- Author
- Swinden, Greg
- Subjects
- WWI operations
- Tags
-
- RAN Ships
- None noted.
- Publication
- March 1999 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)
Despite the heavy casualties suffered at Zeebrugge the Australians escaped unscathed. In fact HMAS Australia was the only ship, from which volunteers came, to post no casualty list. (For those interested in a fuller description of the Zeebrugge Raid see Chapter 14 of Naval Battles of the First World War by Geoffrey Bennett, or Zeebrugge by Barrie Pitt).
Of the eleven RAN personnel involved seven were later decorated for bravery. This was not unusual as the Zeebrugge/Ostend action saw the award of no less than 11 VC’s, 27 DSO’s, 4 Bars to DSO’s, 36 DSC’s, 4 Bars to DSC’s, 16 CGM’s, 143 DSM’s and 283 Mentions In Dispatches.
Artificer Engineer William Henry Vaughan Edgar received the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) which was the only one awarded to a member of the RAN during the entire First World War. His citation reads `In recognition of distinguished services during the operations against Zeebrugge and Ostend on the night of the 22nd and 23rd April 1918. It was due to this officer that HMS Iris kept going during the action under very heavy fire and, though holed several times, succeeded in returning to base under her own steam. He did valuable work in the engine room and boiler room throughout the operation for a period of 17 hours without rest. He showed great bravery when the ship was under very heavy fire, by coming onto the upper deck and with the help of an engine room artificer, turned on the smoke apparatus’.
Edgar’s DSC and his other medals are currently on display in the Hall of Valour at the Australian War Memorial. Artificer Engineer Edgar remained in the Navy after the war and reached the rank of Engineer Lieutenant, but was forced to resign during the mid 1920’s while serving at HMAS Cerberus. It appears some money from one of the ships funds, of which Edgar was the supervisor, went missing and while he was not the culprit he was held responsible for its loss.
Distinguished Service Medals (DSM) were also awarded to Leading Seaman Dalmorton Joseph Owendale Rudd, Able Seaman George Edward Staples, and Leading Seaman George John Bush. Their citations read `For service as a member of “A” Company Seaman Storming Party, HMS Vindictive during the operations against Zeebrugge and Ostend on the night of the 22nd and 23rd April 1918.
Mentioned in Dispatches were Able Seaman Leopold Thomas Newlands and Able Seaman Henry John Gilbert, also from “A” Company Seaman Storming Party, HMS Vindictive and Stoker Norbert Joseph McCrory of the Stoker Storming Party from HMS Thetis. Stoker McCrory’s MID citation describes him as a member of the Stoker Storming Party, when in reality it should have referred to him as a member of the Ships Company of HMS Thetis.
Stoker McCrory was also later singled out for the award of the Belgian Croix de Guerre for his actions at Zeebrugge. McCrory had a very interesting past before his involvement in the action at Zeebrugge. He joined the RAN in 1911 as an Officer Steward 2nd Class, but purchased his discharge in 1912. In 1915 he joined the RAN Bridging Train (a Naval Reserve engineering unit) and served overseas in the Gallipoli Peninsula and in the Sinai before the RANBT was disbanded in early 1917. He then transferred to the AIF in March 1917 serving as a Gunner in the 6th Field Artillery Brigade in France. Then in September 1917, as a result of his prior Naval service in 1911/12, he was able to transfer to the RAN as a Stoker. He remained in the Navy after the war and finally took his discharge in 1922.
Among the other sailors who were decorated two are of note. Able Seaman Staples was later promoted to Leading Seaman but left the Navy in 1919. He is recorded as having died in August 1920 (perhaps from Spanish Influenza). The other was Leading Seaman Rudd who was later convicted as one of the ringleaders of the 1919 HMAS Australia Mutiny!
The mutiny occurred in Fremantle in July 1919 shortly after Australia had returned from her service in the North Sea. After having a good time in the port of Fremantle the crew refused to take the ship to sea as they wanted to say in Fremantle longer and enjoy the hospitality they were being shown. Rudd was one of five men charged and later convicted as being one of the ringleaders of this mutiny. He was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment, to be served at Goulburn Gaol, and to be dismissed from the service. His DSM, however, was not stripped from him.
After several months of agitating by Federal politicians and the general public, who considered the sentences far too harsh, the five mutineers had their sentences suspended and they were released from Goulburn Gaol on December 1919. Because of the interference in Naval discipline the Commodore Commanding the Australian Fleet and the First Naval Member (who both supported the sentencing of the mutineers) tendered their resignations and only the direct intervention of the Prime Minister prevented these from taking place.
What is also interesting about Leading Seaman Rudd is that his name was submitted in 1918 for the award of a Victoria Cross, by ballot, for his actions at Zeebrugge. Under Clause 13 of the Victoria Cross Warrant it provides for the recipient to be elected by his companions present at the action when it is considered that the corporate bravery of a Naval or Marine unit has earned the Cross. His nomination was unsuccessful whereas four VC’s were awarded in this manner; one each to a naval officer, sailor, a royal marine officer and a royal marine. It would certainly have been interesting turn of events if Rudd had been awarded a VC and then later dismissed from the Navy as a mutineer!
Hopefully this provides some answers to the question of who were the Australians at Zeebrugge.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Atkinson J.J. By Skill and Valour, Spink and Son Australia 1986. (For original citations for decorations and Mention in Dispatches awarded to the RAN personnel at Zeebrugge).
Bennett G. Naval Battles of the First World War, Pan Books 1968 (Pages 264-280 describes the Raid on Zeebrugge and Ostend).
Frame T.R. and Swinden G.J. First In – Last Out. The Navy at Gallipoli, Kangaroo Press, Sydney 1990.
Frame T.R. Goldrick J.VP. and Jones P.D. Reflections on the Royal Australian Navy, Kangaroo Press 1991 (Chapter 8 – The Learning Curve; Some Early Courts-Martial).
Jose A.W. The Royal Australian Navy – The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-18, The Australian War Memorial 1928, 1987. (Appendix 25 page 592-593 briefly describes the Australian Detachment at Zeebrugge).
Keyes R. The Naval Memoirs of Admiral of the Fleet Sir Rover Keyes 1916-1918 (Volume 2), Thorton Butterworth Ltd, 1935.
Pitt B.W. Zeebrugee, Cassell and Sons, London 1958.
Swinden G.J. Medals to the RAN during World War 1, Mostly Unsung Military History Research 1997.
Wilson G. Collapse of Discipline:. The HMAS Australia Mutiny 1919 in Journal of the Australian Naval Institute Vol 22, Number 2 May/July 1996.