HMAS Australia (D84)
HMAS Australia was a County-class heavy cruiser of the Royal Australian Navy. One of two Kent-subclass ships ordered for the RAN in 1924, Australia was laid down in Scotland in 1925, and entered service in 1928. Apart from an exchange deployment to the Mediterranean from 1934 to 1936, during which she became involved in the planned British response to the Abyssinia Crisis, Australia operated in local and South-West Pacific waters until World War II began.
The cruiser remained near Australia until mid-1940, when she was deployed for duties in the eastern Atlantic, including hunts for German ships and participation in Operation Menace. During 1941, Australia operated in home and Indian Ocean waters, but was reassigned as flagship of the ANZAC Squadron in early 1942. As part of this force, Australia operated in support of United States naval and amphibious operations throughout South-East Asia until the start of 1945, including involvement in the battles at the Coral Sea and Savo Island, the amphibious landings at Guadalcanal and Leyte Gulf, and numerous actions during the New Guinea campaign. She was forced to withdraw following a series of kamikaze attacks during the invasion of Lingayen Gulf. The prioritisation of shipyard work in Australia for British Pacific Fleet vessels saw the Australian cruiser sail to England for repairs, where she was at the end of the war.
During the late 1940s, Australia served with the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan, and participated in several port visits to other nations, before being retasked as a training ship in 1950. The cruiser was decommissioned in 1954, and sold for scrapping in 1955.
Design
Australia was one of seven warships built to the Kent design of County-class heavy cruiser, which were based on design work by Eustace Tennyson-d'Eyncourt. She was designed with a standard displacement of 10,000 tons, a length between perpendiculars of, a length overall of, a beam of, and a maximum draught of.The propulsion machinery consisted of eight Yarrow superheated boilers feeding Curtis high-pressure and Parsons low-pressure geared turbines. This delivered up to 80,000 shaft horsepower to the cruiser's four three-bladed propellers. The cruiser's top speed was, with a range of, while her economical range and cruising speed was at.
The ship's company consisted of 64 officers and 678 sailors in 1930; this dropped to 45 officers and 654 sailors from 1937 to 1941. While operating as flagship, Australias company was 710. During wartime, the ship's company increased to 815.
Armament and armour
Australia was designed with eight guns in four twin turrets as primary armament, with 150 shells per gun. Secondary armament consisted of four guns in four single mounts, with 200 shells per gun, and four 2-pounder pom-poms for anti-aircraft defence, with 1,000 rounds each. A mixture of.303-inch machine guns were carried for close defence work: initially this consisted of four Vickers machine guns and twelve Lewis machine guns, although four Lewis guns were later removed. Two sets of quadruple torpedo tubes were fitted. Four 3-pounder quick-firing Hotchkiss guns were used as saluting guns. During her 1939 modernisation, the four single guns were replaced by four twin Mark XVI guns. The torpedo tubes were removed in 1942, and the 'X' turret was taken off in 1945.The close-range anti-aircraft armament of the ship fluctuated during her career. During the mid-1930s, two quadruple machine gun mounts were installed to supplement the weapons. These were replaced in late 1943 by seven single 20mm Oerlikons. By early 1944, all seven Oerlikons had been upgraded to double mountings. These were in turn replaced by eight single 40 mm Bofors guns in 1945.
Australia was designed to carry a single amphibious aircraft: a Supermarine Seagull III aircraft, which was replaced in 1936 by a Supermarine Walrus. Both aircraft were operated by the Royal Australian Air Force's Fleet Co-operation Unit; initially by No. 101 Flight RAAF, which was expanded in 1936 to form No. 5 Squadron RAAF, then renumbered in 1939 to No. 9 Squadron RAAF. As the aircraft catapult was not installed until September 1935, the Seagull was initially lowered into the water by the ship's recovery crane to launch under its own power. The catapult and Walrus were removed in October 1944.
Armour aboard Australia was initially limited to an armour deck over the machinery spaces and magazines, ranging from in thickness. Armour plate was also fitted to the turrets and the conning tower. Anti-torpedo bulges were also fitted. During 1938 and 1939, belt armour up to thick was fitted along the waterline to provide additional protection to the propulsion machinery.
