The destroyer HMAS STUART, (CAPT H.M.L. Waller, RAN), fired her last shots, in the Battle of Matapan, at the Italian destroyer VITTORIO ALFERI. The Italian Navy lost three cruisers and ...
On This Day
Australian Naval History on 28 March 1941
The Battle of Matapan commenced. HMA Ships PERTH, STUART, and VENDETTA participated in the battle which destroyed Italian naval supremacy in the Mediterranean. VENDETTA was the first Australian ship to ...
Australian Naval History on 26 March 1941
The Australian trawler MILLIMUMU sank after striking a German mine on the south coast of NSW. HMAS TOOWOOMBA, (minesweeper), was launched at Walker’s Yard, QLD. The vessel was transferred in ...
Australian Naval History on 21 March 1941
LEUT C. G. Hill, RANR, of HMAS WARERHEN, boarded the bombed and burning Danish tanker MARIE MAERSK, after the vessel had been abandoned by her crew north of Crete. Hill ...
Australian Naval History on 19 March 1941
HMAS PARRAMATTA, (sloop), blockaded the Perim area to intercept enemy shipping attempting to escape from the ports of Massawa and Assab. ...
Australian Naval History on 7 March 1941
HM Ships ORION and AJAX and HMAS PERTH, comprising convoy AG.3, departed Alexandria with 1900 troops for Piraeus arriving on 8/3/41 ...
Australian Naval History on 6 March 1941
HMAS STUART, (destroyer), was attacked seven times by German bombers while on passage to Piraeus. In the last attack she was near-missed by a large bomb. CAPT H. Waller wrote: ...
Australian Naval History on 4 March 1941
HMAS CANBERRA intercepted the German raider supply ship COBURG and a captured tanker, KETTY BROVIG east of Italian Somaliland. These two ships were support vessels for three German raiders then ...
Australian Naval History on 1 March 1941
HMAS BENDIGO, (minesweeper), was launched at Cockatoo Island, Sydney. ...
Australian Naval History on 28 February 1941
The Bathurst class minesweeper, (corvette) HMAS GOULBURN, (LCDR B. Paul, RANR), was commissioned. GOULBURN was laid down in Cockatoo Island Dockyard, Sydney, on 10 July 1940, and launched on 19 ...
Australian Naval History on 26 February 1941
HMAS Platypus (previously HMAS Penguin) recommissioned to resume seagoing service as a training ship. The depot ship and accommodation vessel HMAS KUTTABUL, was commissioned. KUTTABUL was laid down in Walsh ...
Australian Naval History on 24 February 1941
The Admiralty informed the Australian Government that “in the event of war in the Far East in the near future no major redistribution of forces is intended other than to ...
Australian Naval History on 23 February 1941
HMAS CANBERRA, (cruiser), passed within 100 miles of the German pocket battleship ADMIRAL SCHEER, while on patrol in the Indian Ocean. ...
Australian Naval History on 22 February 1941
HMA Ships STUART and VAMPIRE, (destroyers), joined the 1st Battle Squadron screen for an operational sweep towards Rhodes. ...
Australian Naval History on 19 February 1941
HMAS STUART was damaged by the near miss of a German bomb off Benghazi ...
Australian Naval History on 16 February 1941
The German raider supply ship, OLE JACOB, was sighted by an Australian Sunderland flying boat in the Coral Sea. The sighting report was intercepted by the raider ORION, whose captain ...
Australian Naval History on 14 February 1941
HMS SHROPSHIRE, (cruiser), later HMAS SHROPSHIRE, carried out a point-blank bombardment of enemy troop positions at Kismayu, Italian Somaliland. ...
Australian Naval History on 12 February 1941
Australian troop convoy US.9 departed Fremantle with troopships AQUITANIA (44,786grt), MAURETANIA (35,739grt), NIEUW AMSTERDAM (36,287grt), QUEEN MARY (81,235grt) escorted by HMAS CANBERRA until 20/2/41 off Colombo ...
Australian Naval History on 11 February 1941
HMAS STUART, (destroyer), picked up one survivor from the South African trawler SOUTHERN FLOE at night off Tobruk. ...
Australian Naval History on 10 February 1941
HMAS SYDNEY arrived in her namesake city, Sydney, to an enthusiastic welcome. The Governor-General, Lord Gowrie, thanked the men on behalf of King George VI, and Sydney’s Lord Mayor unveiled ...
Australian Naval History on 7 February 1941
The Australian Prime Minister, Mr. R. G. Menzies, inspected HMA Ships PERTH, STUART, VAMPIRE, and VOYAGER at Alexandria, Egypt. ...
Australian Naval History on 5 February 1941
HMAS SYDNEY arrived in Fremantle from the Mediterranean. The destroyers HMAS Stuart and HMS Wryneck departed Alexandria for Tobruk where they were to land minesweeping gear. They arrived off Tobruk ...
Australian Naval History on 4 February 1941
Australian troop convoy US.9 departed Sydney with troopships AQUITANIA (44,786grt), MAURETANIA (35,739grt), NIEUW AMSTERDAM (36,287grt), QUEEN MARY (81,235grt) escorted by HMAS Hobart until 6/2/41 ...
Australian Naval History on 3 February 1941
The N class destroyer HMAS NESTOR, (CMDR G.S. Stewart, RAN), was commissioned at Fairfield Shipbuilding on the Clyde, Scotland. She was laid down in Fairfield’s in 1939, and launched on ...
Australian Naval History on 31 January 1941
The auxiliary minesweeper HMAS TERKA was commissioned. TERKA (ex- SIR DUDLEY DE CHAIR), was laid down in the State Dockyard, Newcastle, NSW, in 1925, for Dorman Long & Co, and ...