Naval History 18/9/2019

[ColinS]

1900

A force of 600, drawn from the Australian Naval contingents, assembled at Tientsin for the attack on Chinese Boxer fortifications at Peking.

1916

CPO Stoker Charles Varcoe, of HMAS AE2, (submarine), died while a POW in the Turkish POW Camp at Belemedik. He was the first of four AE2 men to die as Prisoners of War.

1932

HMAS ALBATROSS, (seaplane carrier), carried out the first naval surface and air exercises off Darwin, NT. ALBATROSS used her guns in the exercise to sink the old Navy collier, HANKOW.

1939

The former steam yacht HMAS ADELE, (auxiliary patrol vessel), was commissioned. The vessel was first commissioned in 1914 as HMAS FRANKLIN, and served as a tender to the Royal Australian Naval College, and later as a yacht for the New Guinea Administrator. ADELE was lost in May 1943 when she was wrecked on the breakwater at Port Kembla, NSW.

1941

HMAS NIZAM, (destroyer), struck a submerged wreck in Tobruk Harbour, and tore away 6 metres of her forecastle deck. The collision did not impair NIZAM's seaworthiness, and she returned to Alexandria under her own steam for repairs. HMAS WARRAWEE, (auxiliary minesweepers), was commissioned.

1942

HMA Ships NAPIER, NIZAM, NEPAL, and NORMAN, (destroyers), participated in the assault on Tamatave, Madagascar. The port surrendered after a two-hour bombardment by HMS WARSPITE, (battleship), and the destroyers. The minefield tender HMAS GIPPSLAND was commissioned. GIPPSLAND was laid down in Payensville, VIC, in 1908. She was requisitioned for the RAN, from her owners, Red Funnel Trawlers Pty Ltd, on 24 June 1942. The tug HMAS WAREE, was commissioned. WAREE was laid down in Cockatoo Island Dockyard, Sydney, on 4 July 1938, and launched on 26 January 1939. She was requisitioned for the RAN, from her owners, The Waratah Tug & Salvage Co Pty Ltd, Sydney, on 18 September 1942.

1967

A memorial to US Submariners who lost their lives in submarines operating out of Fremantle, WA, during WWII, was unveiled at that port by RADM Herman J. Kossler, USN.

1968

HMAS OTWAY, the third of the original four Oberon class submarines ordered for the RAN, arrived at Fremantle.

1985

A naval court martial convened at HMAS PENGUIN, Sydney, found the Commanding Officer of HMAS WOLLONGONG, (patrol boat), guilty of negligence in grounding his ship off Gabo Island on 31 May, 1985.