Acquisition and construction
Australia was ordered in 1924 as part of a five-year plan to develop the RAN. She was laid down by John Brown and Company at their shipyard in Clydebank, Scotland, on 26 August 1925. The cruiser was launched on 17 March 1927 by Dame Mary Cook, wife of Sir Joseph Cook, the Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and former Australian Prime Minister.The cruiser was initially fitted with short exhaust funnels, but during sea trials of Australia and other Kent-class ships, it was found that smoke from the boilers was affecting the bridge and aft control position. The funnel design was subsequently lengthened by ; the taller funnels on the under-construction were later switched over to Australia as she neared completion.
When the ship's badge came up for consideration on 26 December 1926, both Richard Lane-Poole, commander of the Australian Squadron, and William Napier, First Naval Member of the Australian Commonwealth Naval Board disapproved of the design previously carried by the battlecruiser, and requested new designs. On 26 July 1927, it was decided to use the Coat of arms of Australia as the basis for the badge, with the shield bearing the symbols of the six states and the Federation Star crest depicted in the design. No motto was given to the ship, but when the badge design was updated prior to the planned 1983 acquisition of the British aircraft carrier , the motto from the battlecruiser, "Endeavour", was added.
The warship was commissioned into the RAN on 24 April 1928. Construction of Australia cost 1.9 million pounds, very close to the estimated cost. Australia and sister ship were the only County-class vessels built in Scotland.
Operational history
Early career
Australia left Portsmouth for her namesake country on 3 August 1928 after completing sea trials. During the voyage, the cruiser visited Canada, the United States of America, several Pacific islands, and New Zealand before she reached Sydney on 23 October. Following the start of the Great Depression, the RAN fleet was downscaled in 1930 to three active ships while one of the S-class destroyers would remain active at a time, with a reduced ship's company. In 1932, Australia cruised to the Pacific islands. In 1933, she visited New Zealand.On 10 December 1934, Australia was sent to the United Kingdom on exchange duty, with the Duke of Gloucester, who had visited Victoria for the state's centenary of foundation the month previous, aboard. The cruiser reached Portsmouth on 28 March 1935, and was assigned to the Mediterranean Fleet. Australia returned to England from 21 June to 12 September to represent Australia at King George V's Silver Jubilee Naval Review at Spithead. Following the outbreak of the Abyssinian crisis, Australia began to train for a potential war. Australias initial role in any British assault on the Italian Navy was to cover the withdrawal of the aircraft carrier after an air attack on the base at Taranto. The crisis eased before the need for British involvement occurred. Australia remained in the Mediterranean until 14 July 1936, then visited Gallipoli in company with the new light cruiser, before the two ships sailed for Australia. They arrived in Sydney on 11 August. During the cruiser's time on exchange, the British cruiser operated with the RAN.
After returning, Australia spent the remainder of 1936 in the vicinity of Sydney and Jervis Bay, excluding a visit to Melbourne in November. The warship sailed to New Zealand in April 1937, then in July departed on a three-month northern cruise, with visits to ports in Queensland, New Guinea, and New Britain. Australia repeated her November visit to Melbourne, and cruised to Hobart in February 1938, before being placed in reserve on 24 April 1938. She underwent a modernisation refit at Cockatoo Island Dockyard, during which her single 4-inch guns were replaced with twin mountings, belt armour measuring up to thick was fitted over the machinery spaces, and handling arrangements for the ship's aircraft and boats were improved. Although the modernisation was scheduled for completion in March 1939, inconsistencies between Australias construction and the supplied drawings caused delays. The cruiser was recommissioned on 28 August, but did not leave the dockyard until 28 September.
