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You are here: Home / Article topics / Publications / Naval Historical Review / Book Review: HMAS Warramunga’s History 1942-1959

Book Review: HMAS Warramunga’s History 1942-1959

Hinchliffe, L.M. · Jun 29, 1990 · Print This Page

Author
Hinchliffe, L.M.
Subjects
Ship histories and stories, Book reviews
Tags
None noted.
RAN Ships
HMAS Warramunga I
Publication
June 1990 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)

HMAS Warramunga’s History 1942-1959 by Sam Whyte


HMAS Warramunga’s History 1942-1959 is exactly that. For anyone who served in her at any time during her life, I’m certain he will have flooding memories because it is so detailed. I was amused that Sam Whyte, being a Supply Rating, solemnly recorded item by item what stores were lost on various occasions, but he failed to record who paid for them! (Such was the RAN’s system that even in wartime an auditor was working in ships in New Guinea waters and as a result the Auditor General did throw a few words of praise to the naval storekeepers.) What a war!!

One can imagine the delight of the children brought up in a POW camp, when confronted with cutlery and plates of bread and butter. The story of gathering the POWs round Japan is well recorded and I feel amply illustrates what every civilian POW had to endure, especially with ‘spies’ in the camp. No doubt there always were and always will be, but it leaves a nasty taste in the mouth that some ‘crawlers’ existed in Japanese POW camps.

What was disturbing is the way in which her shell plating deteriorated. Except for ‘wind and water’ one never expects erosion elsewhere. It reflects adversely on the quality of the steel used in construction.

This book has been very painstakingly put together and will serve as a source of information on how our destroyers worked in the Pacific in W WII and Korea, for anyone who wishes to research the ‘social’ as well as the operational history of the time.

The Royal Navy required a counter to the large foreign designs of destroyer and the Tribals had a great name when they first appeared, and fought some glamorous actions, but they were not in fact as seaworthy as the later classes of destroyers and were often being ‘sewn together’. It is perhaps lucky for the RAN that only three were built.

In all, 16 RN, 3 RAN and 8 RCN Tribals were built, wartime losses being 12, nil and one respectively.

This book is well worthy of a place on your bookshelf and a welcome addition to Australian Naval Historical recordings.

Naval Historical Review, Ship histories and stories, Book reviews, Royal Australian Navy

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Naval Historical Review: June 2007
June 2007 Front Page
June 2007 Front Page
2007 Inside Front Cover
2007 Inside Front Cover
2007 Inside Rear Cover
2007 Inside Rear Cover
June 2007 Rear Cover
June 2007 Rear Cover

The painting of HMAS Warramunga reflects a major article in this edition which provides a potted history of the RAN in the Korean War. The images  of HMAS Adelaide reference the article about Adelaide’s Boarding party. It was only resourceful action by the ship’s helicopter, directed by the Flight Commander, that enabled the Boarding Party to be safely recovered, thereby averting an international incident.

Articles from this Edition

  • Book Review: The Royal Australian Navy – a History
  • Further Reflections on the Sydney/Kormoran Battle, 1941
  • Gascoyne to the Rescue On Christmas Day 1944
  • HMAS Adelaide – Boarding Party, Persian Gulf 2004
  • HMAS Quickmatch – Medical Rescue – 1944
  • Korean Waters – Tribal Class Destroyers
  • Leadership: Admiral of the Fleet Isoroku Yamamoto
  • Letters: Followup on Singapore Naval Base