On This Day

1940 > WW2

July 26, 1940

HMA Ships VAMPIRE and VENDETTA, (destroyers), with HMS ORION, (cruiser), demonstrated off the Italian-held island of Castellorizo to divert enemy attention from an important convoy bound for Greece.

July 25, 1940

HMAS SYDNEY, (cruiser), was painted in camouflage colours at Alexandria. The effectiveness of camouflage on ships at sea was the subject of controversy throughout the war.

July 22, 1940

HMAS ALFIE CAM, (auxiliary minesweeper), was commissioned.

July 19, 1940

The cruiser, HMAS SYDNEY, (CAPT J. A. Collins, RAN), sank the Italian ship BARTOLOMEO COLLEONI, (cruiser), off Cape Spada, Crete. BATOLOMEO COLLEONI, and her sister ship GIOVANNI DELLE BANDA NERE, were sighted by the HM Ships HASTY and HERO, (destroyers), 20 miles south of the SYDNEY. The destroyers turned north with the enemy in pursuit. HASTY signalled HERO: ‘Don’t look now but I think we are being followed’. Fifty minutes later SYDNEY opened fire at extreme range. By 9.20 am, the battle was over, with BARTOLOMEO COLLEONI sinking, and GIOVANNI DELLE BANDA NERE withdrawing damaged.The following gallantry awards were gazetted for the action:-CB CAPT J. A. Collins, RAN; DSO CMDR T. J. M. Hilken, RAN; DSO CMDR(E) L. S. Dalton, RAN; DSC LCDR M. M. Singer, RAN; DSC LCDR E. W. Thruston, RAN; DSM CPO A. P. Prior; DSM CPO S. G. Silk; DSM COA W. J. Keane; DSM CS T. Beaumont; DSM Stoker E. C. Evans; Thirteen officers and ratings were MID.

July 18, 1940

The cruiser HMAS SYDNEY, (CAPT J. A. Collins, RAN), with HMS HAVOCK, (destroyer), left Alexandria to protect four destroyers which were to hunt down Italian submarines, (HM Ships HYPERION, ILEX, HERO, and HASTY), and to intercept Italian shipping in the Gulf of Athens.

July 17, 1940

HMAS FALIE, (transport and stores ship), was commissioned.

The cruiser HMAS SYDNEY, (CAPT J. A. Collins, RAN), returned from the fleet action in the central Mediterranean to Alexandria, was immediately readied for sea again, after being refuelled, ammunitioned, and having a bottom clean.

July 15, 1940

The examination vessel HMAS KING BAY, was commissioned. KING BAY was laid down in Fremantle, WA, in 1938. She was requisitioned for the RAN on 8 July 1940, from her owners, Cossack Lightering and Trades Ltd, Perth, WA.

The examination vessel HMAS WONGALA, was commissioned. WONGALA was laid down in Norway in 1919 as the wooden steamer FANEFJORD. She later became HMAS WYATT EARP in November 1947.

July 13, 1940

HMAS AUSTRALIA, (cruiser), joined the 1st Cruiser Squadron at Scappa Flow, Scotland.

July 11, 1940

Gunner(T) Mr. J. H. Endicott, RN, in HMAS VAMPIRE, (destroyer), was killed in an Italian air attack on the ship. He was the RAN’s first battle casualty in WWII.

July 9, 1940

HMA Ships SYDNEY, (cruiser), STUART, VAMPIRE, and VOYAGER, (destroyers), participated in the Battle of Calabria. The signal, ‘Enemy battle fleet in sight,’ was hoisted for the first time in the Mediterranean since the Napoleonic Wars.

HMAS NESTOR, (destroyer), was launched at Fairfield’s Yard, UK.

HMAS AUSTRALIA, (cruiser), left the Dakar force and proceeded to the Clyde.

July 8, 1940

HMAS SYDNEY, (cruiser), came under air attack whilst preparing for the Battle of Calibria.

July 7, 1940

HMAS SYDNEY, (cruiser), was straddled by a stick of bombs while operating with the Mediterranean Fleet. The C in C, ADML A.B. Cunningham, recorded in his journal: ‘On this day I saw the SYDNEY, which was in company, disappear in a line of towering pillars of spray as high as church steeples, to emerge unharmed’.

HMAS AUSTRALIA, (cruiser), and HM Ships DORSETSHIRE, (cruiser), and HERMES, (aircraft carrier), covered the attack on the French battleship RICHELIEU at Dakar, by a British Fleet. After a preliminary bombardment by guns of the fleet a motorboat entered the enemy harbour and dropped depth charges under the battleship’s stern, but because of the shallow water they failed to explode. A flight of torpedo bombers from HERMES then attacked the enemy battleship causing damage to her stern.

