On This Day
1914-1918 > WW1
On This Day - 1914-1918
- 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.
- 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 HUON was severely damaged, and was withdrawn from further war service.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.