On This Day

1914-1918 > WW1

December 28, 1918

HM Ships SWORDSMAN and TATTOO, (destroyers), were launched at British shipyards. Both vessels were transferred to Australia after hostilities ended, and were commissioned into the RAN.

December 26, 1918

HMA Ships PARRAMATTA, SWAN, YARRA, and HUON, (torpedo boat destroyers), sailed from Ismid, in the Sea of Marmara, for Malta, where they were joined by sister ships TORRENS and WARREGO, for the voyage to England.

December 25, 1918

CMDR W. Burrows assumed command of the Australian Torpedo Boat Destroyer Squadron.

December 20, 1918

HMAS MOURILYAN, (auxiliary patrol vessel), was paid off and returned to her owners.

December 11, 1918

HMAS BRISBANE, (light cruiser), arrived at Sevastopol to support White Russian forces in resisting the advance of the Bolshevik army.

December 10, 1918

HMAS BRISBANE, (light cruiser), operated with the Australian Destroyer Flotilla in the Black Sea.

December 9, 1918

The Australian Government approved the purchase of aircraft carried in ships of the RAN based in the UK. The decision was later rescinded on the grounds that maintenance facilities were not available in Australia. The aircraft were returned to the RN before the ships left for Australia.

December 8, 1918

CMDR J. Bond, RAN, of HMAS SWAN, (destroyer), led a party of Australian and French officers to Novocherkassk to meet General Krasnoff, Commander of White Russian troops in South Russia.

December 3, 1918

HMAS SWAN, and the French Ship BISSON, (destroyers), entered the Sea of Azov to observe the state of White Russians in the area.

December 2, 1918

Port examination stations at principal ports in Australia were closed down. During the war the stations were manned by the Naval Brigade.

November 25, 1918

HMAS PARRAMATTA, (torpedo boat destroyer), entered the Black Sea. PARRAMATTA was employed as a dispatch boat between Sevastopol and Constantinople.

November 22, 1918

HMS TASMANIA was launched at Beardmore’s Yard, UK. The destroyer was transferred to the RAN in 1919.

November 21, 1918

HMA Ships AUSTRALIA, (battle cruiser), SYDNEY, and MELBOURNE, (cruisers), were present at the surrender of the German Fleet in the Firth of Forth, Scotland.

AUSTRALIA led the Port Division of the British Fleet, while MELBOURNE and SYDNEY were in their normal places in the 2nd light cruiser squadron.

November 17, 1918

HMAS PARRAMATTA, (torpedo boat destroyer), received on board two released POWs taken when HMAS AE2, (submarine), was sunk in the Sea of Marmara.

November 13, 1918

HMAS PARRAMATTA, (torpedo boat destroyer), stood off the Sultan’s Palace at Constantinople, as a unit of the British and French Fleet occupying the Turkish capital.

November 11, 1918

Germany signed the Armistice to end WWI. The RAN lost the submarines AE1 and AE2 during the war. Over 240 RAN personnel lost their lives during the war, both within Australia and overseas. Recorded in the diary of HMAS SYDNEY, (cruiser), was the following triumphant message; Admiral Beatty sent a signal to the Grand Fleet to splice the main brace. A tot of rum was served out to the ship’s company, the first time since the ship was commissioned. Fireworks displays and all kinds of whistles in fact anything that a sound could be got out of was under way.

The Commonwealth Naval Dockyard at Cockatoo Island, Sydney, refitted 250 transports, and docked over 500 vessels during WWI.

October 30, 1918

HMAS HUON, (torpedo boat destroyer), landed Allied peace delegates at the Turkish port of Smyrna.

October 29, 1918

The Australian hospital ship KAROOLA repatriated British POWs released by Turks at Beirut and Tripoli. On 3 October 1915, she took off the crew of the Highland Warrior, torpedoed off Spain, and stood by while the transport’s cargo of bullion was removed.

October 28, 1918

HMA Ships PARRAMATTA, YARRA, and TORRENS, (torpedo boat destroyers), provided cover for the landing of Allied troops at Dedeagach, in the Dardanelles.

October 25, 1918

HMAS SWAN, (torpedo boat destroyer), rescued the crew of an aircraft which had force-landed in the Mediterranean. The aircraft had been operating with a Japanese destroyer flotilla escorting a convoy from Port Said to Salonika.

October 23, 1918

HMS STALWART, (destroyer), later HMAS STALWART, was launched at Swan Hunter’s, England.

October 21, 1918

HMAS Brisbane departed Sydney for England and was at sea en route from Colombo to Aden when the Armistice of 11 November 1918 ended hostilities in World War I.
HMAS MOURILYAN, (auxiliary patrol boat), searched Torres Strait for German raiders reported in the islands.

October 6, 1918

The sloop HMAS FANTOME, (CAPT J. F. Robins, RN), was dispatched to Malaita on a punitive expedition. A force of 65 officers and ratings from FANTOME joined French settlers and native police in an attack on rebellious natives.

October 2, 1918

HMA Ships SWAN and WARREGO, (torpedo boat destroyers), provided escorts for British light cruisers, and participated in the bombardment of the Austrian naval base at Durazzo, Albania.

September 20, 1918

HMAS MELBOURNE, (cruiser), patrolled the Norwegian coast for German surface vessels.