On This Day

1919-1938 > Depresssion and between the wars

December 10, 1919

HMAS SYDNEY, (light cruiser), patrolled the Timor Sea as beacon ship for Ross and Keith Smith’s flight from England to Australia.

The aviators recorded the cruiser was sighted exactly on station.

December 5, 1919

HMAS Encounter permanently transferred from the RN to the RAN

November 6, 1919

RADM P. E. F. P. Grant, First Naval Member, tendered his resignation. His resignation was in protest to the Australian Government demanding the Admiralty release five sailors gaoled for participation in a mutiny aboard HMAS AUSTRALIA, (battle-cruiser), at Fremantle, WA. Nine days later the Commodore Commanding His Majesty’s Australian Squadron, (CDRE J. S. Dumaresq), joined the Admiral. The Government stood firm on its demand, and the sailors were released on 20 December. Both officers withdrew their resignations on 13 February, after receiving conciliatory letters from the Prime Minister, Mr. W. M. Hughes.

October 21, 1919

Admiral of the Fleet, Lord Jellicoe, presented his report on the future development of the RAN, to the Australian Government.

October 19, 1919

The Australian Naval Board approved the inclusion of ‘Advance Australia Fair’ in the repertoire of RAN bands.

October 10, 1919

The Treaty of Versailles is signed and formally ends WWI.

September 8, 1919

HM Ships MARGUERITE, GERANIUM, and MALLOW, (sloops), swept for wartime mines off Cape Everard, VIC. One mine was swept and destroyed

August 12, 1919

Admiral of the Fleet, Lord Jellicoe, reported to the Admiralty on Australian naval defence:- ‘One of the earliest requirements of the Commonwealth is the acquisition on loan of an aircraft carrier’.

July 22, 1919

The River class torpedo boat destroyer, HMAS Parramatta (I) decommissioned in Sydney.

July 18, 1919

HMAS Sydney arrived in Sydney after sailing from Portsmouth on 9 April 1919 for the return passage to Australia calling at Gibaltar, Malta, Port Said, Port Suez, Aden, Colombo, Singapore, Penang, and Thursday Island

June 23, 1919

HMAS SUVA, (special service vessel), was commissioned for the visit of Admiral of the Fleet, Lord Jellicoe, to the Australia Station and Pacific Islands. The ship was paid off on 12 August, and returned to her owners.

June 20, 1919

SBLT F. L. Larkins, RAN, was washed overboard and drowned from HMA Submarine J2, in the Karimata Strait, (between Borneo and Sumatra), while the vessel was returning to Australia. Larkins was one of the original entry to the RAN College in 1913.

June 19, 1919

CAPT H. P. Cayley, RN, led a landing party from HMAS SYDNEY, (cruiser), to put down a civil disturbance in Penang.

June 8, 1919

HM Ships GERANIUM, MARGUERITE, and MALLOW, (sloops), arrived in Australia to sweep for mines. They were later gifted to Australia.

June 4, 1919

The British Government offered Australia 100 aircraft as a gift, to establish an Air Force and a RAN Air Service. The gift was not accepted at this time, however, when the Royal Australian Air Force, (RAAF), was formed in March 1921, many of its aircraft were gifts from Britain.

June 3, 1919

The first AFC was awarded to Flight Lieutenant A. Frauenfelder of No. 2 Flying School. Frauenfelder was an Australian serving with the RNAS, and trained pilots in aerial combat tactics.

June 2, 1919

HM destroyers Voyager (later HMAS) and Vivacious attacked the Russian Bolshevik destroyers Azard and Gavril at the entrance to Petrograd Bay.

June 1, 1919

The ‘HMAS AUSTRALIA Mutiny’ occurred on the battle-cruiser while berthed at Fremantle. AUSTRALIA had returned to Fremantle on 28 May, after an absence of over four and half years from Australia. The ship spent four days alongside, and when she was due to depart about 80 ratings gathered on the quarterdeck and requested that the ship stay longer in port, in order to entertain civilian friends and repay their generous hospitality. The Commanding Officer, CAPT C. Cumberlege, RN, advised that this was not possible, and directed the men to disperse, which they did. However, when Cumberlege tried to take the ship to sea the stokers walked out of the boiler room. A scratch crew managed to get the ship to sea, and Cumberlege ordered the arrest of five sailors considered to be ringleaders in the ‘Mutiny’. The ensuing courts martial, on board HMAS ENCOUNTER in Sydney Harbour, up to 2 year prison sentences, and intervention by the Australian Government, were to have a dramatic and long lasting effect upon the RAN.

May 28, 1919

HMAS AUSTRALIA, (battle-cruiser), arrived in Fremantle, WA, from Portsmouth, England.

April 23, 1919

HMAS AUSTRALIA, (battle-cruiser), sailed for Australia from Portsmouth, England, after a farewell inspection by the Prince of Wales and the First Sea Lord, ADML Sir Rosslyn Wemyss, RN.

April 22, 1919

The Prince of Wales and ADML Sir Rosslyn Wemyss, (First Sea Lord), inspected HMAS AUSTRALIA, (battle-cruiser), at Portsmouth.

April 17, 1919

HMAS Brisbane sailed from Portsmouth for Australia via Malta, Port Said, Aden, Colombo, Singapore and Darwin. She later joined submarine HMAS J5, already on her way to Australia, and assumed responsibility for her escort which included towing her for some of the voyage to Sydney

April 10, 1919

HMAS BILOELA, (fleet collier), was launched at Cockatoo Island, Sydney.

HMA Submarine J5, (LEUT J. R. Peirson, RN), collided with the French sailing ship TERRENEUVIEN YOLANDE, south of Portsmouth, England. The Australian Government later paid £4922 in compensation to the French owners.

April 9, 1919

HMAS SYDNEY, five J class submarines, and the submarine depot ship HMAS PLATYPUS, departed England for Australia. The submarines had been gifted to the RAN by the British Admiralty, but their service was to be brief. Upon arrival in Australia the submarines required major refits, and all had been disposed of by the mid 1920’s.

March 25, 1919

Britain’s gift submarines to the RAN, J1, J2, J3, J4, J5, J6 and J7, were commissioned into the RAN. The Flotilla Commander was CMDR E. C. Boyle, VC, RN.