Commander Henry Chesterman

By Graham Rayner

Commander Henry Chesterman, known to his friends and colleagues as ‘Chesters’, was Australia’s first fully qualified naval air observer. He was also Australia’s and the United Nations’ first naval peacekeeper.

Henry Swinfield Chesterman was born on 15 February 1901 in Williamstown, Victoria to Edwin Chesterman, a marine engineer, and Florence Chesterman (née Pritchard). Henry was named after his paternal grandfather, a successful Tasmanian timber merchant and ship owner, and his wife, Mary Chesterman (nee Swinfield).

Henry joined the 1915 intake of the Royal Australian Naval College (RANC), the third in its history and the first to begin studies at the new facilities at Jervis Bay, NSW. Graduating in 1919, fifth in his class of 28, Chesterman was sent to the UK to complete his training and gain his first sea experiences. The First World War had ended, but his first ship, the battleship HMS Ramilles, was part of the fleet guarding the German High Seas fleet at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands. Henry and five of his RANC classmates witnessed the scuppering of the fleet by their German crews on 21 June 1919. Indeed nearly 1000 of the German crew were held on board Ramillies.

Early the following year, Ramilles was deployed to the Mediterranean and Black Seas for six months as part of Britain’s response to the Greco-Turkish war and Russian civil war. Even though these hostilities commenced after the Armistice, they were still regarded as part of the hostilities of WWI and hence Henry was awarded the British War Medal and the allied Victory Medal. After two years serving in Ramillies, and a short spell aboard the destroyer HMS Sorceress, Henry attended further training at the Royal Naval College Greenwich and the Gunnery School HMS Excellent. It was whilst he was at Greenwich that he was promoted to lieutenant.

On his return to Australia in late 1922 Henry was posted to the light cruiser HMAS Adelaide. His time on board was limited because, although he had expressed a desire to specialise in communications, the Navy required aircrew personnel. Henry was sent to the Royal Australian Air Force establishment Point Cook in 1923 as part of the navy’s first group of officers to be trained as aircrew, either pilots or observers. Henry and an RANC classmate, Vincent E Kennedy, attended the first Short Observers Course, but because he completed the course a week ahead of Kennedy, Henry became the first RAN officer to gain observer qualifications on 26 October 1923.

Delays in the delivery of aviation capable warships for the RAN resulted in Henry being posted back to HMAS Adelaide, then to Navy Office (Melbourne), then to HMAS Brisbane. Shortly after Henry joined Brisbane, she sailed for a six-month attachment to the Royal Navy’s China Station. It was during this deployment that Brisbane became the first Australian warship to visit Japan.

On Brisbane’s return home she was decommissioned and most of the crew, including Henry, were transferred to HMAS Melbourne, which was UK-bound for service with the RN. Although Henry was still keen to specialise in communications, the Navy retained a desire for him to be a specialist observer. In the time since he had graduated from Point Cook, Australia had announced its intention to acquire a seaplane carrier and so the Navy’s need for aircrew was more pressing. The Navy therefore arranged for Henry to attend the Long Observer Course run by the RAF at its air base at Lee-on-Solent, near Portsmouth UK. As Melbourne was due to return to Australia three months before the observer course was due to start, Henry was posted to the battleship HMS Repulse in the interim.

After Henry completed the Royal Air Force observer course in May 1927, he was posted additional to HMS Eagle to consolidate the lessons learned at Lee-on-Solent. He was then posted as an observer to another carrier HMS Furious to gain more experience whilst construction of the RAN’s new seaplane carrier, HMAS Albatross, was completed. It was during this time that Chesterman became the RAN’s first fully qualified observer. He joined Albatross in March 1929 as one of six naval observers flying with the embarked RAAF pilots of 101 Flight. He served on board for three of the ship’s four years of service in the RAN, during which he was promoted to Lieutenant Commander. He then served in various staff roles based in Sydney, and at the outbreak of the Second World War, Henry was Staff Officer (Operations and Intelligence) to the Captain-in-Charge (NSW).

Chesterman and his fellow Pilots & Observers posed for this picture, taken on the Seaplane Tender HMAS Albatross in August 1931.
Back (left to right) - LT Fleming; F/O Alexander; LT Hilbeck; F/O Connely; Mr McLaughlin WRT TEL: F/O Graham.
Front (left to right) - LT Brooks; FLT.LT Knox-Knight; Chesterman; CAPT Pope; SQUAD LDR Hewitt; LT Usher; F/O Creal.

