRAMATTA, (sloop), passed a flotilla of Italian destroyers at night while escorting a convoy off Port Sudan. No sighting report was made by either side. ...
Australian Naval History on 2 April 1941
HMAS VOYAGER, (destroyer), sank the heavily damaged cargo ships HOMEFIELD, and COLOUROUS XENOX, after savage German air attacks in the central Mediterranean. ...
Australian Naval History on 1 April 1941
Three sailors from HMAS HOBART, (cruiser), who were captured after volunteering to man a shore-based gun in August 1940, were released from prisoner-of-war camp in Eritria, East Africa. They were ...
Australian Naval History on 31 March 1941
The Italian submarine DAGABUR sank the cruiser HMS BONAVENTURE which was escorting convoy GA 8. 310 survivors were picked up by HMAS Stuart and HMS Hereward. HMAS Stuart heavily depth ...
Australian Naval History on 30 March 1941
The Mediterranean Fleet returned to a vociferous welcome from ships at Alexandria after the Battle of Matapan. HMA Ships PERTH, STUART, and VENDETTA were detached after the battle to escort ...
Australian Naval History on 29 March 1941
The destroyer HMAS STUART, (CAPT H.M.L. Waller, RAN), fired her last shots, in the Battle of Matapan, at the Italian destroyer VITTORIO ALFERI. The Italian Navy lost three cruisers and ...
Australian Naval History on 28 March 1941
The Battle of Matapan commenced. HMA Ships PERTH, STUART, and VENDETTA participated in the battle which destroyed Italian naval supremacy in the Mediterranean. VENDETTA was the first Australian ship to ...
Australian Naval History on 26 March 1941
The Australian trawler MILLIMUMU sank after striking a German mine on the south coast of NSW. HMAS TOOWOOMBA, (minesweeper), was launched at Walker’s Yard, QLD. The vessel was transferred in ...
Australian Naval History on 21 March 1941
LEUT C. G. Hill, RANR, of HMAS WARERHEN, boarded the bombed and burning Danish tanker MARIE MAERSK, after the vessel had been abandoned by her crew north of Crete. Hill ...
Australian Naval History on 19 March 1941
HMAS PARRAMATTA, (sloop), blockaded the Perim area to intercept enemy shipping attempting to escape from the ports of Massawa and Assab. ...
Australian Naval History on 6 March 1941
HMAS STUART, (destroyer), was attacked seven times by German bombers while on passage to Piraeus. In the last attack she was near-missed by a large bomb. CAPT H. Waller wrote: ...
Australian Naval History on 4 March 1941
HMAS CANBERRA intercepted the German raider supply ship COBURG and a captured tanker, KETTY BROVIG east of Italian Somaliland. These two ships were support vessels for three German raiders then ...
Australian Naval History on 1 March 1941
HMAS BENDIGO, (minesweeper), was launched at Cockatoo Island, Sydney. ...
Australian Naval History on 28 February 1941
The Bathurst class minesweeper, (corvette) HMAS GOULBURN, (LCDR B. Paul, RANR), was commissioned. GOULBURN was laid down in Cockatoo Island Dockyard, Sydney, on 10 July 1940, and launched on 19 ...
Australian Naval History on 26 February 1941
HMAS Platypus (previously HMAS Penguin) recommissioned to resume seagoing service as a training ship. The depot ship and accommodation vessel HMAS KUTTABUL, was commissioned. KUTTABUL was laid down in Walsh ...
Australian Naval History on 24 February 1941
The Admiralty informed the Australian Government that “in the event of war in the Far East in the near future no major redistribution of forces is intended other than to ...
Australian Naval History on 23 February 1941
HMAS CANBERRA, (cruiser), passed within 100 miles of the German pocket battleship ADMIRAL SCHEER, while on patrol in the Indian Ocean. ...
Australian Naval History on 22 February 1941
HMA Ships STUART and VAMPIRE, (destroyers), joined the 1st Battle Squadron screen for an operational sweep towards Rhodes. ...
Australian Naval History on 16 February 1941
The German raider supply ship, OLE JACOB, was sighted by an Australian Sunderland flying boat in the Coral Sea. The sighting report was intercepted by the raider ORION, whose captain ...