On This Day
1942 > WW2
On This Day - 1942
- April 15, 1942
HMAS VENDETTA, (destroyer), reached Port Phillip after an epic 72 day tow from Singapore. The destroyer had been immobilized in dry dock at Singapore when the Japanese invaded, and was towed south to Australia by a variety of vessels. She endured air attack and bad weather during the 5000 mile journey. Her Commanding Officer during this period was LEUT W. G. Whiting, RANR, who was awarded the DSC for ‘outstanding leadership, initiative and seamanship’.
The US Submarines S38, S42, S43, S44, S45, S46 and S47, arrived at Brisbane to operate against the Japanese in the Solomons.
- April 13, 1942
The Bathurst class minesweeper, (corvette), HMAS GERALDTON, (LCDR H. M. Harris, RNR), was commissioned. GERALDTON was laid down at Poole and Steel’s Yard, Sydney, on 20 March 1940. She was launched on 16 August 1941.
- April 12, 1942
The Fremantle-based US Submarine SEARAVEN, (LCDR. H. Cassedy, USN), rescued 33 Australian soldiers north of Koepang, Timor. To effect the rescue, Ensign G. C. Cook, USN, was landed on two nights to locate the party of soldiers. On the passage to Fremantle the submarine caught fire and was towed to port.
- April 11, 1942
The destroyer HMS QUICKMATCH, (later HMAS QUICKMATCH), was launched at White’s Yard in England.
- April 9, 1942
The Bathurst class minesweeper, (corvette), HMAS LAUNCESTON, (LCDR P.G. Collins, RANR), was commissioned. LAUNCESTON was laid down at Evans Deakin Yard, Brisbane, on 23 December 1940, and launched on 30 June 1941.
Royal Commissioner, Mr Justice Lowe, submitted his report on the Japanese attack on Darwin to the Australian Government. The report criticised the action of the Army, RAAF and Civil Administration, but praised the RAN.
Japanese carrier-borne aircraft sank the destroyer HMAS VAMPIRE, (CMDR W.T.A. Moran, RAN), and HMS HERMES, (light aircraft carrier), off Trincomalee, Ceylon. CMDR Moran, and 7 ratings from VAMPIRE were lost in the action. A total of 590 survivors from both ships were picked up by the hospital ship VITA, and landed at Colombo.
- April 7, 1942
HMAS WARRAMUNGA, the second Tribal class destroyer built in Australia, was launched at Cockatoo Island, Sydney.
The Bathurst class minesweeper, (corvette), HMAS KALGOORLIE, (LCDR H.A. Litchfield, RANR), was commissioned. KALGOORLIE was laid down on 26 July 1940 at Broken Hill Co Yard, Whyalla, SA, on 26 July 1940, and launched on 7 August 1941. Mrs T. Playford, (wife of the Premier of South Australia), performed the launching ceremony.
- April 6, 1942
RFA Bishopdale arrived Sydney and was made available to the RAN and operated as an Australian Fleet Auxiliary until returned in 1945
- April 3, 1942
A lifeboat, commanded by PO J. Tyrrell, containing 23 survivors from HMAS PERTH, (cruiser), surrendered to the Japanese at Semangka Bay, Sumatra. The party set out to sail to Australia after their ship sank, but 37 days of adverse winds and constant searching for food and water weakened them. On 1 April the boat was shelled by a Japanese destroyer, but they escaped under cover of dark. After their capture they were taken to a prison camp at Palembang, where they remained until the end of the war.
LCDR V.A. Smith, DSC, RAN, participated in operations from the escort carrier, HMS TRACKER, which resulted in the destruction of six German long range aircraft and the sinking of the submarines U288 and U366, in the period 1 to 3 April. TRACKER, equipped with Avenger fighter bombers and Wildcat fighters, was escorting an Arctic convoy to Murmansk.
- April 2, 1942
ADML Sir James Somerville ordered his battleships HMS RAMILLES, REVENGE, RESOLUTION, and ROYAL SOVEREIGN, to withdraw to Addu Atoll to avoid a clash with ADML Naguma’s superior modern fleet. The overwhelming Japanese carrier force would have sunk the slow British capital ships. HMA Ships NAPIER, NIZAM and NORMAN, (destroyers), were operating with ADML Somerville’s fleet in the Indian Ocean.
- March 28, 1942
The raid on St Nazaire, France, was conducted with the aim of damaging the port facilities there. LEUT N. B. H. Wallis, RANVR, (ML 192), and SBLT P. W. Landy, RANVR, (ML 306), were wounded during the operation.