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Tasmanian Seafarers' Memorial
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HMAS Yarra (1942)
The plaque reads ...
HMAS
'Yarra' (2)
Sloop 'River' class commissioned 1936
WW@ Patrol and escort duties
Australia, Red Sea, Mediterranean.
1942 Unit of China Force escorting
between Sunda Strait and Singapore.
Lost 04.03.1942 when convoy attacked
by 3 heavy cruisers - 138/151 men died
including 15 known Tasmanians.
The newspaper Army News (Darwin) reported on Sunday 19 March 1944 the following:
HMAS YARRA WILL LIVE IN HISTORY
One tiny ship taking on an armada, one tiny ship blasted to pieces, one tiny ship that will for all time live in naval history, is a tribute paid by the London "Daily Telegraph" to HMAS Yarra. The paper says this in a review of the book, "What Australia Has Done," edited by Mr. H. C. Smart, information officer at Australia House. "Besides telling of the grim fighting spirit of the Dominions soldiers, says the "Daily Telegraph, "the book also describes the remarkable achievements of her small but efficient Navy and the growing power of the Australian Air Force." It pays the tribute to the Yarra when telling of its exploit in daring dive-bombers to take off 2000 troops from the burning liner Empress of Asia.
HMAS Yarra, a sloop, was lost with the cruiser Perth in the Netherlands East Indies in March, 1942.