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Tasmanian Seafarers' Memorial
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Casualties - Australian Personnel serving in Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy Ships and establishments.
HMS Hermes (Aircraft Carrier, sunk by Japanese aircraft off Ceylon 9.4.1942)
HMS Hermes was the first purpose built aircraft carrier in the world.
In July 1940 she collided with a merchant vessel and was repaired at Simonstown , South Africa . Following repairs she continued patrols but this time in the Indian Ocean as part of the Eastern Fleet .
During the Indian Ocean raid , Hermes was in harbour at Trincomalee , Ceylon , undergoing repairs. Advance warning of a Japanese air raid allowed her to leave port, but as she returned following the raid on April 9 , 1942 , she was spotted off Batticaloa by a Japanese reconnaissance plane. Lacking planes of her own, she was defenceless when she was attacked by 70 Japanese bombers. Hit 40 times, Hermes sank with the loss of 307 men.
HMS Panther (Destroyer, sunk by air attack in Scarpanto Strait, 9.10.1943) Complement: 176
Returning to the Mediterranean in July 1943 with the survivors of her class, she served as part of the Sicily invasion fleet and then at Salerno. HMS Panther was sunk in the Scarpento Channel in the Aegean by Junkers Ju 87 Stuka aircraft on 9 October 1943 . She sank within one minute.'
(The following two were not included by Cassells but were included in Reg Watson's listings )
HMS Gladiolus (K34) was the first of 225 Flower-class corvettes built during World War II . Type: Corvette (Flower). 925 tons
HMS Gladiolus (Lt.Cdr. H.M.C. Sanders, DSO, DSC, RNR) was torpedoed and sunk (most likely) by the German submarine U-558 south of Iceland in position 57.00N, 25.00W while escorting convoy SC-48. She was ordered to pick up survivors from several torpedoed ships and in doing so fell behind the convoy. She was last seen about 0100 hours and was reported missing thereafter. It is also possible that the ship was sunk by U-432 later that night. There were no survivors.
HMS Quiber -
Australian Personnel serving in allied merchant ships - or picked up as survivors & subsequently died:-
* Those marked thus were DEMS Gunners on Defensively Equipped Merchant Ships.
SS Iron Crown
The freighter SS Iron Crown was torpedoed by Japanese submarine I-27 while en route from Whyalla to Port Kembla 4.6.1942 and sunk off Gabo Island. 23 men were lost.
SS Katoomba DEMS; McIlwraith & McEacharn, 9,424 tons
King Malcolm DEMS, 5,120 tons; Dodd, Thompson & Co. last seen in position 47.40N, 51.15W on 31.10.41, probably a victim of a submarine.
The King Malcolm was under contract to the British Admiralty and at the time of her demise was carrying potash taken on at Sydney, Nova Scotia.According to the Registry of Shipping and Seamen from Cardiff, Wales they had sailed to Freetown, Sierra Leone, Table Bay, South Africa, Suez, Barry, Wales and Sydney, N.S.
It was on the return journey to Britain that 38 crewmembers on board lost their lives when a German submarine torpedoed them.'
SS Melbourne Star 12,800 tons, Blue Star Line
Was torpedoed by submarine on 2.04.1943 and sunk off Bermuda with the loss of 71 lives.
MV Nottingham Motor Vessel, 8,532 tons, torpedoed 7.11.1941
MV Rabaul Australian, 5,618 tons, sunk by German raider Atlantis 14.5.1941
SS Sibigo Netherlands, DEMS; 1,594 gross tons
The Koninklijke Paketvaart-Maatschappij (KPM) was a major Dutch shipping company, that maintained the sea connections between the islands of Indonesia (formerly Netherlands East Indies or NEI ) and later expanded its services also to Australia, New Zealand and Afrika.
On 16.03.1945 Sibigo foundered in a cyclone off Port Douglas with the loss of 70 lives.
SS Wanaka RAAF Stores Ship
The Union Steamship Company's Wanaka was caught in a cyclone and wrecked on Eden Reef 16.12.1943 with ten crew missing and 34 survivors. A large requisitioned ship, the S.S.Wanaka was used for carrying stores, equipment and personnel. She was later salvaged.
