On This Day

1942 > WW2

March 26, 1942

The merchant ship LAKATOI arrived at Cairns, QLD, with 214 troops and civilians evacuated from Japanese-occupied New Britain.

March 24, 1942

US Congress accepted an Australian proposal for dividing the Pacific into distinct naval operational zones. The two areas proposed were the Southwest Pacific and the Southern Pacific.

“Harris’s Navy”, an unusual flotilla of small vessels led by Burns Philp’s 300 ton steamer LAKATOI, commanded by Patrol Officer G. C. Harris, evacuated hundreds of troops and civilians from New Britain under the nose of the Japanese.

March 20, 1942

HMAS MAROUBRA was commissioned as an auxiliary minesweeper. The vessel was sunk by enemy action in 1943.

HMAS NORMAN, (destroyer), located a torpedoed allied tanker in the Indian Ocean, and escorted the vessel into port.

Australian Coastwatcher PO W. L. Tupling, RANVR, was reported executed by the Japanese in New Britain.

March 18, 1942

HMAS WESTRALIA, (armed merchant cruiser), landed a garrison and engineers on Efate Island, New Hebrides, to develop a base for operations against the Japanese through the Solomon and Bismarck Groups.

The merchant ship CHARON was requisitioned by the RAN and converted into a provisions ship for service in the Pacific. She was not commissioned and was returned to her owners in early May 1942.

President Roosevelt telegraphed the British Prime Minister, Mr. Churchill:- “There is no use giving a single further thought to Singapore or the Dutch East Indies. They are gone. Australia must be held and we are willing to undertake that. You must hold Egypt, the Canal, Syria, Iran and the route to the Caucasus”.

March 17, 1942

General Douglas MacArthur arrived in Australia and was appointed Supreme Commander of all Allied Forces in the South-West Pacific.

HMS KINGSTON OLIVINE, (LEUT T. Lewis, RANVR), took in tow the mined freighter CRESSDINE in the English Channel. The tow was passed in darkness with German E-boats in the vicinity. Lewis towed the damaged ship to harbour where it sank before it could be secured alongside. Both Lewis and his First Lieutenant, SBLT P. McCormack, were commended for their coolness and determination.

March 15, 1942

A boat from HMAS PERTH, (LEUT Thode), surrendered to the Japanese at Tjilatjap, 16 days after the sinking of the cruiser in the Battle of Sunda Strait. The party of 10 survivors had set sail for Australia, but contrary winds and a shortage of food and water caused them to turn back to Java.

March 14, 1942

HMAS TAMWORTH, (minesweeper), was launched at Walkers Ltd., QLD. She was paid off in 1946 and transferred to the Royal Netherlands Navy, and renamed TIDORE.

March 11, 1942

HMS NAIAD, (cruiser), was sunk while escorting a convoy to Malta. The cruiser’s First Lieutenant, LCDR A. S. Storey, RAN, was awarded the DSC for conspicuous bravery in the operation. A Bar to the DSC was awarded to this officer some months later “for gallantry, skill and seamanship in a brilliant action against strong enemy forces” when serving in his next ship, HMS CLEOPATRA, (cruiser).

March 10, 1942

The flotilla of 7 corvettes, HMA Ships MARYBOROUGH, GOULBURN, BURNIE, BALLARAT, TOOWOOMBA, WOLLONGONG, and BENDIGO, reached Fremantle, WA, from Tjilatjap.

March 9, 1942

Thirteen survivors from HMAS YARRA, (sloop), were picked up by the Dutch submarine K11 in the Indian Ocean.

Coastwatcher P. Good was executed by the Japanese at Kessa on Buka Island. Good was betrayed by an Australian news broadcast reporting enemy shipping movements.

HMS WARSPITE, (battleship), sailed from Spencer Gulf, SA, for Ceylon. The battleship had been dispatched from the USA, where she had been repaired to bolster Australian defence. Her presence in Australian waters was one of the best kept secrets of the war.

March 7, 1942

Australian Coastwatcher SBLT A.R. Olander, RANVR, was believed executed by the Japanese in New Britain.

HMAS IPSWICH, (minesweeper), was launched at Mort’s Dock, Sydney.

March 6, 1942

HMAS MARYBOROUGH, (minesweeper), signalled the old coal-burning Dutch ship VERSPICK, which had straggled behind the convoy: “Get all those bloody passengers into the stoke hole”.

March 5, 1942

VADM Nagumo’s fleet bombarded Tjilatjap, sinking 17 ships. The Dutch disputed the report, claiming 16 vessels had been scuttled in the port. Two days before the attack the Australian Minesweeping Flotilla was at Tjilatjap.

