On This Day

1943 > WW2

October 11, 1943

LEUT H. E. Carse. RANVR, recorded in KRAIT’s log that on the passage through Lombok Strait, after the successful commando raid on Singapore Harbour, (Operation Jaywick), a modern Japanese destroyer approached to within 100 yards of KRAIT, during darkness. The destroyer did not use a searchlight, and after 5 minutes she sheered off, and went directly away from KRAIT.

October 8, 1943

The Bathurst class minesweeper, (corvette), HMAS COWRA, (A/LCDR W. J. Gilles, RANR), was commissioned. COWRA was laid down in Poole & Steel Yard, Sydney, on 12 August 1942, and launched on 27 May 1943. Mrs P. C. Spender, (Wife of a Member of the Australian Advisory War Council), performed the launching ceremony.

October 5, 1943

The tanker ANNA KNUDSEN, was torpedoed by a submarine of the German Monsoon Group, in the Indian Ocean. HMAS TAMWORTH, (corvette), towed the damaged vessel to Aden.

October 3, 1943

HMAS PARKES, (minesweeper), was launched at Evans Deakin, QLD.

October 2, 1943

The RAN comprised 324 vessels, ranging from 4 cruisers, to 44 miscellaneous craft. Of this number, 19, (six destroyers and 13 minesweepers), were serving overseas with the Eastern Fleet. The total personnel strength was 35,359 men and women. Of the 1,748 women, 1,715 were WRANS, and 33 were nurses. The 33,611 officers and men were disposed as follows:- Australia Station 13,817; Eastern Fleet 2,285; Overseas with the RN 1,119; At advanced bases in the Pacific 2,404; Missing or POWs 874; New entries 2,766; Ashore in Australia 10,346; The following vessels were building in Australia: 1 Tribal class destroyer; 9 frigates; 5 minesweepers; 8 Fairmiles; 9 HDMLs.

The Bathurst class minesweeper, (corvette), HMAS KIAMA, (LCDR S. G. Benson, RANR), was commissioned. KIAMA was laid down in Evans Deakin Yard, Brisbane, on 26 November 1942, and launched on 9 July 1943. Mrs G. Lawson, (Wife of the Minister for transport), performed the launching ceremony.

October 1, 1943

The repair ship/works ship/store-carrier HMAS WHANG PU, was commissioned. WHANG PU was laid down in Hong Kong for the China Navigation Co Ltd, in 1920. The vessel was a former Chinese river ferry, which was under conversion to a submarine depot ship at Singapore when the Japanese drove south.

LCDR P. E. Carr, RAN, was lost while flying in an RAAF Catalina flying boat during a torpedo attack on Japanese shipping, in the Celebes. Carr was seconded to the RAAF for flying duties in 1932. He was the only serving RAN officer to be awarded the DFC in WWII.

The Australian Government ordered the cessation of recruiting for the RAN because of an acute manpower shortage.

September 28, 1943

The Fremantle based USS CISCO, (submarine), was sunk by Japanese aircraft off Mindanao.

Six parties of Coastwatchers were landed on New Britain by USS GROUPER, (submarine), to prepare for an Allied landing.

September 27, 1943

During Operation Jaywick, limpet mines were fastened to seven ships in Singapore Harbour, by Commandos launched from the Special Services vessel HMAS KRAIT. The largest ship attacked was the 10,000 ton tanker SINKOKU MARU. An estimated 37,000 to 39,000 tons of enemy shipping was sunk or damaged. All three parties returned safely to the rendezvous at Dongas Island. Major I. Lyon recorded in his journal a tense moment in the operation: “Halfway through the work, (attaching the mines to the ship’s hull), Huston drew my attention to a man watching us intently from a porthole ten feet above. Just before we left he withdrew his head. The alarm was not sounded.”

The Fremantle based USS BONEFISH, (submarine), sank the Japanese troop ship KASHIMA MARU in the South China Sea.

September 26, 1943

Z Special Force, (Operation Jaywick), operatives enter Singapore Harbour in kayaks, and planted limpet mines on seven Japanese merchant ships. They then escaped undetected, to rendezvous with HMAS KRAIT. The raid was a complete success, with 37,000 tons of Japanese shipping sunk or damaged.

September 22, 1943

LCDR J. M. Bland, RANR(S), commanding a naval beach party, landed with the first wave, and guided troops ashore under heavy enemy fire, at Finschhafen, New Guinea. Bland was killed shortly after the landing. He was awarded the US Navy Cross posthumously for outstanding bravery in the face of the enemy.

LEUT H. Henty-Creer, RANVR, commanded the midget submarine X-5 in the attack on the German Ship TIRPITZ, (battleship), in Kaa Fiord, Norway. X-5 was sighted within 450 metres of TIRPITZ, but proof that she laid her charges under the battleship before she herself was destroyed, has not been established. Wreckage, believed to be X-5, was found within 360 metres of where TIRPITZ was moored. Several attempts to have Henty-Creer awarded the VC posthumously have not met with success.

