On This Day

1914-1918 > WW1

October 14, 1917

The Australian destroyer flotilla, HMA Ships WAREGO, PARRAMATTA, YARRA, SWAN, TORRENS, and HUON, began patrol operations in the Mediterranean, at the mouth of the Adriatic Sea, from a base at Brindisi, Italy.

October 12, 1917

The auxiliary minesweeper, (trawler), HMAS BROLGA, was commissioned.

October 10, 1917

The Australian destroyer flotilla HMAS WARREGO, PARRAMATTA, TARRA, SWAN, TORRENS, and HUON arrived at Taranto, Italy. They were based at Brindisi, Italy and begun patrolling operations at the mouth of the Adriatic Sea in the Mediterranean in order to blockade the Adriatic.

October 8, 1917

The trawlers KORAAGA and GUNUNDAL, manned by the Royal Australian Naval Brigade under LCDR F. J. Ranken, RNR, swept a German minefield off Gabo Island. Thirteen mines were destroyed. Minesweepers were not commissioned in the RAN in WWI

October 5, 1917

HMAS SWAN, (torpedo boat destroyer), attacked a submarine disguised as a fishing schooner off Corfu. SWAN dropped depth charges, but the submarine dived and escaped, leaving her mast and sails on the surface.

October 3, 1917

The Australian Government offered HMAS BRISBANE, (cruiser), to the Imperial Government for service overseas.

September 26, 1917

The Castle class trawlers GUNUNDAAL and KORAAGA were requisitioned by the RAN as auxiliary minesweepers. They were manned by members of the RAN Brigade, and conducted minesweeping operations off the NSW and VIC coastlines, searching for mines laid by the German raider WOLF.

September 3, 1917

HMS VENDETTA, (destroyer), was launched at Fairfield’s Yard, UK.

August 16, 1917

HMAS PARRAMATTA and HMAS TORRENS, (torpedo boat destroyers), attacked an Austrian submarine 100 miles east of Malta. The submarine submerged and escaped.

August 6, 1917

‘When a submarine is sighted, I am going for her,’ signalled CMDR Warren, RAN, commanding HMAS PARRAMATTA, in the Red Sea. Obviously impressed by Lord Nelson’s fighting spirit.

July 27, 1917

LEUT A. R. Little, an Australian serving in the RNAS, shot down 15 German aircraft over France in the period 8 April to 27 July, 1917. Little flew a Sopwith tri-plane.

July 18, 1917

An observer aloft in a balloon from HMAS HUON, (torpedo boat destroyer), sighted an Austrian submarine on the surface in the Adriatic Sea. HUON closed the distance, but the submarine submerged and escaped.

July 17, 1917

The Minesweeping Section of the Australian Naval Brigade was established. This section became responsible for all minesweeping activities in Australian waters during WWI. Trawlers, tugs, and barges were requisitioned by the Navy for sweeping.

July 16, 1917

HMA Ships PARRAMATTA, WARREGO, and YARRA, (torpedo boat destroyers), searched the coast off Diego Garcia for survivors from the merchant ships JUMNA and WORDSWORTH, which vanished without trace.

July 10, 1917

HMAT Seang Choon was sunk off coast of Ireland, 10 July 1917. She was torpedoed by U-87 ten miles southwest of Fastnet with the loss of 19 lives. Carried as part of her general cargo, 400 tons of copper and 601 tons of lead. 350 tons of copper and 601 tons of lead were later salvaged as they were insured for £55,000.

July 9, 1917

Boats from HMAS Sydney I rescued survivors when HMS Vanguard blew up at Scapa Flow on 9/7/1917. Two of Sydney’s crew were onboard HMS Vanguard and died in the explosion. Stokers Robert Thomas Houston and L.W. Roberts

July 7, 1917

All six ships of the Australian Torpedo Boat Destroyer Flotilla operated together for the first time.

May 21, 1917

HMS VAMPIRE, (destroyer), later to be commissioned HMAS VAMPIRE, was launched at White’s Yard, England.

May 18, 1917

The Australian Naval Brigade provided guards for the principal wireless stations throughout Australia.

May 16, 1917

HIJM Ships CHIKUMA and HIRADO, (cruisers), arrived in Australian waters to bolster naval defence in the area. At that point the majority of the RAN’s warships were serving overseas in the North Sea and the Mediterranean, with only HMAS ENCOUNTER operating on the Australian Station.

May 9, 1917

The Australian Government agreed to send HMA Ships WARREGO, PARRAMATTA, YARRA, SWAN, TORRENS, and HUON, to European waters, following and urgent request from Britain. This request clearly indicated Australia did not have control of it’s own Navy, a fact which Admiralty diplomatically managed by ensuring it maintained an RN Admiral as First Naval member of Australia’s ACN Board. This policy that became entrenched for the next 30 years but was finally discarded when RADM John Collins RAN took over.

May 8, 1917

The Japanese ship HIRADO, (cruiser), was docked at Cockatoo Island, Sydney. During the year the Japanese ships CHIKUMA, YAHAGI, NISSHIN, and KASUGA, operated in Australian waters.

May 4, 1917

The cruiser HMAS SYDNEY, (CAPT J. S. Dumaresq, RAN), in company with HMS DUBLIN and four destroyers, was attacked by the German zeppelin L43 in the North Sea. CAPT Dumaresq reported in the ship’s Proceedings: ‘The gunnery officers of SYDNEY and DUBLIN made very good shooting with the HA guns, keeping the airship at such a height as to make her bomb dropping inaccurate’. SYDNEY was the first ship of the RAN to be subjected to an air attack.

April 25, 1917

HMAT Ballarat was torpedoed by a submarine in the English Channel 25 April 1917. Efforts made to tow the ship to shallow water failed and she sank off The Lizard the following morning. No lives were lost of the 1752 souls on board.

April 24, 1917

LEUT R. A. Little, an Australian serving with No. 8 Squadron, RNAS, brought down intact a German DFW fighter. Little was flying a Sopwith tri-plane.