World War II
1939–1941
Following the outbreak of World War II, Australia was initially assigned to Australian waters. From 28 November to 1 December, Australia, Canberra, and Sydney hunted for the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee in the Indian Ocean. From 10 to 20 January 1940, Australia was part of the escort for Anzac convoy US 1 as it proceeded from Sydney to Fremantle, then sailed with it to the edge of the Australia Station en route to Colombo, before returning to Fremantle. On arrival, Australia relieved as the cruiser assigned to the western coast until 6 February, when she was in turn relieved by and returned to the east coast. On 12 May, Australia and Canberra left Fremantle to escort Anzac convoy US 3 to Cape Town. After arriving on 31 May, the two ships were offered for service under the Royal Navy; Australia was accepted for service in European waters, although she spent most of June escorting ship around southern and western Africa.On 3 July, Australia and the carrier were ordered to sail to Dakar, where the cruiser was shadowing the French battleship Richelieu and preparing to deny her use to the Vichy French if required. Australia and Hermes reached the rendezvous in the early morning of 5 July. Attempts to disable the battleship were made by boat and air during 7 and 8 July; on the second day, Australia fired in anger for the first time when a French aircraft flew near the Allied ships and dropped bombs with no effect. The Australian cruiser left Dakar on 9 July, and caught up to an England-bound convoy two days later. They arrived at the River Clyde on 16 July, and Australia was assigned to the Royal Navy's 1st Cruiser Squadron, based at Scapa Flow, four days later. During late July, the cruiser joined British ships off Norway in an unsuccessful search for the German battleship Gneisenau. During August, Australia and searched around the Faroe Islands and Bear Island for German trawlers.
At the start of September, Australia was assigned to Operation Menace as a replacement for the torpedoed British cruiser. On the morning of 19 September, shortly after relieving on patrol off Dakar, Australia located three French cruisers, which she and Cumberland began to shadow until losing sight in the dark. One of the French ships, the cruiser Gloire suffered engine troubles and turned back to Konakri, encountering Australia shortly after. The Australian cruiser was ordered to escort Gloire to Casablanca, which the French cruiser agreed to. The two ships remained together until the morning of 21 September, when Gloires captain promised his opposite on Australia that the French ship would complete the voyage unescorted, and the Australian cruiser sailed to intercept the main body of the Allied fleet, which was met the next day. On the morning of 23 September, the cruiser was fired on by shore batteries at Dakar while intercepting and driving back two Fantasque-class destroyers, but did not receive damage. That afternoon, Australia and the British destroyers and engaged the French destroyer L'Audacieux, setting her on fire. On 24 September, despite poor visibility, Australia joined other Allied ships in shelling Dakar and the French warships in the harbour; during the withdrawal to the rest of the fleet, the Australian cruiser was unsuccessfully attacked by high-altitude bombers. On 25 September, Australia and shelled French ships anchored at Dakar. They damaged a destroyer and several cruisers before Australia was hit by two 6-inch shells and her Walrus was shot down with all aboard killed, after which the two ships withdrew. Operation Menace was abandoned as a failure on 26 September, and Australia was ordered to return to the United Kingdom two days later.
During early October, Australia escorted a group of troop transports returning from Gibraltar to the United Kingdom. On 29 October, Australia recovered nine of the thirteen crew from a Short Sunderland flying boat which crashed off Greenock, Scotland during a gale; the other four were carried away by the heavy seas during the rescue. The cruiser underwent a refit in Liverpool during November and December. During a German air raid on the night of 20 December, a torpedo was dropped on the dry-dock Australia was berthed in, but this landed alongside the ship and did not explode. The ship was damaged during an air raid the following night: the blast from a bomb landing near the port side cracked several scuttles and damaged the catapult.
Australia spent the first part of January 1941 escorting Convoy WS5B from the British Isles to the Middle East via South Africa. On 22 January, after handing the convoy over to off Mombasa, the cruiser joined the unsuccessful search for the German pocket battleship Admiral Scheer. Following this and searches for the auxiliary cruisers Pinguin and Atlantis in the Indian Ocean, Australia sailed for Sydney with two troopships, arriving on 24 March. The cruiser then escorted Convoy US10 for the first leg of the Australia to Suez run, after which she sailed to Singapore at the end of the month to collect Admiral Ragnar Colvin and his staff following the Singapore Conference.
During June, Australia escorted convoys across the Tasman Sea, then delivered Convoy US11A to Trincomalee in mid-July. The ship was then assigned to the South Atlantic Station. During November, the cruiser sailed to the Kerguelen Islands during searches for German commerce raiders, and after finding evidence of enemy activity, deployed magnetic sea mines in case they returned. As of 2008, the mines were still present. Prompted by the loss of and the deteriorating situation in South-east Asia, Australia was ordered on 3 December to hand Convoy WS12X to HMS Dorsetshire, then make for home. On 29 December, the cruiser was designated Flagship of the Australian Squadron.