On This Day

1914-1918 > WW1

November 9, 1914

The cruiser HMAS SYDNEY, (CAPT J. C. T. Glossop, RN), engaged the German raider EMDEN, (CAPT Karl von Muller), off Cocos Island. The superior armament of SYDNEY asserted itself, and the EMDEN was driven ashore on North Direction Island. The casualties suffered indicated the battering the Germans received. SYDNEY’s casualties were four killed and eight wounded, and EMDEN’s were 115 killed and 80 wounded. In the action SYDNEY fired 670 rounds of 150 mm shells, and one torpedo. After reducing EMDEN to a burning shambles, SYDNEY intercepted and sank the German collier BURESK.

November 3, 1914

HMAS PIONEER, (cruiser), lost her fore-topmast and suffered other damage in heavy seas, while escorting the first troop convoy in the Indian Ocean. PIONEER returned to Fremantle for repairs.

November 1, 1914

The first convoy of 28 troop ships sailed from Albany, WA, for Egypt. The escort comprised HMA Ships MELBOURNE and SYDNEY, (cruisers), HMS MINOTAUR, and the Japanese cruiser IBUKI.

October 11, 1914

The German Governor of New Guinea’s steam yacht KOMET, was captured by the NUSA, manned by the Australian Naval Brigade, at Bougainville. KOMET was later commissioned as HMAS UNA.

September 27, 1914

Wireless transmissions from HMAS AUSTRALIA, (battle-cruiser), were picked up by the German station at Yap, 1000 miles away

September 26, 1914

A landing party from HMAS SYDNEY, (cruiser), destroyed the German wireless station at Angaur in the Palau Islands.

September 24, 1914

HMAS PARRAMATTA, (torpedo boat destroyer), captured the German merchant vessels MEKLONG and BRASS MONKEY, in Mioko Harbour, New Britain.

The German armed merchant cruiser KORMORAN, (CMDR Zuckschwerdt), arrived at Port Alexis several hours before the Australian armed merchant cruiser BERRIMA. The German ship hid in a side channel until BERRIMA departed.

September 21, 1914

The German Ships SCHARNHORST and GNEISENAU, (heavy cruisers), stood off Papeete, Tahiti, and shelled the coal dumps at the port. ADML von Spee intended landing, but the presence of HMAS AUSTRALIA, (battle-cruiser), in the Pacific, changed his mind. The only Allied warship at Papeete was the small French gunboat ZEILE, which was scuttled by her crew.

September 17, 1914

Following the Australian occupation of German New Guinea, the British Admiralty ordered VADM Sir George Patey, RN, in HMAS AUSTRALIA, (battle-cruiser), with HMS MONTCALM, to cover HMS ENCOUNTER and the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force, from attack, then search for the two German cruisers GNEISENAU and SCHARNHORST

September 14, 1914

HMAS ENCOUNTER, (cruiser), shelled German positions at Toma, New Britain. This was the first occasion a ship of the RAN had fired on an enemy.
HMA Submarine AE1, (LCDR T. F. Besant, RN), was lost with 2 officers and 32 ratings, while patrolling off the Duke of York Island. The wreck of the submarine was found in December 2017.
HMAS WARREGO, (torpedo boat destroyer), captured the German steamer NUSA at Kavieng.

September 13, 1914

The former South Australian gunboat, HMAS PROTECTOR, captured the German merchant ship MADANG, off Herbertshohe, New Britain.

September 11, 1914

The RAN Brigade, supported by men from Australian warships, landed at Kabakaul, German New Guinea, (New Britain), to seize the German wireless station there. HMA Ships AUSTRALIA, SYDNEY, ENCOUNTER, PARRAMATTA, YARRA, WARREGO, AE1 and AE2 supported this landing, and stood by to repel any German warships. The brigade forced their way inland, encountering strong resistance from German native troops lead by German Army Reserve officers, as the RAN advanced to seize the German wireless station. Five RAN and RN naval personnel were killed or died of wounds; LCDR C. B. Elwell, RN; AB W. G. V. Williams; AB J. E. Walker; AB H. W. Street; Signalman R. D. Moffatt; Also killed was Captain B. C. A. Pockley of the Australian Army Medical Corps. AB Williams was the first to be killed, and thus had the dubious honour of being the first Australian to be killed in action during WWI. LEUT T. A. Bond, RANR, distinguished himself in the advance by single handedly capturing 30 native troops, and was later awarded the DSO, which, although not gazetted until 1916, was technically the first decoration awarded to an Australian during WWI

The SS ESTURIA was chartered as a destroyer depot ship. She transferred to the RN in 1917.

