On This Day

1914-1918 > WW1

August 23, 1918

HMAS Gayundah finally paid off in Melbourne. Sold in 1921 to Brisbane Gravel Pty Ltd, she returned to Queensland and began a long and useful career as a sand and gravel barge. She sank at her moorings at Melton Reach in October 1930 but was soon raised and back at work. Early in 1958 she was towed to Bulimba Wharf in Brisbane and stripped, with the hull then sold to the Redcliffe Town Council. On 2 June 1958 after seventy four years afloat, Gayundah was beached as a breakwater off the Woody Point cliffs on the Redcliffe Peninsula just north of Brisbane. Her remains are still visible

August 15, 1918

A single Imperial Navy concept was rejected by the Dominion Prime Ministers.

August 8, 1918

HMA Ships HUON and YARRA, (torpedo boat destroyers), collided in the Adriatic. HUON was severely damaged, and was withdrawn from further war service.

August 3, 1918

On 03/08/1918 HMAT Warilda was transporting wounded soldiers from Le Havre, France to Southampton when she was torpedoed by the German submarine UC-49. This was despite being marked clearly with the Red Cross; as with a number of other hospital ships torpedoed during the war, Germany claimed the ships were also carrying arms.

The ship sank in about two hours, and of the 801 persons on board, 123 died when the Warilda sank. The Deputy Chief Controller of the Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corp, Mrs Violet Long, lost her life in this action. Amongst the survivors was her commander, Captain Sim, who was later awarded the OBE by King George V. Her wreck lies in the English Channel.

July 27, 1918

HMAS ADELAIDE, (cruiser), was launched at Cockatoo Island, Sydney.

July 25, 1918

The patrol vessel HMAS GANNET, was commissioned. GANNET, (as PENGUIN), was an examination vessel in WWI, and was requisitioned for the RAN in June 1918.

July 15, 1918

HMAT Barunga was on its way to Australia with 800 sick and wounded on board and was torpedoed at 4.30 pm on 15 July 1918. Destroyers which had been some miles away were quickly on the scene to pick up survivors and returned them to Plymouth. All hands were saved before Barunga subsequently sank.

SS Barunga was formerly the German-Australian liner Sumatra of Hamburg, captured at Sydney, NSW, at the outbreak of war. She was requisitioned by the Australian Government and during the period 1915-1918 was used to transport troops and or produce in various areas.

July 2, 1918

The first dentist appointed to the RAN, LEUT M. L. Atwill, joined HMAS AUDSTRALIA, (battle-cruiser), in England. Surgeon LCDR(D) D. Austin, was later appointed Senior Dental Officer, RAN, at HMAS PENGUIN, Garden Island.

June 29, 1918

HMS SUCCESS, (destroyer), was laid down at Doxford’s Yard, Sunderland, England. She was launched on 27 January 1920, and shortly afterwards was among a number of vessels gifted to the RAN. She became HMAS SUCCESS, (although at one stage the RAN considered changing her name to Rabaul), and served in the RAN until mid 1931, when due to the financial constraints of the Great Depression she was placed in reserve.

June 24, 1918

The Australian Naval Board proposed to the Defence Council the early establishment of airship stations at Sydney, Melbourne and Fremantle. Two non-rigid airships, and three kite balloons, were to be stationed at each port. The proposal was not adopted by the Defence Council.

June 19, 1918

Major R. S. Dallas, DSO, DSC and Bar, Croix de Guerre, an Australian serving as commander of No. 40 Squadron, RNAS, was shot down and killed in combat with three German Fokker tri-planes near Lievin, France. Major Dallas was credited with shooting down 39 enemy aircraft.

June 1, 1918

HMA Ships SYDNEY and MELBOURNE, were on patrol in the Heligoland Bight with British warships, (as part of the Harwich Force), searching for German minesweepers and destroyers, when they came under attack from two German aircraft who dropped five bombs near the ships.

SYDNEY and MELBOURNE each had a Sopwith Camel fighter onboard, which could be launched from a specially built revolving platform. The aircraft from MELBOURNE, (piloted by Flight Lieutenant Gibson, RAF), lost sight of the German aircraft he attacked when it flew into a large cloud bank. However, Flight Lieutenant A. C. Sharwood, RAF, who was piloting the aircraft from SYDNEY, pursued the other aircraft for over sixty miles. Sharwood managed to hit the enemy aircraft several times, and saw it go into a nose dive before he was forced to break off the attack, when he in turn was attacked by another German fighter. One of Sharwood’s guns jammed, and he was forced to break off the attack on the second aircraft and make his way back to the Allied ships. He eventually put his aircraft down near HMS SHARPSHOOTER, (destroyer). The aircraft started to sink, and he was rescued by a boat from the destroyer. His aircraft was then salvaged by HMS CANTERBURY. Unfortunately for Sharwood he received no formal recognition of his efforts on that day.

