On This Day

1919-1938 > Depresssion and between the wars

August 5, 1926

Sir Neville Howse, Minister for Defence, enunciated the policy that all officers of the RAN should be Australians.

July 20, 1926

LEUT Norman. H. Shaw was appointed to Command the Royal Navy submarine HMS H27 becoming the first RANC Graduate to command a warship. He was 26 years and 11 days old on this date

June 30, 1926

HMAS OXLEY, (submarine), was launched at Vickers Armstrong, England.

June 16, 1926

101 Flight, RAAF, was re-formed to operate six Supermarine Seagull Mark II amphibian aircraft, for naval co-operation duties.

April 30, 1926

CDRE Sir George Francis Hyde, KCB, CVO, CBE, RN, was appointed Commodore Commanding His Majesty’s Australian Squadron.

December 1, 1925

HMAS Stalwart decommissioned. She remained in reserve after decommissioning until she was eventually sold for breaking up on 4 June 1937.

November 12, 1925

LEUT R. C. Casey, RAN, a 1916 entry to the Royal Australian Naval College, was lost when HM submarine M1 was lost with all hands off Devon, England.

July 23, 1925

A US Naval Squadron consisting of US Ships CALIFORNIA, COLORADO, IDAHO, MARYLANDMISSISSIPPI, TENNESSEE, and WEST VIRGINIA, arrived at Sydney for a goodwill visit.

July 18, 1925

While HMAS Brisbane was at Hong Kong, there was a major landslide in the Po Hing Fong district which destroyed many homes and killed 73 people. Warrant Officer Shipwright Robert Cargin from Brisbane was ashore at the time visiting friends and took part in the rescue operations; he was later awarded the Bronze Lifesaving Medal of the Venerable Order of St John of Jerusalem for ‘conspicuous gallantry for saving life at imminent personal risk in connection with the Po Hing Fong disaster at Hong Kong’

June 26, 1925

HMAS BRISBANE, (cruiser), was attached to the RN’s China Squadron.

June 25, 1925

HMS CONCORD, (cruiser), sailed from Sydney on the completion of her exchange deployment with the Australian Squadron.

June 20, 1925

The surveying vessel, HMAS MORESBY (CAPT J. Edgell, RN), a former 24 class convoy sloop HMS SILVIO, was commissioned into the RAN in the UK. Moresby sailed from England for Australia on 28 June 1925. En route she visited Gibraltar, Port Said, Aden, Colombo Singapore, and Thursday Island before arriving in Brisbane on 10 September 1925

June 16, 1925

Commonwealth Navy Order 137 of 1925 was promulgated establishing a Fleet Air Arm for the RAN and inviting applications from officers to undergo a four-year Long Air Course. The first iteration of the Fleet Air Arm was short-lived, however, and it was disbanded by Commonwealth Navy Order 1 of 1929, promulgated on 8 January 1929. That order stated that the RAAF was to provide all naval aircraft and the personnel to fly and maintain them while the RAN would provide observers and telegraphist air gunners. A dedicated Fleet Air Arm was reinstituted in the RAN in 1948

March 25, 1925

The cruiser HMS CONCORD, (CAPT A. R. W. Woods, RN), joined the Australian Squadron for an exchange deployment. She was met by HMAS SYDNEY, (cruiser), at Broome Bay, WA. CONCORD’s place in the Royal Navy was taken by HMAS ADELAIDE, (cruiser), which joined the 1st Cruiser Squadron at Gibraltar.

March 5, 1925

The Australian Government approved the building of two Kent class cruisers for the RAN. These were later commissioned as HMAS AUSTRALIA, and HMAS CANBERRA.

January 22, 1925

The Australian Government approved the establishment of a Fleet Air Arm in the RAN. The Commonwealth Naval Order (137/25), signed 8 days later declared “The Naval Board has decided to establish a Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Australian Navy, based as far as practicable on the scheme adopted in the Royal Navy”.

January 18, 1925

HMAS ADELAIDE, (light cruiser), joined the 1st Cruiser Squadron, HM Ships DEHLI and DRAGON, at Gibraltar.

January 6, 1925

The former German yacht, HMAS UNA, (ex KOMET), was sold out of service to the Port Melbourne Pilot Service and renamed AKUNA. She remained in the pilot service until 1953.

October 24, 1924

A punitive party from the cruiser HMAS ADELAIDE, (CMDR W. Whitehorn, RN) landed at Malaita to subjugate rebellious natives.

June 27, 1924

The Australian Government approved the building of two heavy cruisers and two submarines for the RAN.

June 6, 1924

The motor-vessel/tender HMAS KOORONGA, was commissioned. KOORONGA was laid down in Williamstown, VIC, as a tug, in 1919.

June 2, 1924

HMAS GERANIUM, (survey vessel), embarked a Fairey HID seaplane. GERANIUM was the first Australian ship to use aircraft for surveying.

June 1, 1924

HMAS FRANKLIN, (armed yacht), was transferred as a gift to the Administration of the Mandated Territory of New Guinea. The yacht was used by the Territory Administrator until 1932.

May 14, 1924

The turret ship HMAS CERBERUS, (which had been renamed PLAYTPUS II), was sold for 80 pounds, and taken to Williamstown Dockyard for dismantling. The hulk was later sunk as a breakwater at Black Rock, in Port Phillip Bay, Melbourne. CERBERUS has commenced service with the Victorian Navy in 1871, and had become part of the Australian Navy in 1901.

May 9, 1924

Wing Commander S. J. Goble, and Flight Lieutenant I. E. Mclntyre, both former RNAS pilots, completed the first around- Australian flight in Fairey seaplanes.