CHAPTER 4 R.A.N. SHIPS OVERSEAS TO JUNE 194 0 URING the first ten months of the war, those Australian ships not D retained on the home station were employed in Imperial dispositions in widely separated areas . The first six months found Perth in Central American waters, mainly engaged in the dual task of protecting trade — especially the important tanker traffic in the Caribbean—and preventin g the escape of German merchant ships sheltering in neutral ports of th e islands and the Isthmus . Last of the three expansion-program cruiser s acquired from Britain, she had commissioned at Portsmouth on the 29th June 1939 as H .M.A. Ship under "Fighting Freddie " Farncomb, a studious , coolly-efficient officer whose nickname, bestowed during the war, reflected the confidence and esteem of the lower deck . Perth sailed from Portsmouth on the 26th July for Australia via th e Panama Canal, and reached New York, where she represented Australi a at the World Fair, on the 4th August. On the 21st of the month, after twelve days of American hospitality, she arrived at Kingston, Jamaica, an d was to have sailed for Panama on the 23rd, but in the early morning o f that date Farncomb received a signal sent to the Admiralty by the Com- mander-in-Chief, America and West Indies—Vice-Admiral Meyrick' — asking that Perth might remain on the station . Farncomb thereupon can- celled his sailing arrangements, thus anticipating an Admiralty signa l received later in the day directing him to "return Kingston and awai t further orders " . The following day he was informed that the Australian Government agreed to Perth's retention on the station, and was directe d to assume the duties of Oil Fuel Protective Force, guarding the tanker traffic in the area between Trinidad and the Gulf of Venezuel a Farncomb received news of the outbreak of war at 5 .30 a.m. on the 3rd September, when Perth was off Willemstad Harbour, Curacao. She was then the only British warship in the South Caribbean, and, in th e absence of reliable intelligence as to the whereabouts of German merchant ships, of which a number was reported as equipped for raiding, Farncom b considered his first duty was to endeavour to find them and prevent their escape. His tactics were to move rapidly at night, and appear off the widely scattered neutral ports in the morning in order to give the impression tha t more than one ship was in the area, a dummy third funnel being shippe d on occasion to further this deception . On the 6th September Farncomb assumed command of the Oil Fuel Protective Force—to which the Frenc h submarine Surcouf2 was attached—and spent the month of Septembe r patrolling the Southern Caribbean from the Yucatan Channel in th e north-west to Trinidad at the south-eastern extreme . r Admiral Sir Sidney Meyrick, KCB ; RN . FOC 2nd Cruiser Sqn 1934-36 ; C-in-C American and West Indies Stn 1937-40. B . 28 Mar 1879. 2Surcouf, French submarine (1932), 2,880 tons, two 8-in . guns, ten 21 .7-in torp tubes, 18 kts . World ' s largest submarine ; lost 19 Feb 1942 . Sept-Dec 1939 H . M . A . S . PERTH 13 1 Throughout October Perth was in the Atlantic Ocean . She left Kingsto n on the 4th as escort to the largest convoy—KJ .3, of forty-five ships— so far to leave that port, and in company with HMS Berwick,3 accom- panied the convoy about halfway towards the United Kingdom, handin g over to HMS Effingham 4 in 39 degrees 58 minutes north, 46 degrees 4 3 minutes west; whence she proceeded to Bermuda, suffering minor damag e from high seas during a hurricane on passage . In the evening of the 24th October, when on Atlantic patrol in 42 degrees 25 minutes north, 4 3 degrees 8 minutes west, she intercepted signals from a German warship— probably Deutschland, which was then in the area—went to action station s 100--------------° 90° - 80°---------------------------7 - 30' U. S. A . 30° A T NT I C GULF OF . MEXIC O Bahama / O C E A N 01 0fi`. 20° o° 2 Jameic i Leeward Is. C E L E A . 7 S R .lndward Is. [ Naidad . 0° 10 Costa o , PACIFIC ( VENEZUEL A Coco L ~ \` l ch ( COLOMBIA ` f LT IA rend , N A OCEAN ---------------------------B R A Z I L - 100° 9 80° 70` 60 50 and altered course towards ; but she failed to establish contact and pro- ceeded to Bermuda via Halifax, Nova Scotia, subsequently returning to th e Caribbean and reaching Kingston on the 9th November . The second hal f of this month was spent in the Pacific . Perth passed through the Panama Canal on the 22nd, and reached Cocos Island, where she fuelled th e Canadian destroyers Ottawa5 and Restigouche,6 on the 25th. After inspect- ing the western coast of the Isthmus, and observing the German merchan t ships Eisenach (4,177 tons) and Weser (9,179 tons) in Punta Arenas , she made the return passage of the Canal on the 29th, and reached King- ston on the 1st December. 