HMAS Yarra (I)

HMAS Yarra (I) was one of 6 River class torpedo boat destroyers built for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) between 1909 and 1916. During the First World War they formed the Australian Destroyer Flotilla. 

It was commissioned as HMS Yarra at Greenock on 10 September 1910 under the command of Lieutenant T W Biddlecombe CNF and departed Portsmouth on 19 September 1910 as a Royal Navy ship for the voyage to Australia, and proceeding via Suez in company with HMAS Parramatta (I) and escorted by HMS Gibraltar, arrived at Broome, Western Australia, on 15 November, where the 2 destroyers passed to the control of the Australian Government.

Yarra served in Australian waters between 1911 and 1914 as part of the destroyer component of the Australian Fleet.

During the opening phases of the First World War, Yarra operated with the fleet in the search for Admiral von Spee’s Pacific Squadron. Late in 1914 it took part in the capture of German possessions in the South West Pacific.

Some of its complement, along with sailors from Parramatta, were landed at Kabakaul (New Britain) to take part in operations ashore against the German forces. Yarra was present at the formal surrender of German New Guinea to the Australian forces at Rabaul on 13 September 1914.

Yarra stayed in New Guinea waters after the departure of the fleet on 17 September 1914. It helped in the consolidation of the Australian occupation of New Guinea and New Britain with Parramatta and Warrego.

In December all 3 ships proceeded up the Sepik River, and in January 1915 visited Morobe, Finsch Harbour and other points on the coast, cruising also to neighbouring island groups including the Admiralties. On 5 February 1915 the 3 destroyers finally left Rabaul to return to Australia.

For several months after the return from New Guinea, the Australian Destroyer Flotilla remained in Australian waters. On 27 April 1915 the flotilla left Williamstown on a 3-month familiarisation cruise of the eastern Australian coastline which included visits to Jervis Bay, Sydney, the Barrier Reef and Queensland ports. On 23 August 1915 the destroyers returned to Sydney for refit.

On 19 October 1915 the flotilla left Sydney to serve on blockade duty in Malayan, East Indian, Indo-China, Borneo and Philippine waters. Based on Singapore and Sandakan (Borneo) Yarra served on the Far East Patrol until 8 May 1916 when it departed Sandakan to return to Australia.

At the close of June 1916 Yarra was assigned to Australian coastal patrol duty. Parramatta, having returned from the Far East Patrol in mid-July, joined Yarra at Melbourne on 31 August 1916 on completion of its refit at Sydney. Warrego returned to Australia at the end of September 1916 and after long refit began coastal patrol duty in late January 1917.

In May 1917, following a request made by the Admiralty, the Australian Government agreed to the transfer of the Australian Destroyer Flotilla to the Mediterranean. Consequently Yarra, Parramatta and Warrego were withdrawn from coastal patrol to refit at Sydney. Australian-built ships of the same class HMA Ships Huon (I), Torrens (I) and Swan (I), then serving on the Far East Patrol, were ordered to refit at Singapore.

The Australian based destroyers left Sydney on 9 June 1917 and proceeded to the Cocos Islands where they were joined by the 2nd Division from Singapore on 7 July.

Following a period of training based on Malta, the Australian flotilla was sent to Brindisi on the heel of Italy for anti-submarine patrol duty. On this work it was the destroyers’ responsibility, in cooperation with British and French destroyers, to prevent the passage of enemy submarines through the Adriatic Narrows into the Mediterranean and to give safe transit to the passage of Italian transports to and from Albania.

The Australian destroyers began Adriatic Patrol duty in mid-October 1917. During the early period of their tour of duty the enemy, whose submarines were based on Pola at the head of the Adriatic, was active and detection and the subsequent hunt was a common occurrence. Later, however, the enemy effort diminished and eventually the patrol became routine uneventful steaming. Huon, Parramatta and Yarra were fitted with captive observer balloons whose object was to detect the lurking submarine while another destroyer stood by ready to act as ‘killer’. In April 1918 the Australian destroyers became part of the British 5th Destroyer Flotilla. 

Adriatic operations ended for Yarra on 17 October 1918 (a year almost to the day after its first patrol) when with Torrens and the British destroyers of the 5th Flotilla it left Brindisi for Mudros and thence with the Allied Fleet passed through the Dardanelles into the Sea of Marmora to Ismid. 

The rest of Yarra’s seagoing service was spent in Australian waters where it was used as a training ship. On 30 September 1929 it was transferred to the control of Cockatoo Island Dockyard where it was stripped of all useful fittings. Its hulk was scuttled off Sydney Heads on Thursday 11 June 1931.