On This Day

1944 > WW2

November 4, 1944

Engaged in Operation Battleaxe, HMA Ships VENDETTA, SWAN and BARCOO, provided gun support for the Australian landing at Jacquinot Bay.

HMAS CONDAMINE, (frigate), was launched at the State Dockyard, Newcastle.

November 1, 1944

HMAS SHROPSHIRE, (cruiser), narrowly evaded torpedoes fired by USS ABNER READ, (destroyer), off Leyte. Minutes before, the destroyer had been turned into a fireball when a Japanese kamikaze aircraft crashed into her.

October 31, 1944

HMAS MURCHISON, (frigate), was launched at Evans Deakin, QLD.

 

October 27, 1944

CAPT C.A.G. Nichols, RN, commanding HMAS SHROPSHIRE, (cruiser), reported the ship’s crew were at action stations for 146 hours out of 168, in the week ending 20 October.

CAPT J.M. Armstrong, RAN, assumed command of HMAS AUSTRALIA, (cruiser), at Manus Island.

October 26, 1944

Australia’s only woman Coastwatcher, Mrs. Ruby Boye, was withdrawn from the island of Vanikoro, as Japanese troops moved into the area. She served at Vanikoro without rank or pay, from February 1942. On her arrival in Australia she was made a Temporary Third Officer, WRANS.

October 25, 1944

HMA Ships SHROPSHIRE, (cruiser), and ARUNTA, (destroyer), were engaged in the Battle of Surigao Strait. ARUNTA fired her main armament and torpedoes in a clash with Japanese ships YAMASHIRO, MICHISHIO, and ASAGUMO, (destroyers). The relative losses of the opposing fleets were:- Japanese Navy, 2 battleships and 3 destroyers sunk, and 3 cruisers damaged; USN, 1 destroyer damaged. In the Battle of Samar, the last surface engagement of WWII. fought later in the day, the ratio of losses was reversed. USN losses were, 1 escort carrier, 2 destroyers, and 1 destroyer escort sunk; Japanese Navy, losses, nil.

October 24, 1944

HMAS AUSTRALIA, (cruiser), was escorted by HMAS WARRAMUNGA, (Tribal class destroyer), to Manus Island for emergency repairs.

October 23, 1944

The Fremantle-based US submarines DARTER and DACE sank two Japanese heavy cruisers and damaged a third. DARTER torpedoed the ATAGO and TAKAO in Balabac Strait. TAKAO escaped damage. DACE torpedoed and sank the MAYA in the same waters.

October 21, 1944

A Japanese kamikaze aircraft crashed into the foremast of HMAS AUSTRALIA, (cruiser), killing 30 officers and ratings, including CAPT E. F. V. Dechaineux, RAN, AUSTRALIA’s commanding officer. Sixty-four officers and ratings were wounded, including CDRE J. A. Collins, RAN, the task force commander.

CAPT C. A. G. Nichols in HMAS SHROPSHIRE, (cruiser), reported:

‘During the dawn stand-to a low flying aircraft approached from the land between AUSTRALIA and SHROPSHIRE. It was taken under fire and retired to the westward. Observers in SHROPSHIRE reported that the aircraft, (a Val Aichi 99 dive bomber), was hit and touched the water, but recovered. It then turned east again, and although under heavy fire, passed up the port side of AUSTRALIA, and crashed into the foremast at 0605. There was a large explosion and an intense fire was started’.

October 20, 1944

HMAS Glenelg was able to render signal aid to a sorely harassed American patrol at the mouth of the Woske River near Maffin Bay, Dutch New Guinea. While proceeding close inshore she observed the American detachment under severe mortar fire. An appeal for assistance to evacuate wounded met with a ready response from volunteers to man Glenelg’s whaler and it was quickly despatched under Lieutenant WH Pennington. Swamped by heavy surf the waterlogged boat was beached by her crew, and its bottom boards used as improvised stretchers to carry the wounded to the American held bank of the river. Meanwhile, on a request for bombardment support, Glenelg opened fire with her 4-inch gun. Under cover of this fire (31 rounds), which effectively silenced the Japanese mortars, the American party was able to withdraw to cover with all wounded, leaving five dead on the beach. Lieutenant Peebles (United States Army), the senior surviving officer, was emphatic that the fire laid down by Glenelg and directed from the open beach by Lieutenant Pennington and Signalman Greet, was the decisive factor in the successful withdrawal.

The air/sea rescue vessels AIR CLOUD, (SBLT S. C. Hines, RANVR), and AIR GUIDE, (ex-AIR HOST, SBLT A. B. McLean, RANVR), were commissioned.

LEUT H. L. Bellman, RANVR, landed with the first wave of assault troops on Panaon Island. Bellman cleared enemy mines and unexploded bombs in the path of the advance, and engaged the Japanese at close quarters. His bravery and devotion over a period of four months won him the DSC.

During the Battle of Leyte Gulf, (20-27 October), HMA Ships AUSTRALIA, ARUNTA, GASCOYNE, SHROPSHIRE, WARRAMUNGA, and the landing ships WESTRALIA, MANOORA, and KANIMBLA were engaged. AUSTRALIA suffered damage and casualties when struck by a kamikaze aircraft. HMAS Three Cheers commissioned