May 27, 1918

CAPT R. A. Little, DSO and Bar, Croix de Guerre, an Australian who served in the RNAS, and No. 203 Squadron, RAF, was fatally wounded in a night engagement with a German Gotha bomber over Vieux Barquin, France. Little was in a position to shoot down the enemy aircraft when he was blinded by an Allied searchlight. CAPT Little was credited with the shooting down of 47 enemy aircraft.

May 23, 1918

HMAS MOURILYAN, (patrol vessel), was commissioned.

May 20, 1918

HMAS PARRAMATTA, (torpedo boat destroyer), attacked an Austrian submarine with gunfire and depth charges. The submarine was sighted from the ship’s observation balloon.

May 14, 1918

HMAS PARRAMATTA, (torpedo boat destroyer), towed an anti-submarine balloon in the Adriatic. An observer from the ship rode in a wicker basket suspended from the balloon, and communicated with the bridge by telephone.

May 13, 1918

HMAS WARREGO, (torpedo boat destroyer), attempted to tow the destroyer HMS PHEONIX, torpedoed whilst on convoy escort duty in the Adriatic Sea, to the Italian port of Valona. Unfortunately the ship sank near the entrance to the harbour, and HMAS WARREGO picked up surviving crew members.

May 10, 1918

HMAS MELBOURNE, (cruiser), embarked a ship’s Sopwith Camel aircraft, while at Rosyth, Scotland. To launch the aircraft, the cruiser had been fitted with a special platform, built over the top of some of the ships guns.

May 9, 1918

LEUT V. A. Crutchley, DSC, RN, was awarded the VC for conspicuous bravery while serving as the First Lieutenant of HMS VINDICTIVE, (cruiser),in the attack on the Belgian port of Ostend in April 1918. Crutchley showed outstanding courage and leadership when VINDICTIVE rammed the piers at the port and sank. He later took command of ML 254 while under fire during the withdrawal. Crutchley continued to serve in the RN after the war and in June 1942, with the rank of Admiral, he took command of the Australian Squadron and lead it for the next two years during the fighting in the Solomon Islands and New Guinea areas. He relinquished command of the Australian Squadron to CDRE John Collins, CB, RAN, in June 1944.

May 8, 1918

HMS VOYAGER, (destroyer), was launched at Stephen’s Yard, UK.

May 4, 1918

A branch of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia was opened at Brindisi, Italy, for the Australian Torpedo Boat Destroyer Flotilla. In the first two days £600 was deposited.

May 3, 1918

HMAS PARRAMATTA, (torpedo boat destroyer), was fitted with anti-submarine hydrophones at Malta.

May 1, 1918

The Australian transport ERA was sunk by a German submarine off Cape Tenes in the Atlantic. Eleven of her crew were lost.

April 23, 1918

Engineer, LEUT W. H. V Edgar, RAN, and 10 ratings from HMAS AUSTRALIA, (battle-cruiser), were loaned to a variety of British ships which participated in the British raid to block the canal at Zeebrugge, Belgium.

The object of the raid was to deny the use of the canal to German submarines and destroyers operating in the North Sea. Despite heavy casualties suffered during the raid, none of the Australians were killed or wounded.

The following awards for gallantry were made:-
DSC LEUT W. H. V. Edgar, RAN, (one of only two awarded to an RAN officer in WW I).
DSM LS G. J. Bush.
DSM LS D. J.O. Rudd,(who was later convicted as a mutineer in the 1919 HMAS AUSTRALIA mutiny).
DSM LS G. E. Staples.
MID AB H. J. Gillard.
MID AB L. T. Newlands.
MID Stoker N. J. McCrory (was also awarded the Belgian Croix de Guerre as he had previously served in the RANBT at Gallipoli, and the AIF in France, before re-joining the Navy in 1917).

SBLT A. V. Knight, RNR, was awarded the DSC for conspicuous service in the raid to block Ostend Harbour. Knight later served with distinction in minesweepers and landing ships in the RAN, during WWII. He retired as CAPT A. V. Knight, OBE, DSC, US Legion of Honour. The RAN in Britain provided 11 volunteers, Knight and 10 ratings, for the raid on Ostend and Zeebrugge.

April 22, 1918

HMAS TORRENS, (torpedo boat destroyer), and HM Ships JACKAL and HORNET, (destroyers), engaged five Austrian destroyers in a running gun battle in the Adriatic Sea. The Austrian vessels turned away and broke off the engagement.