On This Day

1900-1913 > Federation, RAN and pre-WW1

July 10, 1911

HRH King George V granted the title of “Royal” for the Royal Australian Navy and it’s Permanent Commonwealth Naval Forces and the Royal Australian Naval Reserve. 

RADM Sir William Rooke Creswell CNF, recently promoted to Flag Rank on 1st March 1911,  was First Naval Member of the Naval Board of the now redesignated RAN. He was Australia’s first Admiral (although ex RN) to occupy the position.

April 4, 1911

HMAS WARREGO’s re-launching ceremony was conducted by Mrs. G. F. Pearce, wife of the Minister for Defence at Cockatoo Island. The ship built at Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering, Govan, Scotland had been broken down into it’s individual parts and shipped to Australia for re-assembly at Cockatoo Island. It was the first destroyer ‘built’ in Australia and launched at Cockatoo Island, Sydney. This provided Australian dockyard workers with ship construction experience for they were to build three more River class destroyers, HMAS SWAN, HMAS TORRENS, and HMAS HUON.

December 31, 1910

VADM Sir George F. King-Hall, KCB, CVO, was appointed Flag Officer Commanding Australia Station. His flagships were HM Ships POWERFUL, DRAKE, and CAMBRIAN.

December 10, 1910

Commonwealth ships HMAS PARRAMATTA and HMAS YARRA, (torpedo boat destroyers), the first warships built for the Australian navy since Federation, arrived in Port Phillip, Melbourne, Victoria, the Federal Capital of Australia.

September 19, 1910

HMAS PARRAMATTA and HMAS YARRA, (River class destroyers), having been commissioned into the Australian Navy’s Commonwealth Naval Forces left Portsmouth, England, for Australia, escorted by HMS GIBRALTAR

September 10, 1910

The River class destroyer HMAS YARRA was commissioned, Commanding Officer LEUT Thomas. W. Biddlecombe, CNF, (ex RNR), from South Australia. HMAS YARRA was laid down in Denny & Co, Dumbarton, Scotland, and Mrs N. J. Moore, (Wife of Western Australia’s Premier), performed the launching ceremony on 9 April 1910.

The River class destroyer HMAS PARRAMATTA, was commissioned Commanding Officer LEUT Henry J Feakes, CNF, (ex RNR), a Victorian.  PARRAMATTA was laid down in Fairfield Shipbuilding & Engineering Co Ltd, Govan, Scotland, and launched on 9 February 1910. Mrs Asquith, (Wife of the British Prime Minister), performed the launching ceremony.

CAPT Frederick Tickell CMG RN(tempy), (CNF) was on board HMAS Parramatta as flag ship for his role as Senior Officer (unoficial Commodore) of the two ship flotilla as it sailed to Australia. Now the three officers commanding the two ships were, for this journey of delivery, Royal Navy. It appears that the ships were to remain Admiralty property, possibly for Maritime Law reasons, until formerly handed over to the Australian Government.

July 25, 1910

The Australian Government authorised the building of two light cruisers for the Australian Navy. The cruisers were named HMAS SYDNEY and HMAS MELBOURNE.

May 31, 1910

The Reserve Decoration, RD, was gazetted.

April 9, 1910

The second Australian torpedo boat destroyer, HMAS YARRA, was launched at Dumbarton, Scotland.

March 29, 1910

Hospital charges for naval patients in civil hospitals were:- Seamen; 3 shillings per day. Officers; 12 shillings per day. Mental patients at Callan Park and Gladesville Asylums; 3 shillings per day for all ranks.The principal hospital for naval patients in Sydney was St Vincent’s Hospital, Darlinghurst.

February 9, 1910

HMAS PARRAMATTA, (torpedo boat destroyer), was the first warship ordered by the Government to be built for the Australian Navy since Federation in 1901. It was launched at Govan, Scotland, by Mrs. Asquith, wife of the British Prime Minister.

January 27, 1910

The Minister for Defence announced the third torpedo boat destroyer would be built in NSW, but Victoria would receive a fair share of the future work authorised by the Federal Government.