March 4, 1942

HMA Ships, MARYBOROUGH, (CMDR G.L. Cant, RAN, Commander of the Australian corvettes), BURNIE, GOULBURN, BALLARAT, TOOWOOMBA, WOLLONGONG, and BENDIGO, (corvettes), were headed for Australia, from Tjilatjap.

The sloop HMAS YARRA, (LCDR Robert Rankin, RAN), MMS 51, (minesweeper), and the merchant ships ANKING and FRANCO, were overwhelmed and sunk in the Indian Ocean by Japanese fleet of 3 cruisers, (ATAGO, TAKAO and MAYA), and destroyers, commanded by VADM Kondo. YARRA, senior ship in the convoy, engaged the enemy fleet after ordering her convoy to scatter. Of the ship’s complement of 151, 138 lost their lives, and the 13 survivors were later picked up by a Dutch submarine. LS R. Taylor, in charge of the last remaining gun, continued to fire after the abandon ship order, until he too was killed.

March 3, 1942

The Commonwealth Government appointed Mr Justice Lowe as Royal Commissioner to inquire into the circumstances of the Japanese air raid on Darwin on 19 February 1942.

The Australian transport KOOLAMA was sunk by Japanese bombers at Broome, WA.

HMAS YARRA, (sloop), picked up 40 survivors from the Dutch merchant ship PARIGI that had been sunk by the Japanese south of Java. Unfortunately YARRA was sunk the next day and none of the Dutch survivors from PARIGI survived this second sinking.

HMAS BALLARAT, (minesweeper), sank HMS GEMAS, (minesweeper), at Tjilatjap, Java, to prevent it falling into enemy hands. The vessel did not have the range to reach Australia.

The auxiliary minesweeper HMAS PATRICIA CAM was commissioned. PATRICIA CAM was launched as a tuna fishing vessel for Cam & Sons Pty Ltd, Sydney.

March 2, 1942

CAPT J. A. Collins, RAN, and staff of the Australian-British-Dutch-American Command, (ABDA), were evacuated by corvette HMAS BURNIE from Tjilatjap, Java.

The former Japanese fishing fleet supply vessel, KOFUKO MARU, 70 foot long and 68 tons, slipped out of the Inderagiri River in Sumatra hours before the Japanese seized the island. She was sailed to India by W. R. Reynolds and later to Australia where she was taken over by the Special Reconnaissance Department and renamed KRAIT.

March 1, 1942

HMAS PERTH, (cruiser), was sunk by enemy action. 23 officers and 333 ratings lost their lives.

HMAS HOBART, (cruiser), evacuated 512 refugees from Padang and landed them at Colombo.

February 28, 1942

Engaged in the Battle of the Sunda Strait, HMAS PERTH, (cruiser), and USS HOUSTON, (cruiser), were attempting to force their way through the Sunda Strait when they encountered a Japanese invasion force protected by several warships. In the ensuing battle a number of Japanese ships were sunk or damaged, but PERTH and HOUSTON were also sunk, with heavy loss of life. PERTH’S Commanding Officer, CAPT H.M.L. Waller, DSO and Bar, RAN, was killed in this action. He was later awarded a posthumous MID. Over half of PERTH’s ships company lost their lives in the battle and the rest were captured and made POWs in the ensuing weeks, including PERTH’s navigator LCDR J.A. Harper, RN.

HMAS WOLLONGONG, (minesweeper), attempted to tow the British tanker WAR SIRDAR off Jong Reef, Agentium Island. The tanker was later abandoned.

CMDR G.L. Cant, RAN, in HMAS MARYBOROUGH, commanding the six corvette strong auxiliary naval patrol in Sunda Strait, decided to return to Tjilatjap to refuel, but was ordered to return to Sunda Strait with MARYBOROUGH, TOOWOOMBA, BALLARAT, and GOULBURN.

February 27, 1942

LCDR F. N. Cook, RAN, was Senior Naval Officer at the beach-head during the British Commando and parachute raid on German radio location stations at Bruneval, France. Cook was awarded the DSC for conspicuous gallantry in the operation.

The Battle of the Java Sea – HMAS PERTH, HM Ships EXETER, ELECTRA and JUPITER, USS HOUSTON and the Dutch ships DE RUYTER, JAVA and KORTENAER, engaged a superior Japanese fleet in the Java Sea. All the Allied ships except PERTH and HOUSTON were sunk in this disastrous engagement. CAPT H. M. L. Waller, DSO and Bar, RAN, commanded HMAS PERTH during this battle and made the decision to break off the engagement after the Dutch Admiral was killed when the cruiser DE RUYTER was sunk.

The cruiser HMAS HOBART, (CAPT H. L. Howden, RAN), with HM Ships DRAGON and DANAE, (cruisers), and two destroyers, were ordered by CDRE J. Collins, RAN, to attack an approaching western invading force. HOBART was later attacked by enemy aircraft in Tanjong Priok, and five ratings were wounded. HOBART left Tanjong Priok that night for Padang, Sumatra, to pick up refugees and proceed to Ceylon.