4 HMS Berwick, cruiser (1928), 10,000 tons, eight 8-in guns, 31 .5 kts . '+ HMS Effingham, cruiser (1925), 9,550 tons, seven 7 .5-in guns, four 21-in torp tubes, 29 .5 kts ; wrecked off Norway, 18 May 1940 . 6 HMCS Ottawa (ex Crusader), destroyer (1932), 1,375 tons, four 4.7-in guns, eight 21-in torp tubes, 36 kts ; sunk by enemy submarine, Gulf of St Lawrence, 14 Sep 1942 . 8 HMCS Restigouche (ex Comet), destroyer (1932), 1,375 tons, four 4.7-in guns, eight 21-in torp tubes . 36 kts. 132 R.A .N . SHIPS OVERSEAS TO JUNE 1940 Dec1939-Mar194 0 That month, January and February, were spent patrolling the Sout h Caribbean, attracting, at times, the close attention of United States nava l units. For two to three days in mid-December, while patrolling the Yucatan Channel in the hope of intercepting the German Columbus (32,581 tons ) if that ship broke from Vera Cruz, Perth was closely shadowed by U .S. Ships Vincennes,' Evans, $ and Twiggs, 9 who persistently asked her nam e by signal and received the equally persistent reply "British warship" from Famcomb, who recorded his views in a slightly irritated "Queer idea s of `neutrality' these Americans have!" Fortune was against Perth so far as the interception of German ship s was concerned . Columbus fell a victim to H.M.S. Hyperion' north-west of Bermuda; Consul Horn (8,384 tons), another escapee, reached Norwegian waters safely ; and on the night of 29th February, the date of Perth's final departure from Kingston for Australia, Troja (2,390 tons) and Heidelberg (6,530 tons), which Farncomb had watched closely for some months , made a break to sea. Farncomb heard the news of their interception an d scuttling on the 1st March, while on passage to Colon in company with H.M.S. Diomede. "Much disappointment," he wrote, "is felt that th e German merchant ships in Curacao and Aruba, which Perth had been watching for some time, commenced to leave on the night Perth and Diomede left Kingston. Therefore denied the opportunity of making some captures, these falling to the lot of Dunedin and Despatch, 2 our reliefs." But Perth had performed a useful function, and had done much hard work and hard steaming. Of the 120 days of war up to the 31st Decembe r 1939, she was under way on 99, a period exceeded by only one othe r cruiser, H.M.S. Orion,3 with 102 days at sea. When she passed through the Panama Canal on the 2nd March, homeward bound, she carried an appreciation of her services from the Commander-in-Chief, America an d West Indies, in his signal : I would like to take this opportunity before you leave the Station of informin g you and your officers and men the pleasure it has been to me to have had a ship o f the R.A .N. under my command . I thank you for the cooperation and for the hel p you have given me during the last six months . I wish you all the best of good fortune in the future. It was the first of a number of similar signals Australian ships were to receive from flag officers of the Royal Navy during the war . II Some thousands of miles to the eastward, and also on sunny seas, Hobart —Captain Howden—was employed on similar missions in the India n 7 Vincennes, US cruiser (1937), 9,400 tons, nine 8-in guns, 32 kts ; sunk in night action with Ja p surface forces off Savo I, 8-9 Aug 1942. 8 Evans, US destroyer (1918), 1,090 tons, four 4-in guns, twelve 21-in torp tubes, 35 kts. o Twiggs, US destroyer (1919), 1,090 tons, four 4-in guns, twelve 21-in torp tubes, 35 kts . 1 HMS Hyperion, destroyer (1936), 1,340 tons, four 4.7-in guns, four 21-in torp tubes, 36 kts ; sunk off Pantelleria Island, 22 Dec 1940. $ HMS's Diomede and Despatch, cruisers (1922), 4,850 tons, six 6-in guns, twelve 21-in torp tubes, 29 kts. 9 HMS Orion, cruiser (1934), 7,215 tons, eight 6-in guns, eight 21-in torp tubes, 32 .5 kts . 1939-40 H. M . A . S . H O B A R T 133 Ocean. She had sailed from Sydney on the 13th October and reache d Singapore—where she suffered some days quarantine owing to an epidemic of mumps on board—on the 26th .