July 6, 1940

LCDR O. Becher, RAN, was awarded the DSC for conspicuous gallantry in the evacuation of troops from Namsos, Norway, while serving in HMS DEVONSHIRE.

July 4, 1940

HMAS NIZAM, (destroyer), was launched at John Brown’s, Yard, Scotland.

HMAS SYDNEY, (cruiser), engaged in the removal of the French fleet from the Mediterranean, records in her war diary, ‘Situation with French very critical’.

July 1, 1940

HMAS HOBART, (cruiser), landed 687 officers and men of a Punjabi battalion at Berbera, to reinforce British Somaliland.

June 29, 1940

HMS Decoy, HMS Dainty, Defender, HMS Ilex and HMAS Voyager carried out depth charge attacks on three Italian submarines. They sank the Uebi Scebelli and damaged the Salpa. The Capitano Tarantini managed to escape. Following the sinking of the Uebi Scebelli, HMAS Voyager picked up secret Italian documents and she was ordered to proceed with these documents to Alexandria where she arrived on 30 June 1940

June 28, 1940

The cruiser HMAS SYDNEY, (CAPT J. A. Collins, RAN), participated in the sinking of the Italian destroyer ESPERO, in the central Mediterranean.

June 27, 1940

HMAS VOYAGER, (destroyer), rescued 13 of the crew of the Italian submarine LIAZZI, sunk by HMS DAINTY, off Crete.

June 25, 1940

France capitulated. ADML A. B. Cunningham concentrated the Mediterranean Fleet at Alexandria to contain the French Squadron in the port. RAN ships with the Mediterranean Fleet were HMAS SYDNEY, (cruiser), and HMA Ships STUART, VAMPIRE, VENDETTA, VOYAGER, and WATERHEN, (destroyers, the ‘Scrap Iron Flotilla’).

June 21, 1940

HMA Ships SYDNEY, (cruiser), and STUART, (destroyer), supported a combined British and French Squadron in the bombardment of Bardia. During the action SYDNEY’S Seagull amphibian aircraft was shot down by three Italian fighters, and crashed on landing. The pilot, Flight Lieutenant. T. McB. Price, RAAF, was awarded the DFC for this action.

LEUT V. A. T. Smith, RAN, participated in an attack by six Swordfish torpedo bombers of 821 Squadron, on the German battleship SCHARNHORST, off the coast of Norway. The attack was unsuccessful. LEUT Smith, who was serving in HMS ARK ROYAL, (aircraft carrier), was MID. He was later to be awarded the DSC for gallantry while serving in ARK ROYAL in the Mediterranean.

June 19, 1940

HMAS Hobart bombarded an the Italian wireless station at Centre Peak Island, in the Red Sea during which her Seagull also made a solo bombing attack .

LCDR A. W. R. McNicoll, RAN, who was serving in HMS KANDAHAR, disarmed eight torpedoes in the captured Italian submarine GALILEO GALELEI, off Aden. The submarine had been forced to surrender by the trawler HMS MOONSTONE. LEUT G. F. E. Knox, RAN, also serving in KANDAHAR, was appointed prize captain of the submarine for the passage into Aden. LCDR A. W. R. McNicoll, RAN was later awarded the George Medal for his actions.

June 13, 1940

HMAS VOYAGER, with HMS DECOY, (destroyers), engaged the surfaced Italian submarine FOCA, which was laying mines, with gunfire off Alexandria. The submarine submerged, and VOYAGER, (CMDR Morrow), dropped depth charges without success.

June 12, 1940

The crew of the Italian liner ROMOLO, scuttled their ship west of Nauru, after a long pursuit by HMAS MANOORA, (armed merchant cruiser). MANOORA picked up the survivors from their boats.

The destroyer HMAS STUART, (CAPT H. L. M. Waller, RAN), detected an Italian minefield 17 miles from Alexandria. STUART, with HMA Ships VAMPIRE and VOYAGER, (destroyers), were returning to Alexandria.

June 11, 1940

HMAS Sydney, with cruisers of the 7th Cruiser Squadron HMS Orion, HMS Neptune, HMS Gloucester and HMS Liverpool, departed Alexandria at 1.00am for a sweep after Italy declared war the prior day. HMAS Stuart and Voyager departed shortly after with the Battlefleet.

June 10, 1940

Italy entered the war on the side of Germany. An officer in HMAS SYDNEY, (cruiser), at the time of the announcement commented, ‘The news came like the proverbial bomb in our midst.’

HMAS MANOORA, (armed merchant cruiser), shadowed the Italian merchantman ROMOLO in the Pacific, west of Nauru.