February 26, 1942

RADM Karl Doorman, (Dutch Navy), sailed with his fleet of five cruisers, including HMAS PERTH, and nine destroyers, from Sourabaya. At the same time a striking force formed on HMAS HOBART, (cruiser), sailed from Tanjong Priok, to attempt the interception of a Japanese convoy approaching western Java.

February 25, 1942

HMAS KUTTABUL, a former Sydney Harbour ferry, was commissioned as an accommodation vessel.

HM Submarine P38 was sunk by the Italian torpedo boats, CIRCE and USODIMARE, off Tunisia. The First Lieutenant of P38 was Australian LEUT S. A. Pigeon, RNR, who entered the Royal Australian Naval College in 1926, but did not graduate. Pigeon went to sea in the sailing barque VIKING, was a crewman of the Antarctic exploration ship Discovery, and saw action in the Spanish Civil War in the Merchant Service. He was MID in 1940 for service in HMS SUNFISH, (submarine), and was the first Australian RNR officer to be so honoured.

HMAS PERTH, (cruiser), with HM Ships EXETER, ELECTRA, ENCOUNTER, JUPITER, left Tanjong Priok for Sourabaya, to pursue a large convoy which had been sighted 320 kms to the northeast. HMAS HOBART, (cruiser), would have joined in, but was unable to be refuelled in time.

The ABDA was command was dissolved, and command was taken over by the original Dutch organization, with CDRE John Collins, RAN, in command of all British naval forces in the area.

February 24, 1942

HMAS YARRA, (sloop), passed her last mail to HMAS VENDETTA, (destroyer), 200 miles south of Christmas Island. VENDETTA was being towed south from Singapore to Australia for repair. YARRA returned to the Netherlands East Indies, and was sunk eight days later defending a convoy en-route to Australia.

February 23, 1942

HMAS WARRNAMBOOL rescued 40 survivors from the bombed merchant vessel FLORENCE D and the crew of a downed Catalina flying boat from Bathurst Island.

The veteran cruiser HMAS ADELAIDE, rendezvoused with HMAS YARRA 200 miles south of Christmas Island, and took over her convoy of six merchant ships loaded with refugees fleeing the East Indies for Fremantle.

Lieutenant Francis G. Gordon (O) RAN was lost. He was in RN 817 Squadron flying Albacore torpedo aircraft and was one of three that took off from HMS Victorious on a night search for enemy vessels, including the German battleship Tirpitz. The aircraft did not return to the carrier and was presumed lost in snow storm 30 miles east of the Shetlands.

February 20, 1942

HMAS PLATYPUS, (depot ship), made the following signal to all RAN units in northern waters:- “Intention is to hold Darwin”. The signal was repeated during all subsequent Japanese air attacks on Darwin.

HMAS BALLARAT, (minesweeper), returned to Oosthaven after the port had been evacuated and salvaged vital aircraft spares and ammunition.

HMAS WARRNAMBOOL, (minesweeper), rescued 73 survivors from the bombed merchant ship DON ISIDRO on Bathurst Island.

The merchant ship KOOLAMA was bombed by Japanese aircraft and driven ashore west of Darwin.

The auxiliary boom defence vessel HMAS KURAMIA was requisitioned as an auxiliary boom defence vessel, and commissioned on 30 June 1942. KURAMIA was built in 1914, and served as a Sydney Harbour ferry. The ship was sunk as a target by aircraft from HMAS SYDNEY, (aircraft carrier), in 1953.

February 19, 1942

Japanese bombers attacked Darwin. HMA Ships MAVIE and KELAT, USS PEARY, and merchant ships BRITISH MOTORIST, NEPTUNA, ZEALANDIA, MAUNA LOA, and MEIGS, were sunk. HMA Ships PLATYPUS, SWAN, GUNBAR, WARREGO, KARA KARA, KOOKABURRA, KANGAROO, BAROSSA, and COONGOOLA, the hospital ship MANUNDA, USS WILLIAM B PRESTON, and five merchant ships were damaged. One hundred and seventy of the 250 dead in the attack were ships’ complement.

The Walrus from HMAS Australia crashed on landing. “Shortly before noon, and after circling the Walrus came down to land on an oilslick. Owing to some as yet unknown cause, he came in too close to the ship, and crashed head-on into the ship’s port quarter just above the water line, breaking up and bursting into flames immediately. The second whaler as crash boat was immediately lowered, and the first whaler was also sent away as a lifeboat. A motor surf-boat from USS Chicago reached the spot where the aircraft had sunk first, and succeeded in saving the Observer, Sub-Lieutenant Jackson, and the Air Gunner. The pilot, Flying officer E. J. Rowan RAAF, was not seen.