September 17, 1943

LEUT L. V. Goldsworthy, RANVR, rendered safe and removed a German aerial mine which had lain dormant under a coaling wharf at Southampton, England. Goldsworthy was awarded the GM for gallantry and undaunted devotion to duty’.

LEUT H. E. Carse, RANR, commanding the commando vessel KRAIT, landed raiding parties on Pandjong Island, for the raid by canoeists on shipping in Singapore, Harbour, Operation Jaywick.

September 13, 1943

Australian Coastwatcher SBLT A. Kirkwall Smith, RANVR, led a 12-day reconnaissance of Cape Gloucester, New Britain, to gather information on terrain, beaches and enemy defences for the planned landing of Allied troops.

September 12, 1943

HMAS WOLLONGONG, (corvette), shared the sinking of the German submarine U617, in the Straits of Gibraltar, with HM Ships HAARLEM and HYANCINTH, and two Wellington bombers.

September 4, 1943

Engaged in the Allied landing at Lae, New Guinea, HMA Ships SHEPPARTON and BENALLA, (corvettes), carried out a close bombardment of enemy troop positions. A preliminary survey of the landing beaches was made by HMA Ships STELLA and POLARIS.

September 3, 1943

HMAS SHEPPARTON and ML 817, were straddled in a heavy attack by Japanese bombers at Morobe, New Guinea. Neither ship suffered casualties, but 50 holes were counted above the waterline on the port side of ML 817.

September 2, 1943

The Australian Commando vessel KRAIT, (LEUT H. E. Carse, RANVR), sailed from Exmouth Gulf, WA, to attack Japanese shipping in Singapore Harbour. The commander of Operation Jaywick was Major I Lyons, and LEUT D. M. N. Davidson, RNR, was a member of the party.

The Fremantle-based USS BOWFIN, (submarine), landed supplies for resistance groups on Mindanao, and evacuated nine personnel.

August 27, 1943

Aerial image of RFA BISHOPDALE by the RAAF showing her deck layout including her defensive armament – 12 pounder gun forward, 4 inch AA aft, single oerlikon AA guns are mounted port and starboard  forward of the Amidships and after superstructure .

The surveying vessel, HMAS CAPE LEEUWIN, (lighthouse tender), was commissioned. CAPE LEEUWIN was laid down in Cockatoo Island Dockyard, Sydney, on 15 July 1924, and launched on 10 December 1924. She was requisitioned for the RAN, from her owners the Queensland Department of Commerce, in October 1941.

August 26, 1943

HMAS BARCOO, (frigate), was launched at Cockatoo Island, Sydney.

August 13, 1943

35 German Heinkel HE 111 torpedo bombers, and 12 Junkers JU 88 escorts from Kampfgruppe 26, (a specialist torpedo bomber squadron), attacked a convoy being escorted by HMA Ships GAWLER, IPSWICH, LISMORE and MARYBOROUGH, off Alboran Island near the Straits of Gibraltar. HM Ships SHOREHAM, WHITEHAVEN, HYTHE, ROMNEY, and RYE, were also part of the convoy escort. In the ensuing battle, two merchant ships were hit, but managed to reach port. Nine German aircraft were shot down, and several damaged. MARYBOROUGH was credited with shooting down one of the JU 88’s, and IPSWICH damaged four enemy aircraft. The RAN’s only casualty was one man wounded in GAWLER. The C-in-C Mediterranean, later signaled to the Australian ships:- I congratulate you, the escort force and Convoy MKS21 on your sterling defence of convoy against torpedo bomber attack. The enemy got a sore head he is likely to remember’.

August 12, 1943

HRH King George VI inspected HMAS SHROPSHIRE, (cruiser), at Scapa Flow, Scotland.

August 6, 1943

Coastwatcher LEUT Evans, RANVR, rescued the Captain of the US vessel, PT109, (torpedo boat), LEUT John F. Kennedy, and his crew, on Wana Wana Island. The future President of the USA’s command, had been rammed and sunk by the Japanese destroyer AMAGIRI.

August 4, 1943

Japanese bombers attacked HMAS COOTAMUNDRA, (corvette), and the merchant ship MACUMBA, off Thursday Island.

August 3, 1943

The GC was awarded to LEUT Hugh Randall Syme, GM and Bar, RANVR, for conspicuous bravery in bomb and mine disposal.

August 2, 1943

HMAS HOBART, (cruiser), underwent temporary repairs at Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides after being torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. Four of HOBART’S officers, and nine other ranks, were killed.

July 31, 1943

The Brisbane based USS GUARDFISH, (submarine), landed a survey party in Japanese occupied territory on the west coast of Bougainville.

The Fremantle based USS GRAYLING, (submarine), landed a ton of supplies for resistance forces at Pandan Bay, Panay.

HMAS NIZAM, (destroyer), picked up two rafts of survivors from the merchant ship CORNISH CITY, in the Indian Ocean.