The RAN’s primary role was the defence of trade and the safe arrival of troops and war materiel wherever needed. Throughout the war, Australian shipyards built 60 corvettes for minesweeping, anti-submarine warfare, and escort duties. The Navy took control of all shipping and port defences in Australia.
Until December 1941, Japan posed only a potential threat to Australia, and Australian forces were committed to the defeat of fascism in Europe. When Japan attacked Allied Pacific outposts on 7/8 December 1941, therefore, very few Australian ships were serving in Australian waters.
The light cruiser HMAS Hobart (I) in 1945.
From early 1942, RAN warships fought alongside the US Navy in campaigns to Australia’s north, reversing what had seemed an inexorable Japanese advance through the south Pacific. At the surrender ceremony in Tokyo Bay on 15 August 1945, ten Australian ships represented the RAN.
Selected feature histories:
Australian sailors in the Battle of the Atlantic
Imperial Japanese Navy Midget Submarine Attack on Sydney Harbour
USN Submarines Based in Brisbane during the Second World War