On This Day
1919-1938 > Depresssion and between the wars
On This Day - 1919-1938
- February 15, 1936
HMAS AUSTRALIA, (cruiser), exercised with ‘Queen Bees’, unmanned radio-controlled Moth aircraft, in the Mediterranean.
HMA Ships AUSTRALIA and SHROPSHIRE, (cruisers), exercised together for the first time off Alexandria, Egypt.
- January 28, 1936
HMAS AUSTRALIA, (battle-cruiser), in Alexandria, Egypt, fired a 70 gun salute on the occasion of the funeral of HM King George V.
- January 22, 1936
HMA Ships AUSTRALIA and SYDNEY, (cruisers), fired a 21-gun royal salute at sea on the accession to the throne of Edward VIII.
- January 21, 1936
The Grimsby class escort sloop, HMAS YARRA, was commissioned. Mrs Parkhill, (Wife of the Minister for Defence), performed the commissioning ceremony. YARRA was laid down in Cockatoo Island Dockyard on 28 March 1935. YARRA was sunk in action in the Sunda Strait, on 4 March 1942.
- January 20, 1936
HMA Ships AUSTRALIA and SYDNEY, (cruisers), fired a 70 gun salute on the death of King George V.
- January 15, 1936
HMAS AUSTRALIA, (cruiser), became Cock of the Mediterranean when she won the Cruiser Regatta from HMS LONDON. She also won this regatta. in 1935.
- October 31, 1935
HMAS SYDNEY, (cruiser), was ordered to join the 2nd Cruiser Squadron in the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean Fleet was strengthened as a result of the Abyssinian Crisis.
- October 11, 1935
Secret orders were received by HMAS AUSTRALIA, (cruiser), in the Mediterranean. In the event of war with Italy, AUSTRALIA was to join HMS BERWICK, and proceed to a position off Taranto to cover HMS GLORIOUS, (aircraft carrier), which was to launch its torpedo-carrying Swordfish aircraft against the Italian Fleet.
The orders were reactivated with great success in 1940.
- October 8, 1935
HMAS AUSTRALIA, (cruiser),won the Mediterranean Regatta against all ships of the Fleet. The cruiser scored 279.5 points, against HMS LONDON’S 276.
- September 24, 1935
The modified Leander class cruiser HMAS SYDNEY, (CAPT J. U. C. Fitzgerald, RN), was commissioned at Portsmouth . SYDNEY was laid down in Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson Yard, Wallsend-on-Tyne, England, on 8 July 1933, as HMS PHAETON, and launched 22 September 1934, having been purchased for the RAN, as HMAS SYDNEY. Mrs S. M. Bruce, (Wife of the Australian High Commissioner), performed the launching ceremony. HMAS Brisbane was decommissioned at Portsmouth during the same ceremony.
- September 12, 1935
The first Seagull MK V amphibian was embarked in HMAS AUSTRALIA, (cruiser). HMAS SYDNEY, (cruiser), also carried a Seagull A2-2.
- August 1, 1935
The decommissioned MARGUERITE and MALLOW were sunk by gunfire and explosives off Sydney
- July 16, 1935
HMA Ships AUSTRALIA and BRISBANE, (cruisers), represented the RAN at the Jubilee Review of HRH King George V, at Spithead, England.
- June 13, 1935
HMAS BRISBANE, (cruiser), was ordered to assist HMS HASTINGS, (sloop), which ran aground on Shab Kutle Reef in the Red Sea. The cruiser stood by the stranded ship for a week until she was freed.
- May 2, 1935
HMAS Brisbane sailed for England manned by a complement which would form the balance of the ship’s company of the new HMAS Sydney (ex-HMS Phaeton)
- April 16, 1935
The hulk of the former HMAS Geranium was towed out of Sydney Harbour by the tug Chesterfield and she was scuttled approximately 40 kilometres off Sydney Heads later that day.
- March 28, 1935
HMAS YARRA, (sloop), was launched at Cockatoo Island, Sydney.
- March 16, 1935
The Standard of the Duke of Gloucester was re-hoisted in HMAS AUSTRALIA, (cruiser), at Kingston, Jamaica, when the Duke re-embarked for the voyage to Portsmouth.
- March 2, 1935
HMAS Brisbane was recommissioned at Sydney under the command of Captain Charles Farquhar-Smith, RAN in preparation for a trip to the UK with the crew for the new HMAS Sydney
- February 9, 1935
HMAS AUSTRALIA, (cruiser), took off the crew of the disabled American schooner SETH PARKER, north of Apia.
- December 10, 1934
HMAS Australia (II) sailed for England, with His Royal Highness The Duke of Gloucester embarked, on exchange duty with the Royal Navy, her place on the Australia Station being taken by HMS Sussex. Proceeding via New Zealand, Fiji, Balboa and Kingston, Australia (II) reached Portsmouth on 28 March 1935
- December 6, 1934
The Royal Standard was hoisted by HMAS AUSTRALIA, (cruiser), at Brisbane, at the commencement of a Royal Tour of New Zealand and the Pacific Islands by the Duke of Gloucester.
- October 13, 1934
HMAS AUSTRALIA, (cruiser), searched for the missing airliner Miss Hobart, in the vicinity of Wilsons Promontory, VIC.
- October 9, 1934
HMS APOLLO, (cruiser), later to be commissioned HMAS HOBART, was launched at Devonport, England.
- September 22, 1934
HMAS SYDNEY, (cruiser), was launched at Swan Hunter’s Yard, UK.