HMAS Australia (II)

HMAS Australia (II) was one of two 10,000 ton County Class heavy cruisers ordered by the Australian Government as part of a five year naval development program begun in 1924 and completed in 1929.

Australia was built to the Kent Class design of County Class cruisers, with HMAS Canberra (I) and HM Ships Kent, Berwick, Cornwall, Cumberland and Suffolk.

The new cruiser commissioned at Clydebank on 24 April 1928, two months before sister ship HMAS Canberra, under the command of Captain Francis HW Goolden RN. HM King George V visited Australia on the morning of 17 July, received by a Royal Guard and Band. The King inspected the upper and main decks, and spoke with members of Australia's ship's company.

Following a period of trials, Australia (II) departed Portsmouth on 3 August 1928 and proceeding via Montreal, Quebec, Halifax, Boston, New York, Annapolis, Kingston, Balboa, Tahiti, Wellington and Brisbane, reached Sydney on 23 October 1928.

The cruiser spent the first six years of her commission on the Australia Station, mostly in home waters. In 1932, the ship visited various Pacific Islands and New Zealand the following year.

On 10 December 1934, the ship sailed for England, with His Royal Highness The Duke of Gloucester embarked, on exchange duty with the Royal Navy, her place on the Australia Station being taken by HMS Sussex. Proceeding via New Zealand, Fiji, Balboa and Kingston, Australia (II) reached Portsmouth on 28 March 1935.

In May 1935, Australia (II) proceeded to the Mediterranean and served with the British forces until July 1936. The ship returned to England during the period of 21 June 1935 to 12 September 1935 to take part in the July Jubilee Review at Spithead. On 14 July 1936, Australia (II) departed Alexandria to return to Australia via Aden and thence direct to Fremantle. The ship arrived in Sydney on 11 August 1936 after an absence of 615 days on exchange service. Apart from a visit to Melbourne in November 1936, Australia (II) spent the remainder of the year at Sydney and Jervis Bay.

Australia (II) spent the first three months of 1937 in home waters and in April cruised to New Zealand visiting Wellington, Otago and Auckland. In July, the cruiser proceeded on a northern cruise to Queensland ports, New Guinea and New Britain, returning to Sydney on 10 September. In November, the ship made its annual visit to Melbourne, and paid a port visit to Hobart in February 1938. Australia paid off into reserve on 24 April 1938.

Australia (II) recommissioned at Sydney on 28 August 1939 under the command of Captain Robert R Stewart RN. The ship spent the first nine months of the Second World War on the Australian coast, hunting for German raiders, and employed on convoy escort duties, initially between Fremantle and Cape Town and later between Cape Town and Freetown on the African west coast.

As part of the Dakar Squadron in July 1940, Australia (II), in company with HM Ships Hermes, Dorsetshire and Milford, patrolled off the French West African coast, observing the French fleet. During this month, Australia (II) fired its first shot in the war to defend against an attack by an enemy bomber. Sailing north in July, the cruiser patrolled off Norway with the Royal Navy’s 1st Cruiser Squadron, at one time engaged in a search for the German battleship Gneisenau. 

September 1940 found Australia (II) involved in Operation MENACE and patrolling off Dakar, French West Africa, shadowing French cruisers Gloire, Montcalm and Georges Leygues. The object of Operation MENACE was to install General Charles de Gaulle and a Free French force in Dakar, thereby evicting the existing Vichy government and forestalling any possible German occupation.

The optimistic belief that the population of Dakar would welcome de Gaulle proved to be ill founded, and shore batteries opened fire on the fleet. Australia (II) escaped damage, but the batteries hit both HM Ships Cumberland and Foresight. Australia (II) with HM Ships Fury and Greyhound attacked a French destroyer and set it ablaze from end to end. On the following day, 24 September, Australia (II) was engaged in a general fleet bombardment of French ships and forts and was twice subjected to high level bombing attacks by French planes. On 25 September, Australia (II) and Devonshire moved in towards Dakar to attack French cruisers. During that engagement, Australia (II) received two hits aft and its Walrus aircraft was shot down with the loss of all three crew members. Fifteen minutes after engaging the French ships, the British cruisers withdrew. In 13 minutes, Australia (II) had fired 15 salvoes. Operation MENACE had failed to dislodge the Vichy regime at Dakar.

In October 1940, Australia (II) patrolled off the Azores and escorted troop ships between Gibraltar and the United Kingdom. On 29 October, in the Orkney/Shetland area, Australia (II) rescued nine crewmembers of a Sunderland Flying Boat, despite gale-force winds and very high seas. The ship spent the remainder of 1940 docked in Liverpool for a refit. During December, the city suffered a series of German air raids. On one occasion, a large bomb fell between the ship’s side and the dock wall and incendiaries fell on board but were quickly extinguished. The catapult wire was damaged and square port windows in the Captain’s cabin broken. The bombing proved too much for both ship’s cats who deserted, and the ship’s company apparently missed out on their Christmas poultry that year when the ducklings were incinerated in the contractor’s premises which were burnt out.