In September 1940, with the rank of Acting Commander, Henry was posted to HMAS Melville (Darwin) as Staff Officer (Operations) and experienced the Japanese bombing raids on Darwin. After two years in this role, he was appointed as the senior RAN staff officer on the operational staff of the Commander, Allied Naval Forces, South-West Pacific Area, who reported to General Douglas MacArthur. The headquarters was initially based in Melbourne, then moved to Brisbane (where Henry joined), before moving to Hollandia (now Jayapura, Indonesia) and later Tolosa on the Leyte Gulf, and finally Manila, Philippines, as the war effort moved northwards. Henry joined the staff at the same time as its new commander, Vice Admiral Carpender USN. The following year Carpender was replaced by VADM Thomas Kinkaid USN.

Henry was involved in the planning and execution of many of the naval actions in the south west Pacific during the war and so impressed Kinkaid that he recommended Henry to receive the US Legion of Merit:

For exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services to the Government of the United States as Naval Liaison Officer with the Australian Commonwealth Naval Board, and as Member of the Staff of the Commander, Allied Naval Forces, Southwest Pacific Area, from September 1942 to November 1944. A brilliant counsellor of keen foresight and broad vision, Commander Chesterman applied a comprehensive understanding and sound, unbiased judgement to the maze of problems confronting Allied Naval Forces in the planning and execution of combined large-scale operations. His tactful and wise handling of the varied and complex details incident to his assignment furthered the harmonious relations between the United States and Australian Navies and his particular knowledge and advice in matters concerning the control and protection of shipping were important factors in the continued safe movement of Allied ships over long supply lines. By his outstanding professional ability, untiring energy and splendid co-operation throughout a prolonged period of intense combat operations, [he made a significant contribution to the] prosecution of the war at sea.

Chesterman was one of a select group of RAN officers to be awarded a Legion of Merit by the US Government for service during WWII.

Henry was to remain based in Brisbane for the remainder of his naval career, first as Chief Staff Officer to the Naval Officer-in-Charge Brisbane (NOIC), then as NOIC himself which was later renamed Resident Naval Officer (Brisbane). However, he had one significant interlude; he was to become the first naval officer of a member country of the United Nations to be deployed into the field as a peacekeeper.

In mid-1947, the fledgling United Nations had responded to a call from Australia and India to step in to try to resolve the two-year old bloody conflict between The Netherlands and part of its previous colony, Netherlands East Indies (today’s Indonesia), which had declared its independence from The Netherlands two days after Japan surrendered. The Security Council of the UN established both a Consular Commission at Batavia (today’s Jakarta) to report on the situation, and a Committee of Good Offices (UNGOC) to help resolve the situation. The Consular Commission requested each of the member states represented on the Commission provide military officers to support the work of both the Commission and the UNGOC. These officers were referred to as ‘observers’ but today would be regarded as ‘peacekeepers’. The term peacekeeper was not applied to such missions until many years later.

On 13 September 1947 Henry, together with Brigadier Lewis Dyke and Major David Campbell of the Australian Army, and Squadron Leader Lou Spence RAAF landed in Indonesia and were joined by similar groups of officers from the US, the UK, France, Belgium and China. The Australians were the first to arrive and deployed into the field the next day. Unfortunately,three of the Australians had to return within weeks of arrival and their replacements took a while to arrive. Thus, Henry was, for a time, the only Australian observer/peacekeeper in the mission.

Commander Chesterman (left) with Australia’s Consul Group Captain Eaton (shorts), Brigadier Dyke and Major Campbell (right), Batavia, September 1947.

The first major attempt to help resolve the conflict was a meeting between the protagonists, brokered by the UNGOC, which became known as the Renville Agreement. Henry, working behind the scenes, was a key player in supporting the meeting, no doubt drawing on his years as a senior staff officer, planner and coordinator. The agreement was signed on 17 January 1948, but Henry was not to see much of the follow-through as his time in Indonesia came to an end on 28 January.

Although Henry was formally a military observer, and spent time in the field as such, Australia’s Consul, retired Group Captain Charles Eaton, came to appreciate Henry’s talents and at one point Henry was officially attached to the Consul as his assistant and stood in for him when Eaton was on short leave. Henry was held in such regard that when, in early February 1948, the Consul requested that Australia’s military observer group be expanded to 14, he made a point to ask for Henry’s return. The request, however, was denied.

On his return from Indonesia Henry was appointed as Resident Naval Officer (Brisbane), a post in which he was to remain for the next nine years until his retirement in October 1957. In the New Year’s Honours List of 1956, he was made an Officer in the Order of the British Empire “In recognition of [his] long and distinguished service in the Navy”.

Following his retirement from the Navy, Henry took up employment with the Medical Benefits Fund and remained living in Brisbane. He was a keen reader and followed domestic and international affairs with interest. Commander Henry Swinfield Chesterman RAN (Ret’d) passed away on 18 February 1985. He was survived by his wife and daughter.