SS Wollongbar Australian SS, 2,239 tons, torpedoed off Port Macquarie, NSW, at 10.40 am on 29.4.1943
'The North Coast Steam Navigation (NCSN) steamer, Wollongbar II, had spent two days unloading a record general cargo at Byron Bay and was busy loading 18,000 cases of butter and a cargo of bacon from the Byron Bay bacon factory. The Wollongbar II, during peacetime, had traded mainly between Byron Bay and Sydney and normally had accommodation for about 150 passengers. At this time she carried a crew of 37. She was torpedoed near Crescent Heads, NSW - only 5 men survived.
HMAS Australia County Class Heavy Cruiser, 10,000 tons (standard)
On 21 October 1944, after bombardments in Leyte Gulf in the Philippines, Australia was hit by a Japanese suicide plane. Six officers and 23 ratings were killed and her Commanding Officer, Captain E.F.V. Dechaineaux DSC RAN, later died of wounds. Nine officers, 52 ratings and one AIF soldier were wounded. Whether this was the first deliberate Kamikaze attack on allied ships is uncertain. After this action Australia was escorted by HMAS Warramunga to Manus Island and thence to Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides for repairs.
By 5 January 1945 she was back in action in the Lingayen Gulf covering the allied invasion of Luzon Island. Here she was subjected to repeated suicide attacks, this time there was no doubt of the Kamikaze nature of the Japanese planes. Australia was hit on 5, 6, 8 and 9 January, losing 3 officers and 41 ratings killed and 1 officer and 68 ratings wounded. This was the ship's last action in World War II.
- Dechaineux , Emile Frank Verlaine Capt. DSC RAN DOW 21.10.1944 result of direct hit by enemy suicide plane
- Fenton, Gordon Kenneth A/B H2118 DOW 21.10.1944 - ditto -
- Lade, Alan Walter A/B H2336 MPK 06.01.1945 result of enemy air attack
- Parkinson, Richard John A/B PM2686 DOW 21.10.1944 result of direct hit by enemy suicide plane
- Riley, John Joseph, Stoker 23239 DOW 13.03.1942 (knife wounds inflicted by 2 ratings)
- Sharman, Ivan Stanley A/B H2208 MPK 06.01.1945 result of enemy air attack
Emile Dechaineux, born at Launceston in Tasmania on 3 October 1902, reached the pinnacle of his naval career when he was given command of the heavy cruiser HMAS Australia in 1944 .
On 9 March 1944 Dechaineux was given command of the flagship of Task Force 74, HMAS Australia . Under his command, Australia supported Allied landings at Hollandia in Dutch New Guinea and at the islands of Biak, Noemfoor, and Morotai; by October his command had taken him to the Philippines. On the 21st of that month Australia was supporting American landings at Leyte Gulf when she was struck in the foremast by a Japanese dive-bomber. The subsequent explosion and fire engulfed Australia's bridge. Dechaineux survived just a few hours and was buried at sea that night.
Dechaineux had been a highly regarded naval officer - winning promotions ahead of his contemporaries - and was expected to attain a senior command post. Subordinates considered him a decent man and fair captain quick to praise effort and initiative but not hesitant about punishing transgressions. The United States government posthumously appointed Dechaineux an Officer of the Legion of Merit and in 1990 the Australian government honoured him when it named a new Collins-class submarine the HMAS Dechaineux .
HMAS Echuca Australian Minesweeper ; Corvette 'Bathurst' class, Commissioned 7.9.1942;
Served as an escort & anti-submarine patrol vessel on the Australian east coast and New Guinea waters until August 1944, was transferred to survey duty in northern Australian waters for the US 7th Fleet until October 1945 then she operated as a unit of the RAN's Minesweeping Flotilla.
HMAS Goorangai
Built in 1919 as a commercial fishing trawler Goorangai operated off the New South Wales coast for the Cam Line fleet. In 1939, she was requisitioned by the Royal Australian Navy and outfitted as an auxiliary minesweeper. In this role she was deployed to Bass Strait sweeping for mines laid by the German minelayer Passat.
