HMAS PARRAMATTA arrived at Suez to reinforce the Mediterranean Fleet. However, she was ordered to remain there temporarily to provide anti-aircraft protection for liners QUEEN MARY and QUEEN ELIZABETH. HMAS ...
HMAS Waterhen
Australian Naval History on 2 May 1941
HMAS WATERHEN, (destroyer), picked up the crew of an aircraft from HMS FORMIDABLE, (aircraft carrier), which had ditched in the sea off Crete. ...
Australian Naval History on 27 April 1941
HMA Ships STUART, VENDETTA, VAMPIRE, and WATERHEN, (destroyers), sailed from Suda Bay to Alexandria as escort to convoy GA12. RAN ships evacuating troops from Greece, picked up the last message ...
Australian Naval History on 24 April 1941
Operation Demon, (the evacuation of Greece from 24-29 April), took place. HMAS PERTH, (cruiser), and HMA Ships STUART, VAMPIRE, VENDETTA, VOYAGER, and WATERHEN, (destroyers, the Scrap-Iron Flotilla?), all took part ...
Australian Naval History on 19 April 1941
HMA Ships STUART, VOYAGER, and WATERHEN, (destroyers), covered a landing by British Commandos on enemy positions near Bardia, Libya. The German raiders ATLANTIS and KORMORAN rendezvoused in the Indian Ocean. ...
Australian Naval History on 14 April 1941
HMAS SYDNEY embarked Australian delegates for the ABDA conference and departed for Singapore, arriving on the 19/4/41. HMAS WATERHEN, (destroyer), rescued 430 patients and medical staff from the hospital ship ...
Australian Naval History on 12 April 1941
The siege of Tobruk started and went on for 242 days, until the 8 December. The Tobruk Ferry involved RAN destroyers making 139 runs, with HMAS VENDETTA alone making 39. ...
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 January 1941
ADML A. B. Cunningham, RN, (C in C, Mediterranean), reported to the Admiralty that the Inshore Squadron had ferried 35000 Italian POWs to Alexandria in 10 days, as well as ...
Australian Naval History on 30 December 1940
HMAS WATERHEN, (destroyer), collided with, and sank, HMS BANDOLERO, (anti-submarine trawler), off Sollum, Libya. Damage to WATERHEN required a month in dock to repair. HMAS VOYAGER, (destroyer), captured the 190 ...
Australian Naval History on 26 December 1940
The intensity of the struggle in the Mediterranean may be gauged from this diary entry of HMAS WATERHEN: ‘Torpedo attack by aircraft 3.30pm. Attack by 24 bombers escorted by 18 ...
Australian Naval History on 25 December 1940
HMAS WATERHEN, (destroyer), on the Libyan coast, sank the Italian supply schooner TIREREMO DIRRITO, west of Bardia. From a prisoner the destroyer learnt the schooner was carrying the garrison’s Christmas ...
Australian Naval History on 15 December 1940
CAPT H. L. Waller, RAN, in HMAS STUART, (destroyer), was appointed Senior Naval Officer Afloat to command the Inshore Squadron comprising HMA Ships VAMPIRE, VENDETTA, VOYAGER, and WATERHEN, (destroyers), HMS ...
Australian Naval History on 7 November 1940
HMA Ships SYDNEY, (cruiser), VAMPIRE and WATERHEN, (destroyers), landed troops and stores at Suda Bay, Crete. ...
Australian Naval History on 28 October 1940
Italy invaded Greece, and Greece joined the Allies. HMA Ships SYDNEY, (cruiser), STUART, VAMPIRE, VENDETTA, VOYAGER, and WATERHEN, (destroyers), were deployed to escort supply convoys to Greece. W.M. Hughes succeeded ...
Australian Naval History on 24 August 1940
HMAS WATERHEN, (destroyer), and HM Ships DIAMOND, ILEX, and JUNO, of the 10th Destroyer Flotilla, bombarded the Italian seaplane base at Bomba, Libya. ...
Australian Naval History on 23 August 1940
In Operation DR, HMS NORFOLK (Captain A J L Phillips) and HMAS AUSTRALIA (Captain R R Stewart RN) departed Scapa Flow at 1939 to operate in the area of Bear ...
Australian Naval History on 17 August 1940
The Port of Sydney was closed, when objects suspected of being mines were sighted, off Botany Bay. HMA Ships STUART, VENDETTA, and WATERHEN, (destroyers), were on the screen of HM ...
Australian Naval History on 25 June 1940
France capitulated. ADML A. B. Cunningham concentrated the Mediterranean Fleet at Alexandria to contain the French Squadron in the port. RAN ships with the Mediterranean Fleet were HMAS SYDNEY, (cruiser), ...
Australian Naval History on 27 May 1940
The 19th Destroyer Division (Stuart (I), Vampire, Voyager (I), Vendetta (I) and Waterhen (I)) and the 20th Destroyer Division (HM Ships Dainty, Diamond, Decoy and Defender) combined to form the ...
Australian Naval History on 7 May 1940
Destroyers Vendetta, Voyager, Waterhen departed Malta as escorts for HMS Warspite. They arrivd at Alexandria on the 10th ...
Australian Naval History on 3 January 1940
HMA Ships VENDETTA and WATERHEN departed Marseilles escorting convoy K.6 consisting of troopships ROHNA (8602grt), TAIREA (7933grt), DEVONSHIRE (11,275grt), DILWARA (11,080grt), RAJULA (8478grt) and TALAMBA (8018grt). ...
Australian Naval History on 2 January 1940
The 5 destroyers of the Scrap Iron flotilla were organised as the 19th Destroyer Division of the Mediterranean Fleet. They had arrived at Malta between the 17th and 24th of ...
Australian Naval History on 18 December 1939
German Propaganda Minister, Joseph Goebbels, described the arrival of the Australian Destroyer Flotilla in the Mediterranean as ‘a consignment of junk’, and ‘Australia’s Scrap Iron Flotilla’. The five WWI destroyers, ...
Australian Naval History on 9 September 1939
HMAS Stuart on patrol off Terrigal in Broken Bay, north of Sydney, attacked a submarine contact which later proved to be rocks. ...