August 19, 1909

Detailed discussions were held between representatives of the British Admiralty and the Australian Government that resulted in a decision to proceed with the establishment of an Australian Fleet Unit

August 3, 1909

British Admiralty’s hard-nosed opposition to the idea of Dominion navies suddenly changed. Admiralty now expressed the opinion that each Dominion should have ‘a distinct fleet unit’ comprising a battle-cruiser, three light cruisers, six destroyers, and three submarines, plus auxiliaries to  manned by Australians. This gave support for Australian moves to create an Australian Navy blue-water force.

February 28, 1909

Extract from Instructions to the Professional Officers of His Majesty’s Dockyards: “When gangs or companies are working by candlelight, such candles only as are necessary are to be demanded, and when so working on board a ship, the Officer in charge of the work is to take care that no candle is used without a candlestick of the established Admiralty pattern, with a distinguishing number stamped thereon, so that the person using it may be traced”.

February 5, 1909

The Fisher Government in Australia adopted the 24 destroyer plan. Without consulting  British Admiralty, the Australian Government ordered three River class torpedo boat destroyers, later named HMAS PARRAMATTA, YARRA, and WARREGO, to be built forwith in the United Kingdom.

January 5, 1909

15 sailors from HMS ENCOUNTER, (cruiser), were drowned when the ship’s pinnace was rammed by SS DUNSMORE off Garden Island, Sydney. The men were on their way ashore to conduct a range shoot at Malabar when the incident occurred. All those killed were later buried in a communal grave in the Naval Section of Rookwood Cemetry.

September 11, 1908

The ‘Great White Fleet’ arrived in Albany, WA, and remained until 18 September. Albany was an important coaling stop for the Fleet.

August 29, 1908

The ‘Great White Fleet’ arrived in Melbourne, and remained there until 5 September, when it sailed for Albany, WA.

August 20, 1908

The American ‘Great White Fleet’, 16 warships plus auxiliaries, under the command of ADML Charles Sperry, USN, arrived in Sydney, and remained there until 27 August, when they sailed for Melbourne. The Prime Minister Alfred Deakin deliberately breached protocol by bypassing British authorities and despatching a timely invitation direct to Washington. It worked as intended, a direct challenge to Britain that there were alternatives to Australia in forming it’s own navy, outside a British alliance.

December 31, 1907

VADM Sir Richard Poore, Bt, KCB, CVO, was appointed Flag Officer Commanding Australia Station. His flagship was HMS POWERFUL.

December 13, 1907

The Prime Minister of Australia, Alfred Deakin, announced that Australia would purchase 9 C-class submarines, and 6 torpedo boat destroyers, over three years, to be built, manned and maintained by Australia.

March 27, 1907

CMDR William Clarkson, ANF, and CMDR W. J. Colquhoun, DSO, ANF, departed Australia for Japan to conduct an in depth study of the Imperial Japanese Navy methods of ship construction, administration, and training. The pair then also visited the United States, Canada, and England, to observe similar activities. This information was then brought back to Australia to help with the further development of the Australian Naval Forces. Clarkson and Colquhoun were both ex State Navy officers. Colquhoun had been awarded the DSO, and twice Mentioned in Dispatches, for bravery and leadership while attached to the RN Brigade in South Africa in 1899-1900, while Clarkson had served onboard HMCS PROTECTOR in the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, and later went onto become a Vice-Admiral in the RAN.

February 23, 1907

The Royal Edward Victualing Yard, (REVY), at Pyrmont, Sydney, was opened. This establishment was the storehouse for the RAN’s clothing and provisions. The yard was closed in the early 1980’s, but later became the home of the Naval Support Command from 1995 to 2002.

September 21, 1906

CAPT William Creswell’s report on the establishment of an Australian navy, and the role it could play in the defence of Australia, (submitted to the Committee of Imperial Defence in London), was condemned as being based ‘on imperfect conception of the requirements of naval strategy’.