After a period escorting convoys to Freetown, Durban, Suez and Colombo, Australia (II) arrived back in Sydney on 24 March 1941, and carried out reconnaissance duties in the Indian Ocean between April and November. The cruiser returned to Sydney in December and became Flagship of the Australian Squadron, and two months later, in February 1942, Flagship of ANZAC Squadron, having Noumea as its operational base.

In March and April 1942, Australia (II) operated in the South West Pacific in support of United States naval forces attempting to halt further Japanese southward expansion. On 22 April, the Naval Command in the South West Pacific Area was reorganised and renamed. ANZAC Squadron became Task Force 44 with Australia (II) as Flagship, and on 5 May, Task Forces 11, 17 and 44 united as one, Task Force 17.

The Battle of the Coral Sea (7 May 1942) saw Australia (II) as Flagship of the Support Group (Task Group 17.3) attacking enemy transports and light cruisers reported to be heading for Port Moresby through Jomard Passage. During the battle, eight torpedo bombers and nineteen high level bombers attacked the Support Group.

On 7 August 1942, Australia (II) led the escort of nine transports and six store ships containing the forces for the landing at Guadalcanal. The ship remained in the area until the end of August 1942, during which period it survived frequent heavy air attacks.

The ship spent the early months of 1943 in support of the Coral Sea Group and patrolling the east coast of Australia. On 11 April, Australia (II) received a report of a Japanese landing on the southeast shore of the Gulf of Carpentaria. Although subsequent investigations proved negative, it appeared likely that the Japanese were either establishing fuel caches for submarines or aircraft or both, or landing small parties of men as commandos or coast watchers.

From November 1943 to September 1944, Australia (II) was involved in bombarding Japanese positions on islands in the South West Pacific prior to allied assaults, from Cape Gloucester in the New Britain area to Morotai in the Netherlands East Indies.

The Battle of Leyte Gulf

On 20 October 1944, General MacArthur’s Philippines invasion force, comprising some 550 ships and covered by Admiral Halsey’s US Third Fleet, arrived off Leyte Island in the central Philippines.

Australia’s contribution to this famous amphibious operation was Commodore John Collins’ Task Force 74, including HMA Ships Australia, Shropshire, Warramunga and Arunta attached to the US Seventh Fleet. Also present were the Landing Ships Infantry (LSI) HMAS Westralia, Manoora and Kanimbla carrying troops of the US 21st Regimental Combat Team; the frigate Gascoyne, HDML 1074 and the auxiliaries Bishopdale, Poyang, Yunnan and Merkur.

By 09:00 on 20 October, hundreds of small boats and destroyers headed for the beaches of Leyte, accompanied by a tremendous bombardment from the accompanying battleships and cruisers. Australia and Shropshire passed through the battle line as the small boats approached and opened fire on assigned targets. At 10:00, after the landing, Shropshire, Arunta and Warramunga shelled set targets and carried out intermittent bombardments throughout the day.

The following morning at 06:05, HMAS Australia (II) was hit by a Japanese suicide aircraft. The ship’s Commanding Officer, Captain Dechaineux and 29 other officers and ratings were killed or died of wounds and Commodore Collins and a further 64 were injured. Command of the Australian ships consequently passed to Captain Nicholls in Shropshire. Nicholls recalled the attack in the following report:

During the dawn stand-to, a low-flying aircraft approached from the land between Australia and Shropshire. It was taken under fire and retired to the westward. Observers in Shropshire report that the aircraft was hit and touched the water but recovered. It was then turned east again and although under heavy fire, passed up the port side of Australia and crashed into the foremast at 06:05. There was a large explosion and an intense fire was started in the air defence position and bridges. Type 273 radar hut and lantern fell on to the compass platform; both HA Directors and DCT [Director Control Tower] were put out of action and the port strut of the foremast was broken. The fire was brought under control very quickly and by 0635 the large quantity of wreckage on the compass platform and ADP had been cleared away. Commodore JA Collins suffered burns and wounds; Captain EFV Dechaineux and Commander JF Rayment were mortally wounded...

Whether this was the first deliberate kamikaze attack on an Allied ship remains the topic of debate. After this action Australia (II) was escorted by HMAS Warramunga (I) to Manus Island and thence to Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides for repairs. Captain JM Armstrong, RAN, subsequently assumed command on 29 October.