At 1700 on 20 November 1940, she returned to Queenscliff, but later, after a deterioration in the weather, left for Portsea and shelter. While crossing the bay and in the south channel, about 2 miles inside the Heads, Goorangai was struck amidships by the outward-bound Duntroon. Goorangai sank immediately. No survivors were found, despite the efforts of the Duntroon's crew. Although not lost in an enemy action, Goorangai was the nation's first naval loss of World War II.
HMAS Hobart "20.7.1943 While operating with Task Force 74, she was struck by a torpedo from a Japanese submarine, suffering serious damage and casualties. She limped into Espiritu Santo, where she was de-munitioned and was then escorted to Sydney by HMA ships Arunta and Warramunga." She was back in service in 1945.
HMAS Nizam Destroyer 'Napier' or 'N' Class, commissioned 19.12.1940, on loan from the Royal Navy, engaged in escort duty in the Mediterranean including the 'Tobruk Ferry Run'. In January 1942, transferred to the British Eastern Fleet, then British Pacific Fleet. After a refit in Melbourne in January 1945, she set sail for Fremantle. "At 10.00 pm on February 11th, when 12 miles off Cape Leewin, Nizam was struck by a freak wave, causing her to roll heavily. Ten ratings were swept overboard in the darkness and, despite a frantic search, no survivors were found."
HMAS Swan Grimsby Class Sloop,
On 19 February 1942 HMAS Swan was at Darwin when the port was attacked by a large force of aircraft flown from the Japanese aircraft carriers Akagi, Kaga, Soryu and Hiryu, operating in the Timor Sea under the command of Vice Admiral Nagumo. This was the first and most severe air raid on Australian soil. Fortunately Swan was able to get under way without being hit but she experienced seven attacks and several near misses damaged her, killed three of her complement and wounded nineteen others. The following day she proceeded to Brisbane for repairs and a general refit.
HMAS Toowoomba Corvette 'Bathurst' Class;
Convoy escort duties along the Australian coast, then participated in the Malaya-Java campaign, later joining the British Pacific Fleet. After a refit in Fremantle in 1944/45, spent the rest of the war on escort and patrol duties between Australia and New Guinea. "Following Japan's surrender, she ran minesweeping and harbour surveys at Hong Kong and Swatow, before getting back to Australia in December 1945."
HMAS Vendetta Destroyer 'V' Class, Commissioned RAN 11.10.1933.
1939 sailed to Mediterranean to join the allied Destroyer Division. During 1940 operated as a convoy and Fleet escort and patrol vessel until a refit in Malta in May. A month later, Italy entered the war. Participated in the bombardment of Bardia in August 1940.
HMAS Wallaroo Corvette ‘Bathurst' Class
Wallaroo's duties included anti-submarine and minesweeping operations off the West Australian coast. On the night of June 11, 1943 she collided with the American Liberty Ship Henry Gilbert Costin, while both vessels were travelling without lights – a normal wartime precaution. Three of her crew were killed including one Tasmanian.
Wallaroo's crew attempted to steam her to Fremantle, but after four hours, their ship sank. The Liberty ship reached port with only minor damage.
HMAS Westralia (ex MV Westralia) Armed Merchant Cruiser-Landing Ship (Infantry)
Requisitioned in November 1939. Served in East Indies and Pacific arena as Convoy escort, Troop transport, Shipping protection and Temporary Accommodation Ship.
HMAS Yunnan (Ex-MV Yunnan, owned by the China Navigation Co. Melbourne,) Ammunition Stores Issuing Ship. Requisitioned formally in June 1942 and served mainly in the Philippines. She was returned to her owners in May 1946.
References: Various websites including Australian War Memorial website;
- 'For those in peril …' by Vic Cassells.
- The Mercury – supplement ‘Australia Remembers 1945 – 1985' by Reg Watson
- 'Australia's Navy In The Second World War' by Michael Wilson
- Wikipedia