September 9, 1914

HMAS MELBOURNE, (cruiser), landed a party of 4 officers and 21 petty officers, under LCDR M. A. Blanfield, on Nauru, to dismantle the German wireless station on the island. They did not occupy the island, and the formal surrender did not take place until two months later when Australian officers, embarked in the merchant ship SS MESSINA, accepted the German surrender.

September 7, 1914

A joint Australian army-navy expedition sailed for German New Guinea from Port Moresby embarked on board the auxilliary cruiser HMAS BERRIMA, escorted by HMAS AUSTRALIA, HMAS SYDNEY, HMAS ENCOUNTER, HMAS WAREGO, and HMAS  YARRA, together with submarines HMAS AE1 and AE2.

September 4, 1914

The cruiser HMS PSYCHE, (later HMAS PSYCHE), and survey ship HMS FANTOME, (later HMAS FANTOME), joined the contraband patrol in the Bay of Bengal.

August 30, 1914

VADM Sir George Patey, RN, in HMAS AUSTRALIA, arrived of Samoa, and the official surrender of German Samoa took place. The squadron comprised AUSTRALIA, HMA Ships MELBOURNE, and PSYCHE , and HM Ships PYRAMUS and PHILOMEL.

August 26, 1914

HMAS PIONEER, (3rd class cruiser), captured the German merchant vessel THURINGEN, off Fremantle, WA.

August 20, 1914

The German cruiser MAGDEBURG was captured by the Russian Navy, after running aground in a fog in the Gulf of Finland. Code books recovered from the cruiser were rushed to London, where intelligence experts matched them with merchant service code books seized by the RAN on 11 August, from the German ship HOBART, in Port Phillip, VIC. By November 1914 all German naval wireless traffic was being intercepted and decoded orders passed to the British Fleet.

August 18, 1914

The auxiliary cruiser HMAS BERRIMA, (CMDR J. B. Stevenson, RN), was commissioned. BERRIMA was requisitioned for the RAN, from her owners, the P&O Steam Navigation Co Ltd, in August 1914.

ADML von Spee, C-in-C, German Pacific Fleet, recorded in his journal: ‘The AUSTRALIA is my special apprehension-she alone is superior to my whole squadron’.

August 16, 1914

HMAS PIONEER, (light cruiser), captured the German merchant ship NEUMUNSTER, off Rottnest Island, WA.

August 13, 1914

HMAS MELBOURNE, (cruiser), intercepted the collier ALCONDA off Rossel Island, and requisitioned her cargo of coal.

August 12, 1914

HMA Ships PARRAMATTA, YARRA, and WARREGO, (torpedo boat destroyers), landed parties at Rabaul.

HMAS ENCOUNTER, (cruiser), captured the German steamer ZAMBESI in St George’s Channel, New Britain.

August 11, 1914

HMAS AUSTRALIA, (battle-cruiser), and the Australia Squadron, under VADM Sir George Patey, RN, arrived in St Georges Channel, near Rabaul, on a search for ADML von Spee’s forces.

The German naval and merchant services code was captured from the German vessel HOBART, (merchant ship), at Port Phillip, VIC. The boarding officer, CAPT J. T. Richardson, RN, used a subterfuge to allow the German Captain to retrieve the codes from their hiding place. Richardson seized the books at gunpoint as they were about to be thrown overboard.

HMA Ships PARRAMATTA, YARRA, and WARREGO, (torpedo boat destroyers), launched a night torpedo attack on the German anchorage in Simpsonhaven, New Britain only to find the port was empty. During the day HMAS AUSTRALIA, (battle- cruiser), captured the enemy ship SUMATRA whilst patrolling St Georges Channel.

August 10, 1914

An Australian Government Order-in-Council was gazetted placing all Commonwealth Naval Forces, including the Naval Board, under British Admiralty control, for the duration of WWI, (and was later repeated for WWII).

August 7, 1914

VADM Sir George Patey, RN, wrote the first wartime order for the RAN, and for that matter the Commonwealth of Australia, whilst onboard his flagship, HMAS AUSTRALIA, (battle-cruiser). It was Operational Order No. 1, headed ‘Intention’.