Letter: District Officers Boats

Author

Letter Writer

Subjects

History - general, Ship design and development, Letter to the Editor

Tags

motor boat

RAN Ships

None noted.

Publication

June 2013 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)

In the article District Officers Boats (NHR December 2012) on the restoration of MB172 and its previous naval service in Darwin, reference was made to two launches only, MB 168 and MB 172.

It would appear that at least four of these launches were built, as a recently found Dockyard drawing dated 24 May 1937 shows details of petrol tanks to be fitted to DNO’s Launches 179 and 180.

It would be interesting to know the subsequent history of these other two launches and if they have survived over the years, as the craftsmanship and quality of the materials used in their construction should have allowed them to do so. The working drawings show a material list for timber and hardware, in which at least seven different types of timber for various applications are shown, e.g. teak, tallowwood, silver ash, and mahogany etc. likewise the fastenings were all to the best Naval specifications.

As these launches were being built, the Naval District of the Northern Territory was also being formed. Darwin, which had been part of the Naval Reserve District of Queensland, was separated from that area, and became the Naval Reserve District of the Northern Territory in 1937.

A new house for the First District Naval Officer (DNO) was completed on 24 November 1937, and still survives today on the harbour front Esplanade in Darwin, now called ‘Old Admiralty House’, having been ravaged by bombings and cyclones over the years. This house remained the residence of the most senior Naval Officer in the Northern Territory until 1983. It also served as headquarters for the reconstruction of Darwin, following Cyclone Tracy in 1974.

The first DNO Darwin was LCDR J.H. Walker who took up residence in 1938. Also in that year Admiral Sir Frederick Dreyer, RN, Commander-in-Chief Singapore visited Darwin and reported that the harbour could be used as a cruiser base. Consequently the Commonwealth Government decided that Darwin should have a boom to defend its shipping from seaward attack. This boom would be one of the longest in the world, and presumably it would have been the task of the DNO to manage its construction.

Visits by naval vessels to Darwin began to increase, and at the outbreak of the war in September 1939, more naval officers and sailors were added to the staff of DNO.

On 1 August 1940 the Naval Depot at Darwin was commissioned as HMAS Melville; previous to this date however, LCDR Walker had left Darwin to take command of HMAS Parramatta on her commissioning on 8 April 1940; Parramatta quickly took up her duties with the fleet.

Whilst escorting a Convoy off Tobruk, Parramatta was struck by a torpedo from the German submarine U559, causing her to sink rapidly. Acting Commander Jefferson Hirst Walker, RAN, MVO, DSC, was lost along with Parramatta and 137 of her crew. There were only 24 survivors.

Best regards

Leyland Wilkinson

Editor: While drawings of two more District Officers’ Boats do not prove they were built we should be interested in hearing from any of our readers who may have information on them. If they were built they may have served in the smart squadron of small ships that comprised Darwin’s own Navy.