By 5 January 1945, Australia was back in action in the Lingayen Gulf covering the Allied invasion of Luzon Island. Here the ship suffered repeated suicide attacks; this time there was no doubt of the kamikaze nature of the Japanese planes. Australia (II) was hit on 5, 6, 8 and 9 January, losing three officers and 41 ratings killed and one officer and 68 ratings wounded. This was the ship’s last action in World War II. After repairs in Sydney, Australia (II) sailed for the United Kingdom via the United States on 24 May 1945 for a major refit, arriving at Plymouth on 1 July. The cruiser was in the United Kingdom at the end of the war.

After a voyage home via the Cape of Good Hope, Australia (II) arrived at Fremantle on 25 January 1946 and Sydney on 16 February and paid off into reserve.

Apart from a three-month deployment in Far Eastern waters between September and November 1947, Australia (II) spent the next three and half years in home waters, paying a goodwill visit to New Zealand in March 1948 and a brief visit to New Guinea in 1949.

Australia (II) spent the last five years of her active commission as a training cruiser, visiting New Zealand on three occasions with the Australian Squadron, from 24 February to 31 March 1950, mid-September to 6 October 1952, and a brief visit in October 1953.

From 1 to 14 August 1950, Australia (II) was engaged in a mercy mission to the Australian Antarctic base at Heard Island where a member of the staff, Dr Serge Udovikoff, was ill. Apart from the uncomfortable conditions created by gale-force winds that gusted up to 65 knots, sleet, snow and hail, the ship experienced feed water difficulties due to the increased prevalence of plankton in the sea. Use of ship’s water was restricted to drinking and teeth cleaning and no one was allowed to wash. Weather conditions were no better when Australia (II) arrived at Heard Island, but when a reasonable break occurred the cutter was lowered and Dr Udovikoff eventually brought on board for the journey to Fremantle.

In May 1951 the Governor of New South Wales, Lieutenant General Sir John Northcott, was embarked for Jubilee celebrations at Lord Howe Island. In July of the same year, the ship paid a brief visit to New Caledonia and visited New Guinea, New Britain and the Solomon Islands.  During the visit to the Solomon Islands, a ceremony was held to commemorate the wartime sinking of sister ship, HMAS Canberra, on 9 August 1942 in the Battle of Savo Island. Wreath-layer Able Seaman Harold Watts, then serving in Australia, had survived the sinking of the heavy cruiser in 1942.

When Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh visited Australia in February and March 1954, Australia formed part of the naval escort for the Royal Yacht Gothic and HMNZS Black Prince. During the Royal Visit to North Queensland, Her Majesty and His Royal Highness visited Australia (II) for an hour. After all officers were presented, the ship’s company marched past in single file and the Royal Party inspected and talked to 20 selected senior and 20 junior ratings.

On 4 May 1954 the Governor-General, Sir William Slim, Lady Slim and their staff embarked for a voyage to the Coral Sea, the Great Barrier Reef and the Whitsunday Passage. During the passage, Australia fired its 8-inch guns for the last time.

HMAS Australia (II) paid off for disposal on 31 August 1954, having steamed 477,301 miles in the period since August 1939. Sold to British Iron and Steel Corporation (Salvage) Ltd on 25 January 1955, Australia was towed from Sydney by the Dutch tug Rode Zee on 26 March 1955 and broken up at the Thomas Ward Shipbreaking Yard at Barrow-in-Furness, England, between 1955 and 1957.

 

 

Class	County Class
Type	Heavy Cruiser
Pennant	I84/D84/C84
Motto	Endeavour
Builder	John Brown & Co Ltd, Clydebank, Scotland
Laid Down	26 August 1925
Launched	17 March 1927
Launched by	Dame Mary Cook, wife of Australian High Commissioner, UK
Commissioned	24 April 1928
Decommissioned	31 August 1954
Fate	Sold for scrap on 25 January 1955
Dimensions & Displacement
Displacement	9072 tonnes (standard)
Length	192.02 metres
Beam	20.83 metres
Draught	6.60 metres
Performance
Speed	31.5 knots
Range	4200 kilometres at 31 knots 19,000 kilometres at 11 knots
Complement
Crew	679 (peace) 848 (war)
Propulsion
Machinery	Brown-Curtis geared turbines, 4 screws, 80,000 hp
Horsepower	80,000
Armament
Guns	8 x 8-inch guns 8 x 4-inch guns 4 x 3-pounder guns
Awards
Inherited Battle Honours	RABAUL 1914 NORTH SEA 1915-18
Battle Honours	ATLANTIC 1939-43 PACIFIC 1941-45 CORAL SEA 1942 SAVO ISLAND 1942 GUADALCANAL 1942 NEW GUINEA 1942-44 LEYTE GULF 1944 LINGAYEN GULF 1945