On This Day
1941 > WW2
On This Day - 1941
- May 16, 1941
HMAS Vampire (I) delivered 102 troops & stores to Tobruk to support the besieged 7th & 9th AIF Divisions. Vampire departed Tobruk the next day just as an air raid began, evacuating 180 wounded troops.
- May 15, 1941
CAPT J. Burnett, RAN, took over command from CAPT J. Collins, CB, RAN, of HMAS SYDNEY, (cruiser). Just over 6 months later SYDNEY was sunk in her ill fated action with the German raider KORMORAN.
HMAS Mildura, minesweeper, was launched at Mort’s Dock, Sydney.
- May 14, 1941
Australian merchant vessel RABAUL, was sunk by the German raider ATLANTIS, 700 miles north-west of Walrus Bay. Nine members of the ship’s crew were killed in action.
- May 12, 1941
HMAS WHYALLA, (minesweeper), was launched at Whyalla, SA.
- May 11, 1941
The tug HMAS WATO, was commissioned. WATO was laid down in J. T. Ettingham & Co in 1904 for the Adelaide Steam Tug Co, and served with the RN in WWI. She was requisitioned for the RAN on 11 May 1941.
- May 10, 1941
The Bathurst class minesweeper, (corvette), HMAS BENDIGO, (LEUT S. J. Griffith, RANR), was commissioned. BENDIGO was laid down at Cockatoo Island Dockyard, Sydney, on 12 August 1940, and launched on 1 March 1941. Dame Mary Hughes, (Wife of W. M. Hughes, the Federal Attorney-General and Minister for the Navy), performed the launching ceremony.
HMAS NIZAM, (destroyer), engaged in a spirited action against German aircraft which made moonlight attacks on HMS FORMIDABLE, (aircraft carrier), and the ships of Force H, south of Malta. The bombers were fought off without loss to the convoy.
- May 9, 1941
HMAS VENDETTA evacuated wounded from Tobruk during the night of 9/10 May to Alexandria
- May 8, 1941
HMAS NESTOR’S log recorded:- ‘At 2100 what we believed to be the conning tower of a submarine was sighted on the port bow and course was altered to ram. However it turned out to be a dead whale’. The destroyer was returning from operations off Iceland.
HMAS WARRNAMBOOL, (minesweeper), was launched at Mort’s Dock, Sydney.
- May 7, 1941
The 6th Destroyer Flotilla, of which included HMAS NESTOR, captured a German weather ship in the Arctic.
- May 5, 1941
HMAS PARRAMATTA arrived at Suez to reinforce the Mediterranean Fleet. However, she was ordered to remain there temporarily to provide anti-aircraft protection for liners QUEEN MARY and QUEEN ELIZABETH.
HMAS VOYAGER made the ‘Scrap Iron Flotilla’s’ first run into the besieged port of Tobruk. WATERHEN followed on 6 May, VENDETTA on 8 May, VAMPIRE on 15 May and STUART on 16 May. In all, RAN warships made a total of 139 re-supply runs into Tobruk during the siege.